Yay! Kelli and I headed to the airport ~10:30pm Friday night for our red eye flight to Houston. We'd land, get our car (which turned out to be absent of color), and make the ~110 mile drive to Orange, TX - home of grandma and grandpa.

 

Along the way we saw numerous humorous things. Of course we did. We were in TX. We got our stop in to a Sonic for breakfast. Anything served on Texas toast is a good thing. On the way we got some good pics of things like the vomit train, a sign for a sushi farm, and much to our surprise, China isn't that far outside of Beaumont. Click here for the series of pics.

 

Grandma's house was awesome. Cozy, quiet, totally relaxing. That is of course aside from the refrigerator I was recruited to move and the wireless network I set up with the supervision and assistance of brother Ian. Grandma had chicken gumbo on the stove in a pot big enough to boil babies. We all pretty much ate a lot of gumbo, which is never a bad thing. Never without an offer for a beer, I chatted with grandma and grandpa for quite a while. It was really super nice to just kick back and chat - low stress.

 

We went out Saturday night over into Louisiana to a place called Cajun Cowboy. I had never had crawfish in abundance before, nor outside of a gumbo. We ordered 3lbs to share between me, Kelli, Bob (Kelli's dad), Ian (Kelli's brother), and Laura, Ian's love flame. I lucked out in that Ian doesn't like seafood. The beer was flowing, boudin balls, onion rings, and fried okra arrived - then we ordered another 2lbs of crawfish. Total heaven - the only thing that would have made it better is some volume on the juke box. That was a fun place. We left there for like $50 (eat your heart out, Seattle) for the B&B, a shady, no signed bar that I've been hearing about for years. They serve the coldest beer - ever. When you order a beer, a mug is removed from a 28 degree cooler and a bottled beer is removed from a 33 degree cooler. The combination is pure magic. An ice halo lifts from the bottom of the mug and disappears as soon as it touches your lips. The coldest beer possible, but with no ice crystals by the time it crosses your lips. I ordered a round for everyone and it cost me $8. I'm moving.

 

In the morning breakfast was on. I happened upon a 5lb box of crawfish that I happily peeled for use in some eggs. I can't get enough of the stuff. We had a great breakfast after which I ended up with more gumbo (*shrug*). We got some pictures together and jumped in our car that was painted with a value, not a color, and made our way back to Houston to see Kelli's cousin and her new baby girl. Girls are a big deal when it comes to great granddaughters since Haley Gracie is the first.

 

Ian and Laura followed us to Houston with a stop at a weird mall to get gifts for the baby and for Logan. We had a nice visit with Traci with the all-entrancing Meet the Fockers (which I'd never seen) on tv in the background. Everyone is happy and healthy - we had a nice time, but it was certainly time for some Lupe Tortilla!

 

Lupe Tortilla, a place I may have mentioned in a post about our last trip to Texas, is a series of awesomeness that knows no bounds. We got to eat outside this time - the margarita was still good, the beer was still cold, and the food ... the food ... wow. I want to have it over and over. Even the mean chile that Ian got a hold of. I found another piece and we were miserable together. Fun! All the flavors were rich and distinct - our leftovers were really good in the hotel room later. Ian and Laura had to get back to Austin and we were on our way to visit Brandon, Christy, and Casseia in The Woodlands. As we parted ways, Ian let me rip The Sword, a band that he wanted me to check out. I've been rocking out at work ever since!

 

We made pretty good time up to and through The Woodlands. Unfortunately we were too late to see the baby, but had a very nice, low key visit with Brandon and Christy. It was very nice to see them since the last trip they were tired and hustling to get on a plane. We got to talk about vacations, business, racing, hobbies, and Akira the dog that would not stop talking to me. The best part was the trip up to Casseia's room to take a peak - my how she's grown. She's her own little person now. As we were all standing by the crib, Brandon was planning to work her binky back into her mouth. All of a sudden, a very, very loud talking book went off and we all jumped! Christy had managed to step on the button labeled "awaken sleeping baby - scare parents". Kelli and I were outta there, knowing that if Casseia woke up, Brandon & Christy would be awake with her for a lot longer than we were going to stay. Once we all made it to the common area upstairs, the laughter continued - Brandon had to come out and discipline his wife - funny in its own right. That whole thing was just way too funny - all of us on tip toes, super quiet, and then out of nowhere... Fun moment to share with our friends.

 

We got directions from Brandon to our hotel which happened to be the same one they stayed in when looking for or awaiting the finish of their house - I can't remember which. It was great to see our friends, even if for only a short time, and it was even better Casseia tussled a little bit, but did not wake up. We got to our hotel and watched some mindless tv, ate leftovers, and eventually fell asleep.

 

We had a 12:30pm flight, so no real need to hustle in the early morning. We drove right to the airport with no traffic trouble at all (I thought us lucky being that it was Monday morning). While there was no Papasitos in the terminal like we were hoping, there was a Popeyes. I know there's one in Federal Way, but I did not realize the biscuits were good enough to use as currency. We shared a little combo of chicken, biscuits, taters and gravy, and red beans and rice. I'm sad to report I couldn't put it all away. The flight was good, watching two movies we had planned on seeing but never did. They were both - well, let's say they did not exceed any expectation. The movies made the flight shorter so that was nice.

 

A fast weekend with a lot packed into it. I left out details on our trip to Gander Mountain, an outdoor store in Beaumont. I had my camera phone out and took 3 pictures - that's how many I needed to get the whole wall of guns. When you go to Texas, you really aren't in Seattle anymore. At all - and that might be the draw for me. =)

 

//bikerscum