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Travelogue:
Texas (mostly)
April 2003
Part 2
By Roger W. Reini
WORK IN PROGRESS
By date:
April 8 to
18 (Part 1) | 19th | 20th | 21st
| 22nd | 23rd | 24th
| 25th
April 26 to May 2 (Part 3)
...Read part 1
Saturday April 19
On XM radio this morning, I heard one of their "This Day In
History" reports that take the place of many commercials. Today in 1995
was the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing. I
remembered being in Chicago when that happened. I was visiting the Gurnee
Mills outlet mall north of town that morning. I saw news reports of the
bombing on a TV set in the mall. Later that day, I recall going to the
Bahá'í House of Worship in Wilmette to offer prayers for the victims.
I took it easy this morning, for I would be leaving here by 11. I did my
normal morning routine – breakfast, e-mail, paper, etc. But today, I had
to finish packing. With the groceries and other purchases I'd made, I'd be
leaving with more stuff than when I arrived. Most of the groceries could be
used down in Nassau Bay at the hotel. But I decided to throw out the ham;
although it tasted all right, some parts of it began to look a little
strange. Best not to chance eating rotten meat, so into the trash it went. I
had a bad experience with food poisoning on a previous trip down here, and I
did not want a repeat. I ran the dishwasher for the one and only time this
trip. I retrieved the luggage cart for two trips to the car to load all of
my stuff. Then it was time for a final room check, and then I checked out. I
was slightly concerned that the calls I'd been making for my Net access
would show up on the bill, but they didn't. They were truly local calls. And
so, at 10:06 AM, I left the Studio Plus hotel for the last time on this
trip.
According to the Extended Stay America Website, I would not be able to
check into the Nassau Bay hotel until 3. I had five hours to kill. I'd start
by driving to the River Oaks shopping center and seeing how busy their Honey
Baked Ham store was. But before I got there, I stopped at Rockin' Robin on
S. Shepherd for some guitar strings for my 12-string guitar, which I'd
brought along on this trip. That was my acoustic 12-string, which Mom and
Dad got for me in 1980. It still sounds great, but the strings were in need
of replacement. I picked up a set of D'Addario lights and tossed them onto
the seat for use later. On to the ham store: you might think there would be
a line outside the door, but there wasn't. There were only a few people
there. That gave me the idea to get a pound of ham for myself. I could have
genuine, honest-to-goodness Honey Baked Ham for Easter! It was quite
expensive on a per-pound basis ($11 per pound), but what can you do when it
doesn't make sense to get 5 or 6 pounds of it? I got my ham, found room in
the cooler for it, then proceeded onward. There was no place else I wanted
to visit there (I'd already been in the Kroger's), so I left. Lunchtime was
nearing, so I thought, why not find something at the Galleria? While driving
there, I was listening to KPFT, one of the public radio stations in town.
One of the performers (Paul Thorne?) sang a song about Viagra and getting
some before it falls (in case young ones are reading this, I won't explain
further).
At the Galleria, I stopped at a newsstand for the early edition of the
Sunday paper, then had lunch at Ninfa's. I didn't want Bennigans; I didn't
want any other fast food; and though I thought about La Madeleine, I decided
to go with Ninfa's and their El Henry combo. I ate my lunch while looking
out over the skating rink and also while reading a couple of sections of the
paper. When I was finished, I took the paper back to my car (no sense
carrying that around everywhere), then walked around for a bit. By the time
I got to the Macy's section, I was in dire need of a restroom. Fortunately,
I found the men's room on the third floor of Macy's, and afterwards, I was
very happy. I could afford to contemplate the $15,000 life-sized model of
C3PO at the Sharper Image store (and contemplate was all I could afford to
do with that!).
