Day three of our trip we woke up in Houston. We slept in until 9:00 am which was glorious after the two previous long days. We were hopeful that this day was going to be the best so far because we had finally figured out what was up with the phones and we only had to do testing in Houston. There was nothing to make up for and no extra driving.
We headed out of our hotel and the sun was so bright and intense it took me by surprise. It had been hot and bright in New Orleans, but this was so much more so. Luckily we had packed sunglasses, because I don't think my eyes would have ever adjusted to that much brightness on their own! We even had some temperature warnings on the phones that morning after stopping for food because it had gotten too hot in the car. Luckily, the air conditioning in the car was WONDERFUL and cooled everything right down.
Speaking of the car, did I mention that we got to drive a brand new Ford Taurus?! It was the nicest car I've ever been in, especially compared to our little Saturn back in Idaho. Don't get me wrong, I love our Saturn, and it has been a very reliable car, but this was nice! It sure made our week of being in a car that much more enjoyable.
Our first stop was at a WWII memorial for the people who died in that war from the Houston Heights area.
We got to stop by the Houston Zoo, where they had this elephant statue out front.
The zoo was located in Hermann Park, which we really enjoyed. We parked the car in the shade and put up a sun shade to block out the heat and took some time exploring the area. I loved the magnolia trees and we found the Fragrant Garden. We didn't go in though because all of the sprinklers were going off. Although, now that I think about it I don't know why we didn't to cool off, we would have been dry five minutes later!
We found a statue of Sam Houston, who served as the president of the Republic of Texas twice after it had broken away from Mexico. He served as the senator of Texas when it joined the U.S. and then later as the state's governor. He was removed from office when he refused loyalty to the Confederacy when Texas seceded from the Union at the start of the Civil War. Very interesting fellow.
We took refuge in the shade of the arch while we read the plaque about Mr. Houston and took pictures of the surrounding area. We had only been out of the car probably ten minutes and were roasting from the heat!
The view on the other side of the statue was cool. They have this little "mall" area with a long reflecting pool and an obelisk at the opposite end.
One end of the pool was very shallow and there were tons of birds walking around in and drinking the water. I really wanted to join them and almost climbed over the edge until Brian pointed out the "No Wading" sign. Bummer. The water was gorgeous though as we walked down along side it. It was so smooth and glassy and reflected the trees beautifully.
We asked a lady lounging in a lawn chair to take our picture in front of the obelisk. I don't understand how "could you get the obelisk in the background" translated so poorly, but at least we got most of it. :)
Right across the lawn was the entrance to the Houston Japanese Garden. It was gorgeous and free, and we loved walking through it. We only ended up walking through the front portion of it because we had to get back on the road, and it was so hot that we just ended up running from shade to shade where we took a few pictures. The tops of my feet were sunburned by the time we made it back to the car!
They had cute little pagodas and a replica of a Japanese style house.
We found more than one turtle sunning themselves on the rocks. I don't know how they could stand the heat though.
During one of the stops at a Pizza Hut near the University of Houston, we were just sitting there minding our own business when a tow truck pulls up behind us. We started freaking out and I made Brian get out and go talk to the guy, who I was later told was a big guy with tattoos up his neck. Brian asked the guy what was going on and the guy asked what car we were in. Brian said the Ford and then the guy asked which one. This made Brian more worried, and he said the black one. Luckily the guy was there for the van parked right next to us and he moved so we could leave, but boy did that give us a scare.
We got to see the Astrodome for all of you sports fans out there. I forgot to mention that we drove by the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, but we were flying by on the freeway with all the traffic and I didn't get a picture. We saw the Reliant Stadium which was just to the right of the Astrodome. They had signs advertising that the Houston Rodeo was going on and I really wish we could have stopped by for that!
We found this neat quiosco, or pavillion, in Hidalgo Park. It is actually made from a wire stand covered with hand-molded textured concrete. You can't tell from here but the stairs and floor were designed to look like wood with rings and knot holes. It was very cool.
We stopped at the Lockwood Skating Palace which was in a ghetto-esque part of town. The parking lot was empty for awhile then a couple of guys showed up for a meeting of some sort and kept looking at us. It was then that we realized that we looked very out of place. They probably thought we were on a stakeout or something. Two white people wearing dark sunglasses in a dark car with a backseat full of electronics and taking notes in a notebook with water bottles and snacks in the front seat doesn't look out of the ordinary at all. We only had three minutes left on the clock to stay there and I told Brian to get the car ready to peal out of there if they came over for us. They were making me a little nervous! hahahaha But they left before we did and all was okay!
Our next and last testing stop for the day was in downtown Houston. It was 5:00 pm about this time and lucky for us we needed to head right into the thick of rush hour traffic. But we gritted our teeth, tightened our seat belts and prepared for the worst headed into the fray.
Our first pass by Houston was the worst. I mention first pass, because we ended up driving by the city three or four times in our struggle to take an exit. So the first pass was intense, but there was so much traffic that it was backed up and we were moving slowly. However, there was so much traffic that when the Paulie directed us to exit to the right and said exit put us onto the left most lane of a second equally packed freeway, and then Paulie told us to exit right in 300 feet, it didn't happen. So we zoomed on by only mildly frustrated. Side note: I was loving the up close view of the city and was frantically trying to take pictures as we drove by. Not to worry though, because of our multiple passes, I got a lot of really good shots of the city.
So on our second pass, we were all lined up to take the exit and so I though that I was good to turn and take a picture, but while I was doing this Brian got confused and didn't take the exit. Needless to say there was a "discussion" between us as we flew by the exit again, with us each trying to make our point.
The GPS re-routed us one more time and this time we were successful. By this time we were both more than a little frustrated and just wanted to park and have a moment to sit and de-stress. However, that was not to be...because we had to find a place to park. Lets just say that we got to really see downtown Houston in depth.
After the testing time ended we made a right and got out of town as fast as we could, which was really fast since the traffic had toned down considerably. We stopped and got some takeout pizza to take back to our hotel and on the way we got to see Tippy's Soul Food. I hear they have chicken and more...
After eating and getting all of the phones hooked up and charging and sending their data, we headed out to the pool. It was so nice to soak in cool water and relax. We found a little frog hopping around by the fence to the pool. I had to go back into the hotel room for something and when I came back out I stepped on something that felt like a grape crunching. I froze and was horrified that I had possibly just stepped on the frog. Luckily it was only a small fruit from a nearby tree, but that was a bad moment. Brian laughed his head off when I told him what happened.
We ended up in the hot tub with a couple from Louisiana. They were jealous that we live in New York and we were jealous that they didn't! hahaha It was fun to talk to them and they gave us sightseeing pointers while we were in town and we gave them sightseeing pointers for when they are going to be in New York.
We survived the day, especially the stressful driving around downtown Houston. Don't worry, we still love each other! ;) We went to bed happy and excited because the next day was our Sea World Day!
Oh my! Westover DNA + Travel Frustration + Low Blood Sugar = #@%$#! Good luck to you both!
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