Last Day in Houston :(

Trying to figure out what I should do. The Body World Exhibit is a strong contender as is the museum of fine arts.

Guess I'll worry about that all after breakfast/lunch.

Not looking forward to another long day of travel tomorrow. But then end always has to happen sometime right? :)
..and I'm beginning to miss home anyways so maybe the timing's just right

I have to admit again, before I came on this trip I was a little worried. I had a preconceived, but luckily, totally incorrect vision of Texas resulting from a combination of Hollywood films, best-selling fiction and the travel experience of others.
This past weekend I was in San Antonio and it quite literally shocked me. My faith and love for the US was completely restored - Canadian propaganda and the CBC be damned. For the first time since I was in San Diego years ago did I really feel like I was in a place (besides St. John's) where I could live, settle down, and be quite happy.

The city has a hypnotic mix of culture, fantastic food, cloud touching architecture, and an endless stream of historic and modern attractions. There is a river that meanders through the center of San Antonio which is bounded on both sides by a wide walkway and is surrounded by the coolest of restaurants, clubs, pubs, shops and hangouts. It was possibly the most relaxed, chilled out place I have been. Everyone was at the 'riverwalk' for the same reason as I was, whether they were tourists or not - They just wanted to relax.

It was so much fun!! Of course, 1.75$ beers only make it more fun. But nonetheless, more than ample heat, little to no humidity, endless sunshine and dreamlike landscapes make it a place that just forces you to smile. Even back here in Houston now, with a trip to Johnson Space Centre looming, my mind is still drifting back to San Antonio, it was almost painful to leave.

Another thing I've learned on this little sidetrip to San Antonio is that my small sized girlfriend has a supersized scream. While at Six Flags, we naturally had to indulge our mutual fancy for roller coasters. It was pretty tame on the first couple we rode, but the last one, "The Poltergeist", was just sensational. Electromagnets accelerate the train to breakneck speed right out of the station, there's no pause, no slow part, and no break.... and surprisingly, there was no break in her scream. It was louder than the shriek of the ride itself. At the end, when we braked and coasted into the station, the people who were seated ahead and had waited with us in line for more than an hour, turned about in their seats smiling, obviously as surprised as I at the source of the scream :)

Here I am, alive and well in Houston.

After a tremendous delay, sitting, waiting on the tarmac at Halifax airport (luckily in first class) and after a harrowing flight through the most terrifying thunder and lightening storm I'd ever seen, I landed in Toronto.

Luckily I had no worries of missing my connecting flight. While everyone else on my plane with a connection had been promptly screwed out of their travel plans, mine continued on somewhat blessed. My 8 hour overnight stay in Toronto's Terminal 2 had been cut down to a mere 4.5 hours. Sitting and waiting with a free bar and an individual interactive in-flight entertainment system certainly beats any airport.

When I arrived at Toronto, I passed through the gates and was released into what looked like a refugee camp. Hundreds of people were sleeping anywhere they could, trash was everywhere and the musky smell of a generous mixing of various body odors hung heavy in the air. This was hardly the sight that I had figured toronto's state of the art "Terminal 1" would grace me with. Evidently the Huge thunderstorm that had stretched from Chicago to Montreal had no only delayed my departure from Halifax, but had also closed every major airport in North America east of Chicago.

I quickly tip toed around the sleeping families and raced to the luggage carousel. Why I raced, I have no idea. I waited... And waited.... And waited.
and hour passed. Then the announcements began. "We thank you for your patience. Flight #'s luggage is on the way. We apologize again, we are experiencing difficulty with our conveyor systems."

The full second hour of waiting passed. Defiantly, I had ignored the sign (as many others had) and had decided to sit on the edge of the carousel, which of course posed no danger to anyone because it wasn't moving. Now thoughts were transforming into worries - I wasn't going to get my luggage in time to get thru customs and onto Houston [shit!]

Now into 2 and almost 2 and a half full hours of waiting the siren blared. It shocked me from the state of very fringe sleep I had managed and I bolted to my feet. The feeder conveyor belt fired up, and then moments later, a pair of panties was discharged onto the carousel. I burst out laughing. Obviously not my luggage, but sexy underwear none the less, pretty skimpy :) Evidently, a bag had gotten jammed into the automated series of conveyor belts leading from the plane, and obviously, the bag had been torn open. Moments later several tank tops and t-shirts were discharged and then the surviving baggage began to be discharged. I breathed a sigh of relief when my bag emerged unscathed.

A short shuttle trip later, I checked in at Terminal 2 and a mere 2 hours later was rocketing off to here, Houston :)

Now in Houston, where the daily temperature is 40 celsius or higher, I'm trying to get used to the sensation of walking from air conditioned building out into the roasting heat. The shock of being superheated from 20 degrees to 40 in 5 seconds is hard to describe. But it actually feels like someone is slapping you on the chest and the back at the same time. IT almost drives the breath from your lungs. But I'll take it, a nice pool to sit by, more roller coasters than I can count, and beer so cheap I'd think I was buying [cheap] bottled water :)

I'm beginning to love this place. Too bad it represents everything I hate.. Just one look into the grimy, oily, filthy sky reminds me.

We're heading to San Antonio Tonite.. where as Wikipedia vindicated me :) 4-5000 Mexican soldiers were held off for 13 days by 100 some odd Texan settlers :) god it feels good to be right

More to come..

oh.. And one more thing, everything really is bigger in Texas... Most certainly are the people.. Probably a result of the portions I have seen that make every dinner table look like a buffet table. I have yet to be served a sandwich I can fit in my mouth without cutting... Christ :P