After I left the Galleria, I wanted to find the Houston Baha'i Center. I
thought I remembered the address for it, and I knew where to find that
address. Or I thought I did. I drove to where I thought it was, but I
couldn't find it. I was disappointed, so I vowed to check their website to
see where I went wrong. But now, it was time to head for Nassau Bay. Traffic
on the freeways was just fine until the exit for Scarsdale Blvd. There, I
could see a backup in the distance. Time to exit and travel down Highway 3
again. This time, I took Clear Lake City Boulevard over to El Camino and
took that down to the new Kroger's (as opposed to the old Kroger's at El
Camino and Nasa Road 1). This Kroger is less than 2 years old and is built
on the former site of a Safeway store. I figured I'd stop here and do my
grocery shopping, for it wouldn't be long before I would be in my room. My
car was rather full with luggage and the groceries I was bringing from the
other hotel, but I had enough room to put some more in there.
By the time I was done, it was after 3. I could now check in at the
hotel. This would be my third stay at the hotel. I received room 215 –
second floor, facing the south. This worked out well from a satellite radio
perspective. It took me a while to unload the car, as the luggage carts were
not available right then. Housekeeping was using them to take up the freshly
cleaned towels and linen. Eventually, a cart became available, and I
unloaded the car in short order.
I was familiar with the rooms here at Extended Stay, yet they seemed
small to me after leaving the Studio Plus room. The TV channel selection was
much smaller here than the other place, for here, they relied on a satellite
connection rather than the city cable system. It was not long before I
settled in. I listened to the Astros lose to the Brewers in 14 innings. I
called my uncle Lloyd, and he told me about Detroit's reactions to the woes
of the Wings and Tigers. I started to change the strings on my guitar, but I
realized that I would need to get some wire cutters to do the job properly.
I didn't have any with me; I had several, but they were all at home. So I
traveled to the Super Target in Kemah to get some, for I'd never been there
before. A Super Target is like a regular Target except that it has a grocery
section. I found the cutters, and then I pulled some money to tide me over
for a while. On the way back to the hotel, I passed by League City's second
McDonald's (the first being at the freeway, fairly close to our old house)
and got a McNuggets meal for supper. This was the meal I was to have had in
Marshall last Saturday but was denied due to no Sprite. League City's really
moving up in the world now – 2 McDonald's, 2 Kroger's, 2 Sonic's.
Once I got back to the hotel, I realized that I needed to get paper
towels. Fortunately, I could just walk over to the nearby Eckerd drug store
and get them, and that's what I did. Later, I finished changing the strings
on my guitar, started breaking them in, and then I took it easy the rest of
the evening.
Top
Sunday April 20
Today was Easter Sunday, and I had no real plans. I thought I'd have some
Honey Baked Ham and some mashed potatoes for my Easter dinner. I needed to
do laundry, and I took care of that in the morning. Later, I decided to take
my video camera for a drive around the lake. More specifically, I was going
to duplicate a trip from 1989, more or less, by videoing a trip from our old
house to Kemah and Seabrook. I had the camera running nearly continuously
during the trip. I swung by our old house; people were living there. George
Mallios was out, reading his paper, but I didn't stop to see him. There
would be time for that later.
I noticed that the Texaco station at FM 518 and the Gulf Freeway was now
a Shell station. As Texaco, that station had been there as long as I could
remember. I imagine it was there when the freeway first opened in the
1950's. Same with the Exxon station on the west side of the freeway. I
remember when it was Enco, and it probably was Humble before that. West Main
didn't look too different from last year – in fact, nothing looked very
different from last year, except in Kemah, where there was even more
construction near the new Target and Home Depot. I thought I saw an Office
Depot being built there, as well as a Taco Cabana.
When I returned to the hotel, I had a call waiting for me. It was Keith.
It seems I was invited to Easter dinner at his ex-wife's house. That was
very nice of her to extend an invitation to me, and I accepted. I showered,
then passed the time reading until it was time to leave. I got to his house
around 1. I had expected that we'd go over in his car, but he asked if we
could take my car instead, for he was extremely low on gas and did not trust
his ability to get to a gas station in time. I agreed. Besides, he wanted to
listen to my XM radio. As he got into my back seat (my front seat had a lot
of stuff on it), I turned on the Soul Street channel as we drove off. I
didn't know where his ex lived until I was told to turn down Calder Road.
Might we be heading to your old house, I asked. Indeed we were, he replied.
