Houston, TX

What I remember (in 2024)

Flew down to Houston on my own on 22 August, to spend a long weekend with Saffa and Gretchen, for his birthday again.

Quieter than last year's revelry.  On Saturday morning we drove an hour down to Galveston.  Saf and I checked it all out, while Gretchen was running a half marathon.  On Saturday night we dinner at Fogo de Chao with a group of Saffa's friends.  He did declare this his favorite restaurant in the world.  It was my first time at a Brazilian Steakhouse, and it was excellent.

On Sunday, Saf reluctantly took me to NASA.  I thought it was amazing and could have stayed all day.  SAffa, on his millionth visit to Houston's premier tourist spot, was no longer impressed.

On a side note, 19 days after I left Galveston was hit by Hurricane Ike and completely devastated the area.  I remember seeing photos and footage and not recognizing the town we'd been in 3 weeks prior.

Austin, TX

What I remember (in 2024) 

On the 16th A&I flew down to Austin, TX with Creany, Katy & Reggae, all of who had been staying with us, to celebrate Saffa's 30th birthday.  We spent the weekend at his in-laws house on Lake Travis.  Just a great weekend of catching up.  Our first night was spent at Iguana Grill, a local Mexican joint overlooking the lake, for margaritas and general catch ups.  Saturday was spent out on a boat in the lake.  My first time in a freshwater lake.  Weird feeling!  Saturday night was a big night in 6th Avenue.  Pretty sure Saffa had a great time.

Me, Creany, Reggae, Katy, Saffa & Gretchen, Lake Travis, Austin, TX

At Iguana Grill, Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Creany, Saffa, Gretchen, Kay, Me, A & Reggae, Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Austin, TX

We went to Mojo’s Coffee House for a cuppa after breakfast doughnuts at the hotel.  We also spent a few minutes at the Austin library checking the internet.  We ended up in an all-you-can-eat pizza place for lunch.  

The afternoon was spent wandering around the shops in the area and heading over to a shopping center near the hostel to go to the movies.  We saw Hollow Man.  Man, what crap!  Our movie choices seem to be getting worse and worse.  

After the movies we went to a nearby park and hung out by the river, just killing time and relaxing.  We were waiting for a friend of Amy’s, Andrew, from university who was coming into town.  We had Wendy’s for dinner and headed over to the Sheraton where they were checking in that evening.  After waiting for a couple of hours we finally get it out of him that he is not arriving until 11pm.  So we continue our journey east.  We are headed to New Orleans and drive until we can no longer stay awake.  We find a hotel at a freeway exit, God knows where, and crash for the night.

Austin, TX

Today is not a good day.  I feel as seedy as hell!  And I am actually not able to function properly at all.  When we were kicked out of the hostel we stopped at an IHOP for a pancake breakfast.  Yeah, that didn’t stay with me long.  There was no way we could travel today, so we booked into a Super 8 and I wallowed the hangover away in bed.  Amy patiently beside me – not knowing there was a pool right outside our room.  We left the room at about 7pm and headed to Stubb’s BBQ for dinner.  This was the best thing that happened to me all day.  Food here was fantastic and I wished we’d been here to see a concert out the back.  After dinner we walked around downtown and near the University of Texas for a look around.  We also got in our daily ice cream.

Midland, TX to Austin, TX

We started a little later with a Chick-Fil-A brunch before hitting the road to Austin. 

We arrived there not long after 6pm and checked in to the youth hostel just outside of downtown.  We went into 6th Street, Austin’s downtown area to check it out.  We stumbled across a bar that was selling $1 Coronas, we stuck around to take advantage of such Southern hospitality and only left we they kicked us off the bar stools as the place started up as a nightclub.  This was at about 10pm, and once outside we grabbed a slice of pizza before we would head back to the hostel.  As it turned out, right next door was a bar doing 2 for 1 cocktails.  How could we say no?  Another few drinks and we knew it was time to leave when our waitress was so drunk she fell off the bar.  That was about 3am.  We stumbled home absolutely slaughtered.

Tucson, AZ to Midland, TX

We left early for the 600 plus mile drive to Midland Texas to see Amy’s step sister, Jenny, and her family, husband David and son Ian.  Amy drove and I slept most of the way (including all of New Mexico).  We stopped at a diner, Angie’s just outside El Paso, Texas for lunch.  We were the only ones in the place and we got ourselves a huge, great Mexican feast.  

We arrived in Midland at around 8pm.  Jenny took us to David’s restaurant, Wild Scallions, for dinner.  David owns and is the Executive Chef here.  The food is a fine dining American cuisine, and the best meal I’ve eaten in what seems like forever.  Back from the restaurant and, I don’t know how we managed it, we were up all night chatting.