2001-05-23 - 14:06

I went down to the Texas border

By the time I finished getting my pictures ready last night, I was too zonked to add an entry here. I'll step through the weekend trip to Houston now, before it becomes old news.

The flight in on Friday was smooth. The woman next to me on the plane had just had her tongue pierced in Toronto, which I thought was quite a souvenier. By the time I made it to Aaron's place, it was getting late, so we just grabbed something to eat and chilled out.

Saturday, Aaron showed me the Galleria, a massive mall. A few of the shops were interesting and the rink was strange to see. The idea of stepping inside the mall on a hot, muggy day to go skating is pretty cool. Hanson Galleries was my favourite shop. A lot of their intricate woodworking crafts reminded me of the toy box that my brother made a few years ago. I ended up buying a very cool looking dragon statue, which is now sitting on my dresser.

We got back to the apartment with no plan. I grabbed the map, saw that Hermann Park and the Houston Zoo were close to where we were, so I decided to head there. After some prodding, Aaron eventually put down the PlayStation controller and we hit the road. (I think he was reluctant to leave the air conditioned apartment.)

The park was enjoyable and we made a quick tour of the zoo. (It had to be quick, since we arrived shortly before closing time.) We decided to walk home (which was a bit tiring in the heat) so we got to pass by a few notable sights. We took a stroll around the sculpture garden and also stopped in at a kick-ass record store. Any store offering every Nick Cave CD and five or six Einst�rzende Neubauten discs gets top marks from me. I walked away with an Angelo Moore CD (odd poetry and saxaphone) and a PJ Harvey single.

For Sunday, we decided to see the part of the park that we had missed (in particular, the garden) and the Museum of Fine Arts. The museum was featuring a Star Wars exhibit, so we checked that out, as well as the more traditional museum pieces.

I enjoyed the garden mainly for its Japanese theme. A sign inside the garden noted that Houston is a sister city of Chiba, Japan; and a Japanese styling enhanced some of the scenery.

On Monday, Aaron was working, so I did some more wandering around town before the heat drove me back inside. My flight home was worrisome. We were late leaving Houston; and I was expecting to miss my flight from Toronto. I ended up sprinting from the plane to customs, which I tried to move through as quickly as possible.

My dragon put me slightly over my exemption, so I was supposed to pay tax on it. The girl working at customs saw that I was frantic and told me, "It's not worth charging you. Turn left over there, take the escalator, and run!" Woohoo! Fortunately, I did make my Ottawa flight, so I made it home sometime after 1:00 AM.

I didn't exactly experience a lot of Houston, but I did enjoy what I saw. I'm always happy to go somewhere new and get outside. All in all, it was a fun long weekend and I'm very glad that I was able to go.

J.