When we arrived, there were already many people there, including Renee
(ex-wife), Hannah (daughter), Renee's sisters and mother, their spouses,
some friends, etc, the vast majority of whom I'd never met before and might
never meet again. I spent some time explaining what I do at Ford, listening
to other conversations, enjoying the dinner and the cream soda that had a
head worthy of a top beer, etc. Also enjoyable was the homemade strawberry
ice cream that Keith made. All in all, I had a nice time there.
When we left, I had to perform an important duty: follow Keith as he
drove his car to the gas station in case he couldn't make it. Fortunately,
he did make it and gassed up. As I was around a half-tank, I decided to gas
up as well. Off to Eckerd's for munchies and some medicines, then back to
his place for a guy's night in – South Park, an old episode of Stargate,
and some research into plasma-screen displays and their capabilities.
Somebody was interested in buying one, and it wasn't me. Well, I'd be
interested if I had the money....
It was fairly late when I returned to my hotel room, and I ended up
having an Antone's po-boy sandwich along with chips and hot sauce. Man, that
sauce (Nuevo Leon sauce from Austin by way of Central Market) was HOT!
Speaking of Central Market, the next one in the area is going to be in the
Woodlands, said Keith; he was hoping for one down this way. I can understand
why he'd like one here, for it's a bit of a drive to get to the Westheimer
location. I asked if he'd heard about Fry's Electronics building a store
down this way, and he'd not heard of any plans. I thought I'd read something
somewhere suggesting they would. That would be more convenient, as well.
Unfortunately, neither the Central Market nor Fry's is coming to Detroit any
time soon.
I never did get around to having that Honey Baked Ham and the pork and
beans....
Top
Monday April 21
Today was a Holy Day, the first day of Ridván in the Bahá'í calendar,
commemorating the day in 1863 (140 years ago) when Bahá'u'lláh first
announced His station and ministry to the world. Bahá'ís around the world
would be gathering to celebrate. If I were back in Detroit, I would be
attending the celebration at the Detroit Bahá'í Center. If I knew where
any celebrations were locally, I'd be attending those. But I didn't, so I
didn't. Instead, I took it easy today, not doing much of anything. Most of
the day, I stayed inside my room listening to Deep Tracks on XM 40, the
successor to the old album-rock FM stations of the past. I read from some of
the books that I had brought or bought, including one that contained a talk
given by Bahá'u'lláh's son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, on this day in 1912. I also
read from the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. I remember reading or
attempting to read them when I was younger, though I didn't pick up on what
he was trying to say at the time. I also did some work on this travelogue.
It was time to do dishes, but I didn't have a dishrag in the room.
Perhaps the staff had forgotten to provide one. So I walked over to the
Eckerd's next door and got a sponge, along with some aspirin. When walking
back, I passed up the hotel and visited The Space Store next door. Perhaps
they'd have some interesting merchandise, possibly some of the DVD sets from
Spacecraft Films. They did have the Apollo 11 set, but I already had that
one.
Supper tonight was pasta again, this time with jalapeńo pesto sauce. It
wasn't as spicy as you might think. It actually turned out all right. I'd
picked this up at the Central Market last week. Afterwards, I did the
dishes. I didn't have any choice; the sink would be completely full if I
didn't do them. Then I went out for a bit. First, I visited the new Best Buy
at Bay Area and Gulf Freeway, a much larger store than their old one. I saw
a nice HDTV from Samsung that I wouldn't mind getting, if I could afford it.
Then I went over to the Casual Male store and got a new T-shirt, as well as
the Barnes and Noble for the new TV Guide and yesterday's Sunday Times from
London. The K-Mart sign was already down from the old store.
Back in the hotel room, I read the TV Guide and started to read the
Sunday Times while listening to 60s on 6 on XM Radio. It was a decent way to
end a slack day.
It wasn't completely a day of relaxation, though. As a result of new
updates to Windows provided by Microsoft, my laptop began acting strangely,
locking up to such an extent that I would have to hit the reset switch
frequently. That did not help my mood. Also not helping were the many
problems in dialing out; half of the time, I wouldn't get a dial tone. None
of this is conducive to rest and relaxation. Boy, do I miss my high-speed
connection at home!
