Houston - we have a drinking problem

One of the main reasons for this trip to the US was to visit Cazzie’s old flat mate, Kati. Kati moved to Houston about 18 months ago to work within the oil industry. All the major players are here, including Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell. Houston is pretty much built around this with most people here working in or around the energy business.

We arrive after a 4 hour drive from Dallas, Kati picked us up from the car hire place and took us to her apartment. This place was really cool 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, big living room, kitchen with all the mod cons and access to a pool. We were introduced to Bruno, her little puppy who peed everywhere with excitement every time he saw someone new.

There was no time to stop and admire the place though as we had tickets to the Houston Astros baseball game, so we jumped back in the car and headed to the Minute Maid Stadium. I was a little concerned about sitting in the 100 degree heat for 3 hours, but the stadium had a retractable roof, which was closed and the air conditioning was on. After loading up on foot long hot dogs with cheese and chilli and about 5 gallons of coke, we took our seats, which were right at the front. To be honest, I could have been sitting anywhere, as I had no idea what was going on. The American’s have a go at our cricket and say that it’s boring. But at least we get sixes, fours, runs and wickets. The score was 1-0 to the Astros after 9 innings each. Twenty20 is much more exciting and fun!

We decided to call it a day and left early to head back to the apartment. Quick shower and walked to the local bar called Kona for both happy hours. Happy hour started at 4 and went on until 7 and started again at 10 - what did they think was going to happen? There was Cazzie, Kati and myself and we were later joined by Kati part time lodger, Lorisa. Over the next 6 hours we racked up a $500 bar bill that included 20 JagerBombs, 8 Saki bombs, 4 Surfer on Acids and lots of beer, wine and gin. Lorissa’s husband, Joel turned up at about 11 o’clock having driven from this job in Dallas to find Lorisa in a complete and utter mess. He stayed for about an hour and then was forced to take her back to the hotel, where she proceeded to throw up all night! He wasn’t a happy chappy. The rest of us, which now included Kati’s flatmate Jocelyn, stayed at this bar until we were asked to leave. The bar had a really good vibe about it which may have been helped by the fact that the LA Lakers were playing Orlando Magic in the basketball finals. A cracking night had by all!

The next day we dragged our sorry asses out of bed and headed to Memorial Park with Bruno. As we were all feeling a little rough, we stopped my McDonalds for a breakie to take to the park. Memorial Park is where a lot of people go running, which I could not understand. I was breaking out into a sweat just standing there so I can only start to imaging how hot these people where. A lot of the guys were running without a top on, which Cazzie and Kati thoroughly enjoyed. What amused me though was the park had an outside workout area, with things like chin up bars, a press bench and a sit up thingy. All the “beautiful people” hang out here doing their work out so everyone can “admire” them. Cazzie and I were sat watching them, scoffing on our double sausage and egg McMuffin.

We only spent 1 hour in the park as the puppy nearly died of heat exhaustion. Next stop was the supermarket to stock up on food for the BBQ. This is the great thing about Kati’s flat – there is a gas BBQ by the pool that is free to use, and you don’t even have to clean up after you!! Kati, Lorisa, Cazzie and I settled in by the pool and proceeded to cook our fodder while having a few beers.

After a great afternoon dicking about in the pool, it was time to clean ourselves up and get ready to head out for a birthday party. One of Jocelyn’s friends came to pick us all up and drive us to Tipsy Clover, a cool Irish bar with outside drinking. After a few in there, we headed off to the Union Bar, where Cazzie and I decided it was time to dance like total idiots. This went on for about 2 hours and included pole dancing and 80’s classics. A lot of Kati’s friends were in attendance and we all ended up pretty smashed again.

Saturday morning was another hangover so the general consensus was to spend the day by the pool to try and get rid of it. A lot of American Football throwing took place and it pretty much did the trick of sorting us all out. This was a good thing as we were heading to a Hawaiian party that evening. The host had hired a frozen margarita making machine and bought 12 litres of Tequila to go with it. The party was a great success with a lot of time spent in the pool / hot tub. I think at the last count, 10 litres of tequila were drunk. Not a bad effort for 25 people.

Overall Houston is like Dallas, not a touristy place, but having access to a local person, such as Kati, turns it into a fantastic place to go. All the right bars, restaurants, pools, parks and parties are all there without having to put in any effort at all. Kati was a terrific hostess and we would definitely go back there if allowed!

Now it's off to Vegas Baby

Stuoobs xxx

Thunderstorms, Cowboys and ex-Presidents

So we eventually arrived in Dallas after a very long day’s travelling. We must have been awake for over 24 hours. I now have a new respect for Jack Bauer. We went to pick up our car, and after a very long, confusing conversation with the stupid woman at the car hire place who tried to convince me that the exchange rate was 4 dollars to the pound, we were on our way to the hotel. Needless to say, we went straight to bed.

