It's the Final Countdown!

This will be the final post in the blog. We are currently in New York’s J.F.K. Airport for a brief layover before we take the short flight back to Rochester.

Though we were fairly tired, we made the best of our last day in Texas, attending an NFL game between the Houston Texans and the Cleveland Browns.



Touchdowns by rookie running back Chris Taylor and former street bum turned defensive lineman Anthony Maddox were enough to propel the impotent Texan offense past the turnover prone Brownies who could only manage two Phil Dawson fieldgoals. Silly Brownies. TOUCHDOWN’D!!



For a tailgate, we went the pre-packaged route. Thankfully, Sonic serves their entire menu all day and I finally got to taste heaven. It’s called a Chili Cheese Frito wrap. More Cheesecake Bites and Tater Tots were like icing on the proverbial chili cheese wrap.

The tailgate afforded us another opportunity to ride the MetroRail and to eulogize the poor Houston Astrodome. Originally called the Harris County Domed Stadium, the building had transparent roof panels that allowed grass to grow. Unfortunately, the glare was so intense that Astros outfielders had trouble catching fly balls (Maybe it wasn’t the roof? They still have yet to win a World Series and only got to their first in 2005.). In response, the panels were painted white. This set in motion the ruthless chain of events that resulted in dead grass, deader knee joints, and the birth of Astroturf as we knew it when Elton John was still mistaken for straight but quirky.

The Astrodome made a comeback as hurricane refugee shelter in 2005, a far cry from its glory days hosting the 1986 N.L.C.S., multiple Oilers playoff games, and the Texas Livestock Show and Rodeo. We salute you Astrodome. The venue with the balls to be home to a baseball team that wore rainbow colored jerseys at the same time as a football team who wore powder blue.



On the topic of sports, I really blew it, Ben Roethlisberger-style when I tried to dig the Eagles fans who this blog was sent to. The Eagles lost the Super Bowl in Jacksonville, not Houston. The Carolina Panthers lost here. Not that it really matters, both games served to stroke Bill Belichick’s ego and cement Tom Brady’s heartthrob status.

On our way back to the airport, basically only a half mile from the runway, Tia snapped a shot of REAL TEXAS LONGHORNS! Big steers! Horsepower is horsepower! Giddy up!



We close by saying that we loved it down here, but like Arizona, probably could not deal with the summer heat. We are glad to be going back to where grass is grass, the Buffalo Bills are the rising hopefuls, and a garbage plate is considered culinary cuisine.

Speaking of plates, this one you’ll never see in New York.



See you in 2007!

-Bob and Tia

The Final Hour Approacheth

Well this is it. We would have posted last night, but we were wiped after our voyage downtown.

The day yesterday was fairly uneventful otherwise. I exercised some at the Country Inn and Suites. This place is a pretty good deal. Their internet is complementary and the entire room rate is only $69 on a Saturday.

Houston's MetroRail is a fairly efficient light rail. The only slowdown is that it runs at-grade the entire way and has to stop for traffic signals. Can't beat the price though. It only costs $1 no matter where you get on and a Day Pass is only $2. It serves an incredibly huge Medical Complex called the Texas Medical Center. Pretty much every Houston University and hospital group is represented here. It's like a mini-city just for sick people.

It was a short four-block walk to the Toyota Center. This is a fairly impressive arena, as it is home to the National Show-Off Association's Houston Rocketos. They drape enormous black curtains to hide the upper deck sections for hockey. We managed to get a fairly decent end seat for $12. The last place San Antonio (Holmes) Rampage came to town with a chip on their shoulder and jumped out to a 5-1 second period lead over the hometown Houston Aeros.

It was a good comfortable night out. Like a slice of Canada/Rochester in the middle of Texas. We were snapped back to reality by the fact that there were palm trees right outside the building. We then went to a interesting bar near the arena called The B.U.S., that looked like it used to be a garage, for drinks before heading back to the train.