Top
Tuesday April 22
The day started out as usual – breakfast, paper, e-mail, etc. Now what
would I do today, on a day that had very little sun? I had some seven or
eight pictures to take on the roll of film in my camera, so I decided to
find some opportunities for taking those pictures. I started in Walter Hall
Park, formerly Galveston County Park. The name change happened after I left,
so I still think of it by its old name. I pulled in, parked the car, and
went for a walk in a section of the park where vehicles were forbidden. I
remembered going through this stretch of the park many years ago, the far
southwest corner, and seeing what I thought might have been remnants of the
old Interurban railroad just outside the park boundary. The far corner came
very close to the high-voltage power lines that mark the old rail corridor,
and there is a driveway just alongside. Remnants of an old station or
powerhouse, maybe? Twenty-plus years of growth made it hard to see anything,
though. I didn't feel like walking up to the fence, pushing my way through
the underbrush and trying to see what I could see. Perhaps I could try
finding a satellite view of the area when I get home. But I did find a
rabbit that stood still for several moments. I took a picture of it with my
normal lens but wanted to get another one with a longer length lens. I
changed lenses quickly, but not quickly enough for the rabbit. I hadn't
frightened him, but he had hopped off by the time I was ready.
When I left the park, I drove through the neighborhood just across
Highway 3 from the park. And at the far end of the street (Byron Street, for
those who care to know), a black cat was lying right in the middle of the
street without a care in the world. Fortunately for him or her, it was not a
busy street. I passed it by and said hello to it, then drove on. Then I got
the idea to take a picture of it. So I turned around, put the longer-length
lens on the camera, then took two pictures of the cat lying there. To
paraphrase the old song, "there's a live cat in the middle of the
road".
There was a new development going up at Perkins and Main – Station
Square, I believe it was called – on the site of a former cement plant or
some other plant. I had a heck of a time turning from Perkins Street onto
Main Street due to traffic and hidden sight lines. But I eventually did
turn, which led to more wandering through the historic part of town. I saw
that the old Butler Building had been renovated into office space; when I
was growing up and riding my bicycle in the area, it was an abandoned
building. I drove down Kansas Street to its end, near a small cemetery. A
long time ago, that was the old Galveston road. But no longer. Any bridge
across the creek that had existed was long gone, and the short drive to the
creek bank was gated off. I backed up, then used the cemetery driveway to
turn around. I stopped for a while in Helen's Garden, a fairly new
(dedicated 1999) garden and contemplative area along Main Street. It was
named for Helen Hall, wife of Walter Hall, the one whom the park was named
after. He owned the League City Bank & Trust (now MaximBank), and she
helped found the library. It is a nice spot, and I took some pictures there.
I even saw a gray cat roaming around. It was while I was there that I
finished the roll of film and put in another.
It was nearing lunchtime, and I had a roll of film to develop. Solution:
go to Baybrook. I dropped the film off at Ritz Camera and went wandering
around. The place hadn't changed that much, not from last May. After having
lunch at Luby's and picking up the new Speed Racer DVD at FYE, I went back
for my pictures. The clerk thought that the last picture on the roll (part
of the pool/waterfall at Helen's Garden) was a very good one. He couldn't
believe that it was located in League City.
By this time, I was ready to leave; I was done with my business there. I
took Bay Area heading west, passing by the future site of a Super Target,
and then I took the old Friendswood Link Road (hadn't done that in a long
time), which ultimately took me to Friendswood and FM 518. I drove back
towards League City, taking a detour to drive through The Landing
subdivision. I used to ride my bike out there while it was being
constructed. It looks a lot different with houses than it did with bare
streets. I encountered one street, Floyd Road, that used to go all the way
up to 518, but it doesn't any more. I've found quite a few roads like that
in the area.
When I got back to the hotel, I decided to watch the Speed Racer DVD. I
ended up watching the first 2 episodes (out of 11 on the disc). Later on,
after watching the channel 11 and CBS newscasts, I decided to try the Hot
Wok restaurant for supper. But it wasn't quite what I expected. I thought it
would be similar to Mongolian barbecue (though there is Hans Mongolian
Barbecue nearby), but it wasn't, not really. The Kung Pao chicken I had was
OK, but it wasn't anything really special.
