Houston-Day 3

I think I woke up around 7 for the 7 Line Run around downtown Houston. Truthfully, I was about fed up with driving in this city and with my rental car.

So after a 15 minute drive without much traffic (for a change), I parked on the street near the right field gate. Though I may have been the only one, as it seemed like everyone else was walking. Actually, I should clarify. I parked under the overpass next to the stadium, where a bunch of homeless people were camping out. And the parking meter wasn't even working so I did the whole run worries a cop would come along and give me a ticket.

But there were  about 80 or 90 of us and the run got off to a good start on a comfortable, yet another cloudy day. And I was off to a pretty solid pace as we headed west on Congress St and then south on Harris St. After about mile 2.5, I would up around Polk St, near the Toyota Center. Except I was all but alone. the first 5 or 6 people were way ahead and I out outpaced the rest of the group. And I took a wrong turn to the right on Polk St even though that's what was in my turn directions. When I started to go under the overpass...I knew I was off! Eventually I figured my way back to Avenue of the Americas and finished the race though I ran more like a 3.25m instead of 3.1m. One guy brought a case of water and a case of Lone Star beer. I took down two of each. Chatted with a few people there too, it was fun.

By now the sun was shining, and after going back to the room and cleaning up, I had to make a stop at Jiffy Lube, since my right rear tire had been running low for the last 24 hours. 5 minutes, in and out of there. I hit up Costco for gas, and I think it was about $2.65/gallon. 

And then it was food time. I didn't do BBQ again, didn't do Mexican either. It was Kenny and Ziggy's, a NY Jewish deli that I had seen featured on DDD. The tables were most filled up. But they have two bars/counters, one for the alcohol and one for the desserts/coffees/shakes. I took a stool at the latter and immediately was served a bowl of sour and half sour pickles. Very good start. I ordered the #1 sandwich: pastrami, corned beef, Russian dressing, and cole slaw on crusty double baked seeded rye bread. Oh my goodness. Plenty of meat inside, super seasoned. Not too much slaw and Russian but enough to add flavor. Of course, I added brown mustard as I went along. But the bread was perfect. I have eaten at too many NY delis where the rye bread is soft on the outside. The double bakes process gets it crusty on the outside and that makes the sandwich so much better. For the included side, they had a few salad options, but they were all lathered in mayo. For $2.75 more, I added French fries, which were thick like steak fries. Super brown and crispy on the outside.

The dessert selection is amazing with oversized cheesecake a huge variety of cookies, old school ice cream sodas, and milkshakes. But in their cookie display, they had the man-shaped sandwich cookies with the chocolate in between two vanilla cookies. And those are mom's favorites, so I got a half dozen to bring back.

Then it was time to drink. the spot was St Arnold, just north of downtown and it was packed. They had live music playing, a flea market going on, tons of tables both inside and outside and it was till hard to find a spot. I got a flight and a draft, and I would say the beers were mostly fine. I wouldn't call them the best I've ever had, but it was fun for an hour.

Tailgate time with the 7 Line at Pitch 25. Shockingly, I get a free space on the street about a half mile from the stadium. At the bar though. the lines were always 30-40 people long for all 3 hours that we were tailgating. I drank a couple of Sun Cruiser cans, which are basically just vodka, iced tea, and some lemon juice. I felt so bloated from the beer that it was pleasant to sip a lighter alternative.

We marched to the stadium around 5:30 for the rubber game, about 1,000 Mets fans strong. It was a 2-1 loss, the Mets had one lousy hit all game. I had checked out after the top of the 8th and left. Now it was 3 games into the season, I'm not panicking, but it was a disappointing start for the offense. I didn't even eat dinner after the game, I was too aggravated. So I still have never tried Whattaburger. But hey, they'll be in Raleigh come 2026.

Next morning, 35 minute drive to the airport at 5 am. Two brief mechanical delays, but I was back in Raleigh around 3 pm. 

The trip was very up and down. The highs were high and the lows were low. Plus my rental car got a tiny bit of damage in the back on Day 2. I didn't want to mention that though. 

Houston-Day 2

Several inches of rain was forecasted for Friday. Not to mention 5-6 inches south of Houston. There was some rain that fell, but nowhere near what was expected. Mom left early in the morning as expected, and I took her to Hobby Airport, which is much closer to downtown. It's basically the Midway of Houston... the secondary airport in the hood. 

