2/25

It's been a quiet week here in Lake Wobegone. Em left for San Antonio on Tues for a class in acupuncture for animals (who knew?). Randy has been involved in a big project which takes lots of his time in the evenings and last weekend. And he may have to fly out to Buffalo on Sunday. Em will be back Sunday afternoon, so the girls can watch the Oscars together. We spent a couple of hours this afternoon with Randy's son who helped J pick out a new cell phone. Thursday is Em's birthday, so we will stay for that, plus the following weekend, and hit the road on 3/7.

2/21

Emily was off work Sat afternoon and all day Sunday, so it was "girls' weekend" that included manicure, pedicure, shopping (mainly for maternity clothes), breakfast at their favorite restaurant, and the highlight of the weekend - high tea. Randy had to work, but we went to Katz's Deli for breakfast. Salmon was worth the drive.

2/19 part 2

The other day we were on a 2-lane frontage road. I had the curb lane, and the a**hole in the other lane decided he wanted to make a right turn, so he cut in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and laid on the horn. Didn't faze f***wad one iota. Emily tells me to be careful, since many of these idiots carry guns. I brought some sandwiches back to the motel today and we ate them in the breakfast room. There were 5 groups of people, almost all men, totally engrossed in the TV show about concealed guns: which to buy, how to carry them, practicing your draw, etc. Before we began this odyssey, I told a local attorney our plans. He claims he hates Texas so much that he will not take a flight that crosses Texas for fear that they will have to make an emergency landing. I am beginning to have the same warm feelings about Houston.

2/19

Lots of good news today! It's official: J is scheduled to become a grandmother on 9/6. She and Emily are both very excited. And the good news for me is that J will spend part of August and all of September in Sugar Land! Party on Cottonwood!
Had a nice home cooked dinner with the kids last night - the first time since Thanksgiving that we did not eat at a restaurant. Nothing fancy: grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and spinach. Tasted great. One of the little things that we miss. Will also be nice not having to run down to the lobby every morning for coffee and the same old breakfast before they stop serving.
Kimble was the museum that J visited in Fort Worth. She says it is a beautiful building, and the art work was also great.

2/18

Arrived in Sugar Land just in time for the afternoon rush hour yesterday. Some of the most aggressive and crazy drivers we have seen are on Houston highways. Saw a near accident right ahead of us, when some idiot forced another driver from the left lane onto the shoulder - at 60 MPH. Accident or stupidity? We are looking forward to some home-cooked meals while we are here - something we have not had since Thanksgiving. The simple things in life!
We both liked Fort Worth better than Dallas. Visited the Stockyard section before we left, and drove by the old courthouse - beautiful old building. J checked out a museum.

2/15

We liked Abilene, especially the warm weather and the Grace Museum, which is a beautifully restored old hotel. No rooms available in Fort Worth, so J got the deal of the trip for us at the Renaissance Hotel in Dallas: $99 per night, and the 3rd night was free. A spacious, well-appointed room on the top (30th) floor. Everyone was still talking about the Super Bowl: the terrible weather and the fact that the NFL booked our entire hotel. Did some sightseeing including a sculpture museum and the Trammel Crow Asian museum. Apparently the tough economic times have not hit Dallas: road and building construction everywhere. On Sat afternoon, we observed a large site with 2 tall cranes moving concrete around the site, 2 pumpers, and at one point 15 concrete trucks in line waiting to off-load. Someone was paying some serious OT. One of J's friends recommended burgers at a restaurant that serves them only on Sun and Mon. Great. We finished them off with house-made ice cream: French sea salt and carmel. Delicious. We are now at the former Texas Hotel, where JFK spent his last night. Local restaurants were all booked last night for Valentine's Day, so we ordered a pizza.

2/10

Headed for Abilene today and Fort Worth tomorrow. Houston on Thursday. The other night we watched the local news, and either the weather reporter was a total goofball or drunk. The highlight for us was video of I-40 in a whiteout and his comment that the authorities did not shut down the highway - "but I wouldn't drive on that sucker!"

2/9 part 2

We spent a very enjoyable 2 hours at the Silent Wing Museum, dedicated to glider pilots of WWII. Lots of memorabilia, including a full-sized glider from the era, and parts of others that showed how they were put together, etc. Did not know that many of the gliders were built by Ford at Willow Run. Once again, J really wanted to call her Dad, who originally wanted to be a glider pilot, but became a top turret gunner on B17s instead. He survived 35 missions.