Sometime during the day, Chris Mallios had called and left a message. He
was going to take me to the ballgame next week and wanted to know what
preferences I had for seats. I called him back and said, try the club level.
Those seats sound interesting.
Top
Wednesday April 23
I had a dream this morning: I was at work, part of a team giving a
presentation. On what, I don't know, but as the presentation began, I was
told to turn off the radio. But no matter what I did, I could not turn off
the radio. I unplugged things, tossed them out, but still it kept playing.
When I woke up, the radio in my room was indeed playing; it was playing the
60's on 6 channel from XM. I'd fallen asleep to it.
I showered, read the paper and had breakfast. Then I called our old
next-door neighbor, George Mallios. I asked if it would be convenient for me
to come over and visit right then, and it was. Half an hour later, I was
over there in his driveway, sitting and talking with him. He's doing OK for
someone who's 81. He was telling me about some refurbishing work he's had
done on the house – new tiles throughout, foundation leveled, cracks
sealed, drywall replaced where necessary. While I was there, son Jeff
called, and I spoke to him briefly. It had been a few years since I'd seen
him. When I told him about the ballgame I'd be attending with his brother
next Tuesday, he sounded like he wanted to get in on it.
When I left, I headed out to Alvin for a visit to Joe's Barbecue.
Although I had planned on just having a BBQ sandwich, tradition got the
better of me, and I had a BBQ baked potato with everything on it. Man, those
taters are BIG! Definitely bigger than Goode Co. taters! I could not fnish
it, although I came close. Over at the next table, a baby was looking at me
eat my supper whenever he could see me. I was wearing a bright red Hawaiian
shirt, and his parents explained that Junior likes red. One, perhaps both
parents work there (at least they wore Joe's BBQ shirts), and I think that
owner Joe may have been the grandfather. When I left, I visited the nearby
Wal-Mart for a time then came on back to the hotel. Later, I felt like
taking my guitar to the Nassau Bay park, so I did. Last year, it was a small
Backpacker guitar; this year, it was my acoustic 12-string. I didn't play
very loudly so as not to disturb anyone. All of a sudden, I started yawning.
I was getting sleepy for some reason, so I went back to the hotel. I didn't
have much for supper, just a ham sandwich. I watched the new episode of
"Enterprise", then put on the ballgame. While I had the game on, I
noticed that I was getting chilly. The air conditioning was turned higher
than it had been, yet I was definitely chilled. I put on a sweatshirt, pants
and socks before going to bed. I'd also taken some echinacea capsules to
bolster my immune system. I remembered the last time I had a chill during
vacation; it turned into food poisoning. The bolstering worked; when I woke
up in the middle of the night, I was warm. Another bug bites the dust, I
hope.
Top
Thursday April 24
As the third week of my vacation began, I thought things were beginning
to slow down for me. The word "boredom" began to creep into my
thoughts. But I dismissed it. After my normal morning routine, I made
another visit to Nassau Bay's main park. This portion of it was at the end
of Point Lookout. Until yesterday, I didn't even know this part of the park
existed. There was a small turnaround in the park and a small fishing dock
in the lake. A nearby marker explained that this was Lake Nassau, formerly
Pearson Lake. At one time, Pearson Lake was the private lake on Colonel
Pearson's ranch, which covered the land we know today as Nassau Bay. He or
his descendants sold the ranch in 1962 to the developers who turned it into
Nassau Bay. There was a path that went around the shore; I followed it for a
bit. There was a stretch where the lake was on one side and Clear Creek was
on the other, with no more than 20 feet separating them. As I continued, I
saw Nassau Bay's sewage treatment facility, along with some of the buildings
in the main park. I knew then that the path went all the way around. But I
turned around and went back to my car at this point.
My next destination was the H-E-B store on El Camino. This had been an
Albertson's at one time. I got a few things here, such as Stewart's Cherries
& Cream pop (2 bottles) and a pack of freshly made flour tortillas. I
also got some hummus, which would make good dipping material for the
tortillas. Then I went back to the hotel to put the hummus in the
refrigerator.