As expected, we woke up very early and decided to go and get ourselves the best breakfast Dallas had to offer. So after a brief chat to the concierge, we headed out to a place called Breadwinners. To get there we were told to travel on the free trolley bus and all we had to do was tell the driver where we were going and he’d drop us off. A bit odd I thought, but who was I to argue. We walked around the corner and there it was – this very old, rickety, electric powered tram. We hopped on, told the driver where we were going and placed ourselves on the wooden seats. It was like we had been sent back 100 years.

After a fab breakfast, we wandered around Dallas without any real idea where we were going. We did know what we wanted to go and see the 6^th Floor Museum and learn all about where, why and how President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as well as all the 100’s of conspiracy theories that accompany it. This was my own personal highlight in Dallas. It was fascinating. We learnt all about the reason why there was growing unease about JFK’s policies. All to do with the African Americans being given equally rights, the problems the USA were having with CUBA and the threat that the Cold War was going to heat up. The day before the President and his wife arrived in Dallas, a group of

wealthy businessmen paid for an advert in the Dallas Press to attack all of his policies and decisions. There was also a threat from a group of extremists that surfaced and the Secret Service were very worried about the trip that the President was making.

The trip seemed to pass without much incident until the drive through the streets of Dallas. There were videos played showing the route that was taken and you could hear the reporters saying that the threat that was thought to have existed was a false one. Seconds later you can hear shots fired and panic ensued. JFK was rushed to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The 6^th Floor of this museum is where Lee Harvey Oswald was positioned when he shot the President. From the window you can see a white cross marked on the road to highlight the point where JFK was shot. It was a very weird feeling to see this and one I can’t really describe.

It took about 90 minutes to see everything in the museum, and it could have taken 3 times as long if you took the time to read everything. It was fascinating and if you are ever in Dallas, this is something you must do.

After a quick picture on the grassy knoll, we headed to the Aquarium. This is much better than Melbourne Aquarium.

Dallas isn’t really a touristy place, so we did struggle to find other things to occupy us. There is a good bar scene, but this only really gets going on the weekends. We did manage to eat at my new favourite restaurant in the world.

On the Wednesday, we took a drive to Fort Worth, which is about 40 miles west of Dallas. The strap line for Fort Worth is “Where Cowboys and Culture exist” and they are not wrong. We spent the afternoon looking at real life cowboys, riding on their horse fully equipped with huge Stetsons, chaps and spurs all speaking in the accent that you would expect them to. There are no hello’s or hiya’s here, just “Howdy y’all”

There are loads of shops where you can kit yourself out like a cowboy – not like Michael J Fox in Back to the Future III, but with all the proper gear. You can pay $1,000 for real leather cowboy boots that are custom made for you, saddles for your horse and totally authentic cowboy shirts. I was tempted to buy a shirt, but decided that it would only really come out for fancy dress parties.

We stayed for the cattle drive through the streets before heading back to Dallas.

Our last night in Dallas was a bit of a nightmare, as the whole of the state of Dallas was under a tornado threat. We did not get a very good night’s sleep as there was an almighty thunderstorm that lasted for 12 hours. Sheet and fork lightening with the loudest thunder you have ever heard. Car alarms were being set off, buildings were shaking and there was a huge amount of flooding. Biggest storm I have ever been in. We woke the next day to find that most of the routes in and out of Dallas were either flooded or blocked by jack-knifed 18 wheelers. Luckily our route to Houston was unaffected.

Would I go back to Dallas? No. It isn’t a place for tourists. Did I enjoy it? Very much so. If you do ever find yourself in Dallas, you will not be disappointed.

See you in Houston

Stuoobs

xxxx

The three week USA trip begins

Howdy all,

I write this from the Philadelphia lounge of the very good people at US airways. This is the airline that compensated us for booting 7 of us off their flight from Manchester to San Francisco last year and putting us all on a better flight and upgraded us to first class flight. No wonder all the airlines are losing money. I have used these vouchers to fund a three week trip around the States. I have 4 hours to kill here, and due to the fact that I am picking a car up in 7 hours, I am unable to get smashed, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to do my first blog of the trip!

The past week has been fun. Cazzie, as a surprise early birthday present to me, bought tickets to see We Will Rock You, the musical based on the music from Queen, at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. I have always wanted to go and see this, but envisaged I would have to go to London or Vegas to do so. My parents saw the show in Vegas and said it was brilliant.

I really had no idea what it was about, but needless to say, it was fantastic. Great music, funny and a good, albeit bizarre storyline. I can highly recommend going to see it, but it has sadly come to the end of it's run in Manchester, so London or Vegas it will have to be!!! I think one of the surprise highlights of the show was the performance from Curly Watts!! The whole thing was excellent and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.


So we await our transfer to Dallas or the Big D as it is commonly referred to. Only have 2 full days here as and we are trying to cram a lot of stuff in. We want to visit a ranch (perhaps Southfork from the hit US show Dallas), go see the 6th Floor Museum to find out about President John F. Kennedy's assassination that took place in Dallas on the 22nd November 1963, eat and drink at the Big D's numerous bars and head West towards Fort Worth, where the strap line is "Cowboys and Culture".

Before I finish I would just like to compare the meals Cazzie and I had on the plane. Guess which one I was served with??










See you in Dallas!!

Lots of Love

Stuoobs

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