We will be leaving in 44 minutes to pick up our 'tailgating' stuff from Sonic and whatever else we see on the way to the Texans. I'm told it is 2007 in Guam. Good for them. They deserve it.

See you all in Rochester at 11:59PM Eastern!

-Bob

Goodbye Galveston

We went to the Schlitterbahn indoor configuration yesterday. It was a blast. They had those ski resort heaters in the covered walkways to blast people with heat. In the main pool room, it was 88 degrees, which was marginally ridiculous.

After a while of fighting the waves in the Torrent River, I had to take a break and get some cooler air and water out on the outdoor patio/bar. While we were out there, the lady who runs the little Papa John's installment tried to talk us into buying a pizza, but couldn't believe I was outside, dripping wet, with only a bathing suit on in that kind of temperature. The conversation shifted to the fact that we were from New York (hence, it felt like May outside) and on our honeymoon. She and the drink lady gave us a free pizza and sodas as a wedding present. They were very Texas-style nice to us for no reason. Amazing. hahaha

Full of Pizza, I went back out to conquer the 'Boogie Bahn.' Below is a movie of me finally getting the hang of staying on the ride. Unfortunately, when I tried to kneel on the board at the request of the lifeguard, I TOTALLY WIPED OUT!

So we have about 20 minutes left in Galveston before we hit the Gulf Freeway to head back to Houston for some big city type entertainment. There is an AHL hockey game tonight between Houston and San Antonio that I'd like to check out along with the NFL tomorrow.

Below is the view across the island of the cruise ships in port. These things make the Ferry look small!

I'm going to miss Galveston and especially Java's 213. The place is hopping this morning. Lots of people getting ready to go on their cruise I'm guessing. There's 12 laptops running right now compared to the usual 1 (mine). One guy is playing something that looks like Warcraft. What I won't miss is the prevalent chain smoking in the coffee shops. It's easy to get used to not smelling like shit in New York. ;-)

We have to kill our $5 gift certificates to Long John Silver's that we got in Scranton. There just happens to be one near the famous N.A.S.A. center here. Also, Sonic has a Frito Chili Cheese Wrap for $2.49 that may be the thing that puts me down for the count.

Remember the Alamo!

-Bob

We're on the edge of the country!

Hellooooo! Just some random thoughts on this beautiful Satuday.

We've seen a decent amount of cowboy boots and hats. :) Giddyup.

A decent sized storm rolled through Thursday night and into Friday - Made the ocean CRAZY. And driving on Seawall was fun. I went to get a coffee last night and driving back to the hotel was interesting.

I keep finding it funny that people down here think its cold right now. There was a story in the paper yesterday about the new year festivities and the cold weather being taxing on the power grid here. HA! I can just imagine everyone cranking their heaters when it gets into the 50s at night. Crazy people.

The storm brought out a ton of surfers to the beach yesterday. Its nice to know you can go surfing in December here.



Our hotel was busy last night - thanks to all the cruises leaving today. The harbor is full of HUGE ships. There was also a couple of weddings going on. Very nice.

Went and got some yummy diner breakfast foods this morning - I think when we get back we are only going to drink water for a week. ;)

Bob's getting antsy to use the laptop right now. He'll have plenty more to say. :)

~Tia

More from Day 2 in Texas

This post is just some additional things that Tia didn't touch on about our day yesterday.

Our new favorite hangout is Java's 213 on Tremont St. Their Hot Chocolate is killer. Made from super foamed/heated milk by none other than Peyton Manning himself. We are there right now blogging and surfing and trying to wake up after hibernating last night. I stuffed myself last night with some incredible BBQ ribs and marinated chicken at the aforementioned Saltgrass. This is how Java's looks early on a Friday morning:



Something we did yesterday that we'll probably never see again in our lives was a self-guided tour of an old deep-sea oil drilling platform, the Ocean Star. I'll admit it, I felt fairly stupid trying to understand all of the advanced mechanical techniques used to extract oil from depths approaching 7 miles into the earth. Here are some photos from up on that top platform where the actual drilling mechanism is located.