2/9

Temp here in Lubbock at 9AM was 5, wind chill negative 14. Yesterday we drove around Texas Tech Univ. Large, spacious, self-contained (as opposed to UM which mixes town and gown), with beautiful buildings. We saw someplace that the U was founded in the mid-20s. Of course J found a museum on campus, so we spent some time there. Lunch at Cafe J - seemed appropriate. After lunch we visited the Buddy Holly museum. Located where? On Crickets Dr, of course. We would like to see the glider museum today, if it warms up a bit.

Super Bfowl Sunday

Can we pick 'em or what? We are in Amarillo and woke up this AM to SNOW! Emily says temp in Houston is 70. We decided to stay another night here at the Drury. Will go down for happy hour tonight, score some beer and junk and watch the game in the room. Dinner last night at the Big Texan Steakhouse, which has been featured several times on the Travel Chanel. If you can eat their 72 oz steak and fixin's in less than an hour, the meal is free. They seated us up front near the platform where a young man was taking the challenge - and he won in 54 minutes. Young man, around 5'7" and maybe 150 lbs. Our steaks were substantially smaller: good taste, well prepared, but the meat cutter does not know how to trim. Many years ago, Pete Sherman and I were at a steakhouse in Indy and they offered a similar challenge. We looked at the details and price, decided against the challenge, but if we ordered it and split it, the price was right. Then the waitress told us it would take a few hours to prepare the meat. We passed. Weather permitting (or, as my Grandmother used to say: Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise), we will head for Lubbock tomorrow.

2/4

Spent a couple of hours yesterday at the Pueblo Cultural Center Museum. Had eaten at the restaurant a few times and visited the gift shop, this was the first visit to the museum. Very impressive. Lots of art and artifacts, plus displays. Could easily spend a week there reading all the info and history.
Governor announced yesterday that there was a shortage of natural gas and some 30k homes had no heat. She closed the government offices and schools to conserve nat gas for residential users, asking everyone to turn down the thermostat by 10 degrees. Most of the schools were going to be closed anyway, due to frozen (broken) water pipes and disabled buses.
Today the temp rose to the mid-30s, and the winds died down. Break out the Bermuda shorts! We took the tram up to Sandia Peak - 2 miles high. Magnificent views, and a beautiful day. One of the workers said that the other day the wind chill at the peak was negative 40. It took a while to get to the tram, because I entered an address in the gps, which turned out to the corporate headquarters, which was on the other side of the mountain. Oh, well. Back to the Cultural Center for dinner and had a bowl of mutton stew. Have never before seen it on a menu, and I loved it. We head east tomorrow.

2/3

Went to the balloon museum yesterday, which was very interesting. Lots of displays and history. Then we drove around the Univ and downtown. Most of the streets around the U are named after other universities. I could not find Villanova - their loss. Temp as measured by my car never got over 11, and winds were still strong. Reports last night of rolling black-outs in Las Cruces, and fear of gas shortages in Abq. Local temp at 10AM today: 6, but forecast of mid-20s today.

I keep forgetting that a TV station in Phoenix is KGUN, and they pronounce it K Gun.

2/1

Yesterday, temp stayed in the mid-teens, but sustained winds of 30MPH turned cold into FRIGID! At 10 today, temp was 4, which was colder than A2. Schools, including the University, were closed yesterday and today. Hot air balloon museum was closed yesterday, but the turquoise museum was open. I had no idea turquoise came from that many parts of the world, in that many colors. Apparently, the color stones most people associate with turquoise come from Kingman AZ Went back to the Pueblo Center last night for comfort food: we split a flat bread app and bison short ribs. The whole state has been socked. Alamogordo has at least 6 inches of snow on the ground, and I-25 is closed from Las Cruces to just south of Abq.

2/1

Looked out the window this AM and saw snow on the ground - 1-2 inches. And temp at 9AM is 16. Good day to hit a museum. Traffic is moving well in town, so getting there should be no problem. Had a nice dinner last night at the Pueblo Cultural Center, right across the street. Menu emphasized Native American recipes. Will probably return to tour the facility and have another meal. We changed our plans, and stay here until Fri, when the sun returns and temps warm up.