September 17 to 22, 2023
Marie, in front, picked me up from the airport. Thank you Marie!! We stopped to see Tom and Taylor’s (back left) new place, and then it was on to my friends’ house, Anne and Larry, for a reunion. We were supposed meet in Toronto this August, but our trip was cancelled due to the Canadian forest fires. I hadn’t seen them since the pilgrimage we took last September, 2022.
This is Elliot, Tom and Taylor’s adorable 3-year-old. I understand he can throw down at a piercingly high tone, but I didn’t get to witness it. (And I’m good with it.) He is up for anything and he plays monster, has dance parties, loves to throw a large beachball at the wall with the light switch to see if he can turn the light off that way. He loves his cars, trucks, and transformer things.
Anne and Larry threw a bingo party the day I arrived, with home-made Texas pulled pork and Texas-shaped waffles filled with cheese and bacon — lots of work put forth by Anne. The bingo involved child bingo cards (4 rows by 4 columns — so it wasn’t BINGO, it was BING or INGO) — but the cards were in pictures with a cowboy theme. Thus, all the cowboy accoutrements being worn by the party-goers. We also then played with real people bingo cards.
A prize table was involved. By the time I eventually won a bingo game, when I went to the prize table the only gifts left were the ones I had donated. Elliot was the proud recipient of my gift — a Kazoo. (see the kazoo factory in Hilton Head (1) LOL) (Note: 3 year olds don’t know how to hum.)
Everyone had a good time, especially those slamming a few glasses of wine. The word BINGO! was not allowed, since it was a cowboy theme. So YEE-HAW!! was yelled when someone got bingo.
Larry was an excellent bingo caller.
Tom has a terrible habit of sticking out his tongue when people are trying to take his picture. Proudly, I caught him right before the he could show it.
People had a good time. Marie had 3 work friends, Tom had his friend and wife join, and Anne’s friend Jeannine brought delicious apricot and lemon bars. Marie’s dog, Gracie, also was part of the party.
The next day Anne, Larry and I drove to Houston — driving in Houston: a HUGE pain in the ass!! Sometimes it takes hours to get there due to ridiculous traffic. We found the spot to meet our guide who was going to introduce us to the underground tunnels of downtown Houston. They seem to be quite the secret to those who do not work downtown in the skyscrapers.
I love a reflection photo and this is a white and a brown office building being reflected in another glass office building.
This a photo of two very happy people who spent A FULL TWENTY MINUTES OF THEIR LIFE, waiting for a free cup of water from Starbucks. I don’t understand and I’ll keep my opinions to myself about Starbucks. ……but I DO wish I had bought stock in it 30 years ago.
Note downtown Houston on a Monday at 11 AM — devoid of people! It was 95 degrees. People who work in all these office buildings know there is a whole underground system to avoid the heat, cold and rain.
Houston is proud of its city murals. Note the birds depicting the woman’s hair. And the boy on the bike is a real kid who lives nearby.
Since the tunnel system is not well marked, during lunchtime, the people who work in the office buildings go down and venture out to the areas they know without getting lost, eat and shop, and then go back to their cubicles. The tunnels are not as you visualize — low, tiny, creepy tubes. They are wide, spacious marble walkways. See the next photo. The tunnels house many restaurants, dentist offices, medical offices, barbershops, tourist shops, florist shops. But the tunnels are not for tourists, since the dividers between the buildings are closed at 6 PM. After that time you can access the downstairs restaurants if you go into the office building above ground and come down the stairs/elevators.
We heard all about how Texas got the space center. At that time in the 1960’s President Kennedy dared the U.S. to be the first to the moon. So when Johnson got into office, he knew we had to fund another space area and decided Texas was better suited than many other places, for reasons I have already forgotten …..and then they named it the Johnson Space Center. This mural was a depiction of the moon. I love the expressions on our faces.
These are the languages spoken in Houston. The city is one of the top cities with this much diversity.
Speaking of THE MOST, Larry mentioned that even though people think Texas is not green, it’s got more windmills and solar power than many other states. So I just now did a little research and found this.
“Texas is, by far, the nation’s largest polluter. We emit nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as the country’s second-highest polluter, California, even though the Golden State’s population is 40 percent greater.
Also, Texas’ overall ranking is an abysmal No. 41, making it one of the least green places in America. The Lone Star State comes in at No. 48 in environmental quality.”
But Larry was very accurate, as I found: “While not so green right now, Texas has made great strides in wind energy in recent years. The American Wind Energy Association’s annual report for 2018 shows the Lone Star State is home to roughly one-fourth of all U.S. wind power production.”
Here are pictures of the ‘tunnels’. They are beautiful.
This was our tour guide. ….I think the dress is a little too short, but in her defense, it was hot outside and …. I’m old. I used to wear a skirt myself that you would mistake for a wide belt!!
This a painting of Melle Eperson.
These are the elevator doors still looking good since 1900. And so are Anne and Larry.
This is the timeline of Melle Eperson and her husband. They came to the U.S. with $8 in their pocket in the 1880’s. By 1900 they built a $5,000,000 building, and named it after her husband. The husband died before he could build another building next door, and name it for his wife. So Melle married a rich man, built the building her first husband planned, named it after herself, and once the building was built, divorced the rich guy. The buildings are still very beautiful and well-kept.
It just struck me — doesn’t our tour guide look like Alice in Wonderland?
I’m just throwing in these 2 photos. I have a “Magic Eraser” APP on my phone and can erase people. Note the 2 guys on the left have disappeared. It’s not THAT good, but it does the trick.
This is the Chase Bank Building. Bizarrely, in high wind storms, the glass windows FALL OUT of this building. So after strong hurricanes, authorities Caution Tape off a block and a half around the building and with big machines, just scrape up the piles of broken glass that has smashed to the ground. Duh! It’s what you call bad engineering!
These are two glass buildings with a very little space between. They are built to be able to sway back and forth up to 8 inches in heavy winds. Thank goodness when they do sway, they always sway in the same direction. Can you imagine the buildings crashing into each other at the top?
The owner of this building recently bought this car for $50,000. And he proudly displays it to the public. I can’t believe they allow tourist to sit inside it!!
Look at this car!! You open the front of the car and the steering wheel pulls out too.
There will be one more HOUSTON blog coming.
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Happy Travels!!
Linda Jeanne