Click on the picture below to get a good look at "Power Tongs." They are just to the right of center. They provide a way to screw together the drill pipe connections. I need to get me a pair for when I go to the "Power Chinese Buffet."



Other random notes:

We rode Galveston Island's Transit System. They are trolleys, but are powered by gas or diesel, not electric.

An 11-year-old girl in the hottub, nervous about the wind and hurricanes, asked a guy from Texas if they ever have 'Salamis' in Texas. I'm guessing she meant 'Tsunami.' I think they have plenty of Salamis in Texas.

The Strand district is nice. Fullen's Waterwall makes great affordable Mexican food in addition to their bread and butter, burgers. It's actually more of a beer garden than a restaurant. Nice!

That's it. Time to make a crude map of Houston and find out if we can get a half-day pass to Schlitterbahn, the indoor water park!

-David Carr

So, Bob pissed off a dog the size of a football and it tried to attack him! And we've only been awake for an hour.

Last night we were on a quest for some Texas BBQ - and after finding Leons 'World Finest' was closed, we ended up back down on Seawall at Saltgrass Steakhouse. Its a chain here in Tejas, but its good. We got some REALLY good food, and I got a glass of wine made here in Texas. A Riesling. It was so good I went and bought a bottle at the grocery store (more on that later). The odd thing at Saltgrass is that we had 5-6 servers! One girl seated us and explained the wine list and beef cut list. Then another girl came and took our drink order. Said drinks were then served by a guy. Then our food order was taken by yet another girl, and was served by another completely different girl! Then halfway through dinner some big dude asked us if we wanted more wine & beer. Whew! I think we were waited on by half the staff there! It made things interesting.



Bob was sufficiently fattened up and I convined him to go to Kroger Grocery with me to buy some Texas BBQ sauce to bring home. Well, behold! They sell wine in grocery stores here! Nice! So I found the wine I had at dinner and bought a bottle. I also picked up another Texas riesling for the fun of it. The labels say ONLY SOLD IN TEXAS, so I don't think even Marketview liquor will have it. Bummer. We did the self checkout at Kroger, and when I had to show the attendant my ID I got "y'all"ed for the first time this trip. Fun!

~Tia

You came all the way to this coffee shop and you ordered a coke??

That's what Bob said to me when we got here! What? I wanted a coke. :)

I'm posting this via my PDA...I know, I spent so many years making fun of them, but now I'm one of 'those' people. Plus since I've gotten older my memory is in the pooper and the different alert functions work nice - even though we left the yummy Scranton cheese in Bob's mom's fridge. She can have fun with it. :)

We are having tons of fun here! And I got to put my feet in the Gulfo de Mexico (a first for me!). After a shocking realization that I didn't pack Bob any socks and a quick trip to Wal-mart this morning, everything is fine now. I think we are going to eat our way across the island today, then tomorrow head to the indoor water park. Although our bathing suits won't fit after today!We are on the north side of the island right now, we took the trolley up here. Bobs loving the fast internet up here, it soothes him. And I'm loving my coke. ;)

Below is a picture of some cute seagulls enjoying the view with us. These are not like the chubby Burger-King-parking-lot-gulls from home. Much cuter!



~Tia

Where's Chuck Norris?

Well, we made it to Galveston. They were all out of economy cars, so we got a Chrysler Pacifica for the same rate. The Texas Freeway was loaded with great places to eat. Will have to hit up some of them on Saturday.

When we made it to the Hotel Galvez, they informed us that the pool would be open until 10PM and that it is heated to 85 degrees. Now that’s what I’m talking about. It even has a swim up bar, but that wasn’t open when we went down. Maybe Friday night?

We went out last night for some good old Rochester-style night out at Slices, a pool hall/sports bar. We watched UCLA give away the Emerald Bowl to Florida State and got some pizza. Wait. You went all the way to Galveston, Texas to get Pizza in a bar? Well…there was also an amazing dish known as Frito Pie. Take a bed of corn chips, and pour chili and cheese on top it. Eat with a fork. What it lacks in complexity, it more than makes up for in execution.

