Day 7

Day's Traveling
    Start: NA

    End: NA

Total Travel Hours

     Joanna: 15 hours 34mins

             4 hours 8mins 7 (train) hours  21mins (car)4 hours 5min (plane)

     Alex: 14 hours 29mins

              4 hours 8mins (train) 6 hours 16mins (car) 4 hours 5min (plane)

States Driven through:

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland*, Virginia and Texas (6/10)

*only 14 miles were traveled in this state

Today was another beautiful sunny day in Houston, TX. It was a little colder, only a high of 70, but the sun was still shinning and there were even less clouds in the sky.  

Mike didn’t have to work today so he got to hang out with Jo and I! We started our day around 12 and headed to downtown Houston (aka H-Town). Our first stop was for lunch. On our way to downtown we saw a hay spill!

Hay spill on interstate 10!

Mike took us to Specs, a grocery, wine and beer store with a sandwich shop. The selection alcohol and mustard was out of this world and the sandwiches were pretty good too, although gigantic. I think that is a trend of this trip… or maybe it just really is that everything is bigger in Texas. Jo and I swapped haves to try both of the “must taste” sandwiches according to Mike. He was right they were both great one was fried eggplant and the other turkey. 

 

After lunch we drove further into town. We got out and took a walking tour of the area. It seemed like H-town is pretty much closed during the weekend.  We walked through a deserted open mall and by the house of blues and passed only a handful of people. 

Jo and Mike in front of a cool Fountain in the middle of H-Town

As we walked a few more blocks were started to hear some music (specially the Beastie Boys- as Jo picked up very quickly).  We turned the corner and found were all the action was! An ice carving completion was taking place in the city’s park. Mind you it was in the high 60’s, but this didn’t seem to faze artists as they chopped, melted and smoothed their sculptures.  It was pretty cool to see these guys in actions. 

Ice sculptor working on a pretty chill Elvis

Pretty interesting ornament decorations in the park

Turned out the park was where a lot of the action in H-town took place. There was also a Red Bull photography contest on display, but we couldn’t see any of the pictures. The pictures were all designed to have back lighting and therefore were only on display at night. 

Red Bull Photo Contest- We could see the pictures, but it did make for a good opportunity for a self portrait

Past the photos there was an ice skating rink! People were skating around in shorts and tee-shirts, an odd sight. 

Out door skating rink!

Jo and Mike checking out the man made lake in the park

After the park we headed over to the Mecca of pubs. The waitress at the Flying Saucer first hands you a pamphlet listing all the beers available either on tap or in bottle. After giving you some time to browse through the large selection she then gives you the food menu... which is actually shorter than the beer listing. The place is decorated with plates from patrons who have tried over 200 beers (or multiples of 200 beers).  We didn’t get that far- I tried the Texas sampler and Jo had a interesting banana chocolate stout which was actually a mixture of two beers. Oh! And Mike tried the IPA sampler later. 

Something I am striving for in life- just have to visit Houston a few more times

After the Flying Saucer we headed to a bar that Mike used to frequent. Surprisingly it was closed! It was about 4 in the afternoon and it didn’t open until 5, so we headed over to Wendy’s to grab a snack (logical jump right?). 

We headed back home after refueling. After learning that neither Jo nor I have seen Pee Wee’s Great Adventure Mike found the movie on Netflix. We popped open a few beers and sat back and watched the movie. Turns out it’s actually a pretty good movie!

By the end of the movie it was after 5PM and we headed back to the bar. The long island ice teas were the largest and most alcoholic concoctions I have seen in a while. After these drinks the Jets won and Jo and Mike polished off an entire margarita pizza together (Kiya stole a piece too). 

look at the size of that thing!

Amnesia is a glass

 Tomorrow we pick up our car and conquer Texas!