When lunchtime rolled around, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I was
entertaining thoughts of Hans Mongolian Barbecue. But first, I was going to
stop by a stockbroker's office. No, not my stockbroker, but a friend of the
family: David Coney, whom I've known since he was born. I used to take piano
lessons from his mother, and my mom babysat him and his older sister. After
graduating from Trinity University, where he played on their
always-contending Division III football team (and made Division III
All-American, if I recall correctly), he became a stockbroker with Edward T.
Jones. He's built up quite a clientele in the two years he's been in the
business. He also just became a father last week (a baby girl). When I
mentioned lunch, he suggested I try La Centinela in League City, on Highway
3 just north of 518. I took his suggestion. The restaurant was in the old
Willis Drug building, which used to be one of the two pharmacies in town at
one time; Smith Pharmacy was the other, though we preferred Willis's. They
had a genuine soda fountain, and I remember enjoying many drinks there.
Today was the first time I'd been inside in who knows how many years – not
since the drug store closed down, in fact. The building was smaller than I'd
remembered it. I sat down and had one of their combination plates: an
enchilada, two tacos, rice and beans. It was all right, and the price wasn't
bad. Still, I think Laredo's in Seabrook is better.
I then went up to the CompUSA and Barnes and Noble stores on Bay Area to
kill some time. Was there anything at the computer store I desparately
needed? No, not counting the restroom facilities. I took a look at their
wireless networking hardware, thinking of ways I could employ it at home.
But I didn't get anything today. I went to the Barnes and Noble and looked
for a birthday card for my sister, but nothing I saw impressed me. After
looking around a bit, and also visiting their restroom facilities, I
returned to the hotel. I got the impression that lunch didn't agree with me,
so I took some generic Pepto-Bismol and rested for a while. Perhaps I'd
indulged my liking for Mexican food a little too much lately.
Later on, I felt well enough to take a drive down to Texas City and the
end of the Texas City Dike. Why? Because I wanted to see what I could see. I
went down 146 to 1764 (the Palmer Highway) and took that all the way across
town to the Dike. This portion of it is a 5-mile long structure that sticks
out into Galveston Bay. Wave action was heaver on the right side (the side
closer to the outlet into the Gulf) than on the left. A boat ramp on the
south side was closed until further notice by order of the Coast Guard. It
was too close to the Port of Texas City. After 5 miles came the end of the
road. From there, you could see vessels pass by on the Intracoastal
Waterway. You could see the Bolivar Ferry boats passing in both directions.
I even saw a cruise vessel pull out from Galveston and head off into the
Gulf, destination unknown (by me; I'm sure the captain knew where he was
going). I saw towers that I thought were petrochemical facilities, but the
location was wrong; they had to be on Galveston or on Pelican Island.
After spending some time and taking some video here, I drove back the way
I came, then took Skyline Drive up a ways. I saw some people swimming in the
bay; one seemed to have a kite they were flying – or I'd suppose a
parasail would be more accurate. Then I left Texas City by way of Loop 197,
passing through the chemical plant area. My destination was Galveston.
Tonight, as supper approached, I decided to take the highway that would lead
to the port area and the Strand district. I parked near Pier 21, visited the
Old Strand Emporium, bought a jar of hot-flavored peanuts, took those back
to the car, then visited Willie G.'s for supper. Why there? One, they
validated parking, and two, I'd never been there. I had one of the evening
specials, shrimp fresca, which consisted of five jumbo Gulf shrimp served
with angel hair pasta and tomato and basil sauce. For appetizers, I had clam
chowder soup and a dinner salad. The chowder was good, the salad less so,
and the main course was delicious. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it. I
had no room for dessert. Which was just as well after I saw the bill. I had
not bothered to ask the price of the special before ordering it, but I
estimated based on what I thought was a similar price in the menu. It turned
out to be double that price, so this ended up being a $42 meal for me
(pre-tip). I don't think I had ever paid that much for a meal for myself
before. Still, it was good. And I did have a view of the Galveston Channel,
which meant I got to see some vessels pass, including at least one barge.