The morning view from the 5th floor of the Hotel Galvez ‘Island View’ rooms. It’s a lot like Scranton, except completely flat and no Yankee fans.

Oh yeah, and they have SONIC here!!!


How’s this for a breakfast? Deep Fried Cheesecake bites with Strawberry syrup, French Toast sticks with Maple syrup, and Tater Tots! Somehow we missed the cheesecake milkshake. If we don’t make it back to New York, it’s because we’re lying dead in the parking lot at Sonic on Seawall Blvd. Interestingly, the girl who brought out our food was wearing a WINTER coat. It was 65 at the time. I’ll be rocking shorts the rest of the day.

About Seawall, we went down to the ‘Gulfo de Mexico’ this morning. Pretty damn cool, even though we are staying in the Tsunami zone. We were taking the picture you see below when Tia was attacked by a brutal rogue wave. It made her pant bottoms all wet. Somehow I will get blamed for this. :)


There’s a pretty good sized Rutgers crowd down here for the Texas Bowl which takes place in Houston tonight at the same stadium as the Eagles Super Bowl loss to the Patriots and the epic Browns/Texans clash we’re going to on Sunday. I’ve only seen one lonely Kansas State fan.

I leave you with the view of our hotel from The Gulfo. For those of you who don’t ‘Habla Espanol,’ that means, The Gulf.

-Bob

Now THIS is an airport!

So Tia came back from Concourse D eventually. She said she walked about half a mile to Starbucks, but took the SUBWAY back!!!

So we went and rode the train again for Schnitzengiggles.



The whole place is set up like a bunch of + symbols strung together.

++++++

The vertical lines are the Concourses. T and A, B, C, D and E.

You have to go about 60 feet underground to get to the one horizontal line. You can either walk it or take a subway loop.

This place makes BWI look small.

For dinner I had the most absurd steak sandwich ever.
http://www.charleyssteakery.com/index_M.htm



Yes, that's bacon, swiss, provolone, and cheddar on sirloin.

I'll go pass out on the flight to Texas now.

First Leg of the Trip

So much for posting from the Rochester Airport. More on that later.



The above is what we left behind in Rochester. First nice snowstorm of the year. It is about 50 and sunny in Atlanta right now. Not that much better. Worse if you have a season pass to Bristol Mountain.

Interestingly enough, we were reminded of the wedding in the concourse in Rochester.

It is 3:56 and we landed 25 minutes ago in Atlanta. I would have posted something from Rochester, except that everybody on our flight was checking multiple bags and we got to the gate with about an hour to spare. At that point, we tried to use the wireless internet in the 'Players Lounge.' Carmelo Anthony was there. I sucker punched him and ran away.

We had some issues trying to keep the PDA and the laptop logged in at the same time. When we figured it out, the network conveniently slowed to a crawl or went into 'Operation Shutdown.' What's worse, I bought a Blue Light bottle for 6 fucking bucks as a courtesy for using the power outlet in the lounge. So I got one beer, no internet, no blog post.

In Atlanta, the streets are paved in chocolate and the buildings built with Graham Crackers. You have to pay $4.95 for 24 hours of wireless high-speed, but at this point it's well worth it. It really is fairly quick. Will attempt to transfer my session to the PDA when Tia gets back from Concourse D.

Concourse D, of course, is where the only Starbucks is. :)

A picture of the chocolate (or cheesesteaks) is forthcoming when Tia gets back with the camera.

Getting Ready to Leave

We are about an hour away from heading to the Rochester Airport for our trip. We are going to be fully equipped with laptop and Tia's new PDA, equipped with 802.11b, so we'll be able to broadcast our exploits to a nation-wide (or circle of friends-wide) audience.

I've got to go put some pants on and find everyone's E-mail addresses to send this thing out. Feel free to comment as much as you want and I'll probably be back in touch from the airport since they have wireless.

-Bob