Well, we made it back from our worldwind trip so are ya'll ready for another of my long winded posts? The trip down had a lot of traffic but was mostly uneventful, except for seeing a grassfire in the median on the way down and another one on the way back. It took us 4 stops to get through one red light in San Antonio! I took along my new camera to get in a little practice before the big trip in December and took quite a few shots just to see what it could do. Great outside but nothing spectacular indoors. Probably can't blame the camera... most likely the operator. I got a kick out of the folks in Hamilton. They are really big into their dove hunting season. They start advertising a month in advance with giant banners strung across the highway. I can only imagine when deer season gets close!
And of course, everything is big in Texas.... cows and even giant rocking chairs.
When we arrived at our hotel they gave us the wrong type of room so we had to stand around for awhile until they were able to relocate us to another room. I did get our stay free using my reward points but I still wanted the suite I had requested. DH snores like a bear so we have to have a door between us if the rest of us want to get any sleep. After we got our bags settled we headed out for bowling. Sad, I know to drive 400 miles to go bowling. Since DS and I both enjoy it we consider it a must do when we are on our trip..... he, as a challenge to me because I usually always beat him and me because it is one of the few things I actually have any skill at. If we actually had a bowling alley in our little podunk town that we could go to regularly I imagine we would both do quite well. Anyway, he and I played 3 games. He beat me 2 times by 10 and 12 points but I beat him by 40 points and got my highest game ever of 177! I only left one open frame.
After bowling we headed to Pier 99 which has some of the best seafood you will ever find. The place looks like a dump from the outside... well, and pretty much on the inside.... but they know how to do seafood. It it so funny cause if this place was at home we would probably never even consider going in a place that looks like it does. They have live bands out on the open patio and obviously cater to the party crowd.
We chose to sit inside with the air conditioning and ended up waiting nearly an hour for our food which we would never do anywhere else.
When we were sufficiently miserable we waddled back to the car for the drive back to our hotel. I had promised DD I would take her swimming while DH took DS on at the tennis court. As I got my swim suit on I was reminded why I am glad that we do not have a full length mirror at home! I hate public pools first off because I hate to expose anyone to this body but second because there are always a bunch of rowdy kids. This time was no exception so we only stayed about 30 minutes. Got back to the room and had to call for extra bedding to make up the hide-a-bed. After a nice long wait DD and I finally got to collapse. I don't think either of us moved again until morning.
Next morning we went through the normal routine of "What do you wanna do?" "I don't know what do you wanna do?". DH wasn't feeling very well so my plan to go back to Pier 99 seemed out of sight. I also wanted to go see the Lexington but after reading about their new theater decided it would probably be too intense for DD so we skipped going to tour the ship and watch their interactive fighter pilot show. Maybe next time. So it was decided that we would run by the airport for a cappuccino which was supposed to be amazing (but ended up being a disappointment), go find DD a souvenir that we had promised her, consider going to Pier 99 again and go bowling again. We arrived on the part of the island where the souvenir shops were and it was CRAZY crowded with all the summer beach tourists. The boys dropped us off at the "Bruce store" so we could grab DD a toy while they looked for a parking spot.
The first store was a bust so we went next door and satisfied DD. Called DH and he could not find any other place to park. They were even charging $10 to park in the lot where the restaurant was! He ended up picking us up and we hightailed it out of the insanity. DS and I bowled again but our hot streak had died so we were ready to give it up after 2 games. I won one and he won the other. Just in case you never knew... there are apparently muscles you use when bowling that combined with long hours of sitting will leave you with an aching backside. Anyway, I then worked on getting in some more reading in my UG to WDW on the long drive home.
I did some calculating. Our trip took just about 37 hours. 16 were spent driving, 9 sleeping, which left just about 12 hours to eat and have a little fun. Was it worth it? The jury is still out on that but I am sure when I get to craving seafood again I will probably be ready to pack up and go again. At least I got to eat at my favorite place in all of Texas. DH swears he will never drive again because it stresses him out so much to drive in the traffic. He has a plane and he and DS flew down in 3 hours a few months back but DD is afraid of flying in the small plane and I am not much better. Since he has promised he would never make her fly unless she wants to it may be a long time before we go to Corpus again or DH is going to have to eat his words and deal with traffic again...say in another year or so.
After a good night sleep in our own beds it was time to get up and go get our puppy dog. I have to say that this ended up being quite an expensive weekend! Paid up the vet bill of $962 and loaded up Tessie and her new satellite dish. Poor thing looks so humiliated but she has a huge nasty looking incision so she has to keep the cone on for 2 weeks.
There may not be any paint left on the lower half of our walls and everyone of us may have black and blue shins because she is having quite a time navigating through the house. The vet said he should have the test results back in the next few days so we will find out if her tumors were malignant.
Thought I would share our trip while it was fresh on my mind. (though not hardly near as interesting as
Wendy's trip!) Now I gotta go catch up and see what I have missed.
Let's see...
racetrack18kb, I never realized Marie was such a popular character. She does make a cute shirt and she does have a great name, doesn't she?
Too bad the amusement park ended up not going so well. I guess we get spoiled to our Disney parks where all is generally magical.
I hope
Sukie is having a fantastic time on her cruise!
Pikester, that is so sweet and thoughtful of you to have sent the "Romance Package".
LivinInTheCastle, I hope you get to feeling better. Can't say as I blame little LITC. I don't like hamburger helper either!
D&DDisney, you have my sympathy. Moving is no fun! Doing it twice would really stink. Just remember.. lift with your legs, not your back.
Have you checked flights leaving on different dates? We are leaving on Wednesday because the rate was $50 cheaper per seat than on the weekend, although I would think Tuesday should be pretty good too. I asked DH if he cared when we left. Of course, at the time he was fine with it but now he thinks it is crazy to be leaving in the middle of the week. Good luck finding a low fare.
whgrn, I am so loving your reports! I doubt I will ever make it out of the good old US but it is good to hear first hand from someone seeing the world. So many sights, amazing history and yummy food. Sounds wonderful! Hard to understand how some people could be grouchy when they should be having a wonderful trip.
BKMETV, those kids can get kinda scary when they have had a lack of sleep, can't they! I've been to the same point where there was no reasoning with my DD. StepD just informed me that our GS was going through a reign of terror from skipping his nap at his birthday party. Maybe that was another good reason we skipped the party. Anyway, I hope a little sleep helped your DD come back to her senses.
M&N, you are going to be at WDW the exact days we will be. Great minds think alike! I was thinking of doing the CP on the 7th but the newly announced speaker is Anika Noni Rose whom I have never heard of so I am thinking the 5th would be better with Steven Curtis Chapman but gotta decide if it is worth rearranging my plans.
We did actually end up getting some rain here in Texas over the past week. Man does my yard look better. DH will have to go back to mowing now!
I am glad I already got my WDW tickets. Don't know how much it saved but every little bit helps.
MagiKitty, well, even if you didn't become a millionaire on your first time you will still have some really cool memories. Bet you won't forget the Japanese dive bar anytime soon!
Plus maybe you will get called back.
Congrats on winning the raffle! I never won anything at the doll shows but one of my friends did once.
DL55, good luck with the job interview!
Hi
Shmu and anyone else I missed!
I assume Filipino/Tagalog has words that are similar to Spanish?
Good ol Pikester. I love the way your mind thinks. 
I thought that was a high school thing. The tought of my son and a bunch of 5th grade boys unsupervised in a locker room is a scary thought. 
We had lively conversation, and the company was great. I had tomato and farmer cheese salad, which was good, filet of beef with Bernaise sauce, and Sticky Toffee Pudding. I couldnt finish everything, it was just too much.