And I was sitting directly across from those structures I'd seen from the
Dike; they were offshore oil drilling rigs. So I was paying for the view, no
doubt. At least I didn't have to pay for the parking on top of that.
After a short drive around town, I was heading to the hotel up the
freeway, listening to 60's on 6 and their Sweet 16 Music Machine, which
tonight was playing the top 16 from April 24, 1966. Back at the hotel, I
turned on the ballgame and read for a bit. I also visited the restroom a few
times; it seemed that my problems from earlier in the day had returned. Not
fun. I eventually had to take some generic Imodium before I could settle
down to a comfortable sleep.
Top
Friday April 25
I woke up later than usual today; I was up for good after 8. Must have
made up for a less than ideal night a day ago. After my usual morning
routine, I went to the Nassau Bay park and proceeded to walk all the way
around it – well, to the other side of it, anyway. Half of the lake is
bordered by private property, so it's not possible to walk all the way
around it. I did pass by the old and new tennis courts, the soccer goals
with no nets in them, the softball and baseball diamonds (recalling the time
my 7th grade English class played a game here in the summertime). When I
left the park, I drove to the Kemah Boardwalk, my first visit on this trip.
It wasn't much different than in times past, though it wasn't very busy
today as it was a school weekday. Although there were many fine restaurants
there, I wasn't really hungry for anything. Well, I did have a very good
strawberry malt from the Marble Slab Creamery, but other than that I didn't
eat anything. As I left there and returned to the hotel, I entertained
thoughts about stopping somewhere to get a birthday card for my sister. But
during the drive, I felt like I should get back to the room without delay.
My feelings were right; the generic Imodium had not yet done its job. So
after taking another dose, I augmented it with two aspirin. Perhaps the
combination would work. I passed the time by checking my e-mail, most of
which was absolute garbage. However, I did hear from the Coneys: be over for
dinner around 7. They had not arranged a time until then, so I was planning
on 5:30. But 7 would be fine.
As 6 rolled around, I left the hotel and planned to pass the time by
visiting the new Best Buy, marveling at the nice HDTV's, considering the
merits of DVD players (not for myself, but for family members so that they
could play my DVD's), and eventually getting a couple of DVD sets, one a
bargain set on vintage TV commercials, and the other being South Park's
first season. Then it was off to Wal-Mart to look for Key Maps.
Now I should explain Key Maps. They are locally-produced maps and atlases
of the area. I had not bought them in the past because they seemed rather
high in price. But they seemed to be more up to date (and more accurate,
frankly) than the Rand McNally atlases of the Houston-Galveston area, so I
thought I should bite the bullet and pick them up. I found the one for
Galveston and Brazoria counties, but they didn't have the Harris County one.
So I contented myself with the one and proceeded to head for the Coneys. I
had to do some scurrying through the parking lots on that corner, trying to
find an exit that put me right on the feeder road rather than the ramps
going to El Dorado. It wasn't easy, but I found such an exit. Then it was
smooth driving down to League City. It should have been, for it was the
drive I'd make to get home. In fact, while going down Hobbs Road, I almost
signaled for the turn at Fairfield Ct. South, where I would have turned if I
were going home. But I caught myself in time and kept on going to Savanna
Ct. South, where I needed to turn and did turn.
Dinner tonight was a bean soup, with some vegetables and pork, along with
biscuits. We had to be careful lest Rocky the poodle (short for Rachmaninoff
– and should that be "Rachy"?) decide to grab something from the
table. He was really eyeing those cookies on the coffee table later on,
although they were chocolate chip and thus bad for him. Their other poodle
was there, fumbling his way along because he's gone blind in his old age.
Later on, Shiraz the cat turned up; she had been outside in the backyard. We
watched an Elton John music video, "Original Sin"; the reason for
our watching it was that their daughter Diana had a part in it. She was a
Bette Midler lookalike (the video was set in the '70s, and there were
lookalikes for Liza Minelli and for Sonny and Cher as well). She was part of
the production staff for the video, as well. Kinda hard to believe that we
were babysitting her so long ago.
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©2003 R. W. Reini.
All rights reserved.
Written by Roger Reini
Revised April 20, 2008 |