Day Three - All Around Houston

Day Three – All Around Houston

We slept warmly at the bed and breakfast so we were pretty happy to get out into the nice cool air. As Frank carried two suitcases down the front steps, his foot slipped on the top rain slick step and he bounced down all the steps!! He scraped a finger on one hand pretty badly and hit his other hand pretty hard and hit his butt bone pretty hard a few times, but he was able to get and going fairly quickly. He washed the blood off in the sink at the B&B and put a bandaid on his scraped hand. I called the B&B to let them know about in case anything depended upon that later. The lady in charge came out to talk to us and the first thing she said was that the steps were dry!!! I went to the step and rubbed my finger through the water on the top step and said how slippery it was. Frank was not at all happy about her comment and made it very clear that they only reason we said anything was to let them know there is a problem that they need to address. He was quite forceful about it and then all she kept saying was that when anyone panics all she does is panic!!!! We left right after that and went to Tacos A Go Go for breakfast. When we first got there, I got a call from Connie, the lady at the B&B, apologizing again and saying that she hoped she didn’t appear to not care about Frank’s injuries because she does care, but she just panics when anyone falls. So, that’s that. Frank and Rachel had a very good breakfast here but I had eaten brownies at the B&B so I didn’t get anything else.

We left there and headed to the ‘downtown’ part of the Heights – it was like an old fashioned main street from the 50’s or something. We found a coffee shop and it was decorated with paintings like the days of flower power. Frank and Rachel each got coffee and we sat there and had a very nice time. After finishing the coffee, we wandered around the area looking in antique stores and Mexican art stores. One of the workers sold me a stamp from her purse so I could send a postcard!!! That was very nice of her. Rachel found a mailbox and put my postcard in so that is taken care of.

We left the Heights and headed across the main part of Houston to the Reliant Park complex for the livestock show and rodeo. That area is huge and we had to park a long way from the buildings but we got to ride a shuttle part of the way so that helped. It was quite cool and breezy but it was not raining. We entered and chose to see what all was available in the food tents. They had to most interesting foods there. Sausage on a stick, foot long corn dogs, fried koolaid, alligator, friend bread loaf, fried sauerkraut!!! Just all kinds of things. So we got a foot long corndog, sausage on a stick, and ????? We then went into the livestock building. We saw lots and lots of bunnies, goats, sheep, bees, and cows. There were competitions going on and we watched some of them. There were many exhibits and walked miles (it felt like anyway) and looked at all sorts of things. I felt like my feet would not go any farther, but they kept moving. They hurt though but they kept working. We decided not to spend a few more hours there to wait on the rodeo, so we left. As we began the walk back to the shuttle, the rain started. I put my glasses into my coat pocket to protect them and lo and behold, one of the ear pieces came off!!!!!! Just great!!! As we walked back to the shuttle, the rain increased so that by the time we were on the shuttle, the rain was fairly hard and the wind was bad. We were freezing on the ride toward the car. When we left the shuttle and started walking to the car, the bottom of the rain cloud fell out and it was raining quite hard. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, I couldn’t see anything and I was getting soaked. It was a tough time. We got to the car and Rachel found us a restaurant to head to for dinner – she is a whiz on the computer at finding us what we need and figuring out how to get us there.

We opted not to get on the interstate and that was a wise decision, in my opinion. There was a lot of traffic on a rainy Friday afternoon, but we made it to Chuy’s for dinner. We got even more soaked getting into the restaurant but the meal was worth it. We had steak quesadillas, chips with toppings, margaritas and beer, steak burrito, and a combo. It was all really good. Being the only one not drinking any alcohol, I got to drive to the hotel. It was not a long drive but there was a LOT of traffic. I had to keep adjusting my glasses because since there is only one earpiece, the lens do not stay balanced and I can’t see clearly. That will continue until I get new glasses. I called Lenscrafters at the Galleria near out hotel and they said they would work me in tomorrow if I show up at 10:00, so I plan to be there, for sure.

We got to the Hotel Derek and I passed the entrance so went in the exit – not the first time I’ve done that!!! It’s a large modern hotel and it’s very nice. Frank and Rachel moved from their first room because of the party next door and now they have a quieter room. We have made reservations here for tomorrow night also. I have been using the dry blower on my jacket but it just won’t dry out. I am hurting about all over, but hopefully that will be gone in the morning. I know I have walked too much since my feet hurt so badly. Maybe there won’t be as much walking tomorrow. I’m afraid it’s going to rain all day and limit what we can do, but we’ll see. I just hope I can get new glasses early in the day – it’s a pain to have to keep adjusting these!!

Rachel is really missing her doggies and I think she is ready to head home. It won’t be too much longer now. One more day and night in and around Houston, then we will start the trip back. It’s been a wonderful trip so far and I hate to see it end, but I will be glad to be back home too, in a few days.