From there, I drove to the Museum District, which is a really nice section, I think Mom would've liked it. There is a large arch and statue dedicated to Sam Houston. They also have a rectangular reflection pool, similar to the Washington Monument. They have a couple of smaller parking lots and I was able to score a free parking space. I visited the Museum of Natural Science, but what I didn't know is it was also Field Day. So as I'm walking up to the entrance, I see a line of 8 or 9 school buses and the kids are all getting out. I maneuvered my way through them and inside, and saw a huge line of people waiting to buy tickets. As it turned out, there was a kiosk for it as well, and I got my tickets there with no wait whatsoever.

At 10:30, I saw a 3D film about the discovery and life of Wyrex, which is one of the most complete T-Rex dinosaur skeletons ever discovered, aside from its missing tail. It cost an extra 12 bucks, and I was a little scared of how graphic it could get, but it was really well done between the filmography and the storytelling. But the best part was I walked out of the theater and there must have been 200 kids waiting to get in for the next showing. 

Their paleontology section had several dozen dinosaur skeletons, including Wyrex as well as a few other T-Rexs, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus. But they had sections for so many kinds of science including outer space, Egyptian tombs, alchemy, jewelry, even lifting a 500-pound piano. I also like the periodic table of elements that you could walk on and it would light up. 

To be fair, the kids were so rampant that I was basically ready to go after about 90 minutes. I was hungry. And I needed to try some Texas BBQ so I went to Pinkerton's. It was not a huge place, there is a bar to the left and then the ordering area to the right with several long tables. So the patrons are basically in a position where they are going to strike up a conversation with strangers. I ordered a half pound of sliced brisket, after all, it's Texas. Amazing bark on it, plenty of salt and pepper, full of flavor. Maybe the meat was just a touch overdone, but their original sauce took care of that. And it's more a of a rusty orange color, I'm pretty sure it's mustard based but with some vinegar and tomato as well. So it's the best of all worlds. I also got about 3/4 pound of glazed ribs, which had just a little touch of sweetness to them. Wonderfully juicy and easy to eat.

My first side was bacon mac and cheese. I liked that it wasn't soupy. I don't like mac and cheese where the mac and basically swimming in a pool of cheese. The cheese should stay on the mac. The South Texas beans had a whole bunch in there, several kinds of beans, onions, peppers, several spices. I think the cumin was really shining through. They also asked me if I wanted to add pickle slices, sliced white onions, a whole jalapeno, and a slice of white bread. Yes to all 4! I had a really special bite when I took some brisket, added an onion slice, and some of that original sauce.

After that, the rain still wasn't falling, so I drove to Buffalo Bayou, which is a walking area and park just west of downtown Houston. A lot of trees, pedestrian bridges, they also have a dog park. I also passed by a Houston police sculpture that was kind of confusing, it was just several sections of concrete. But I guess it's meant to pay tribute to the local cops who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Later that night was Game 2 of the season, Mets vs Astros. I parked in a garage downtown for about 16 bucks and it was about a 15 minute walk to the stadium, now known as Daikin Park, or it may as well be Dike Park. Terrible name! 

Food-wise, I tried the Crawford dog, which is two split top hot dogs topped with bacon onion jam and yellow mustard on a Martin's potato hamburger roll. Pretty heavy, but still really good for $13. I walked around concourse and got a Karbach Hazy IPA in the upper deck. Really good beer. 

Thankfully, the Mets won 3-1, highlighted by a Juan Soto HR off the facing of the upper deck. And the way the Houston fans were booing him, it felt a little extra good. 

To finish the night, I drove to Portillo's in Katy, a bougie suburb about 30 minutes west of the hotel. Hey when I get a chance to get Portillo's, I take advantage of it. I got my big beef sandwich with sweet peepers, hot peppers, and cheddar cheese. So good. I even added a Chicago hot dog for dessert. I was avoiding the fried food, and I added the vegetables that come on a Chicago dog. So I had it for health reasons, thank you. 

Houston-Day 1

I woke up at 3am Thursday morning on mom's couch. After I showered and dressed, I realized I didn't have a belt. Truthfully, I kind of felt naked without it...sorry for the mage. But I have 8 or 9 belts and not one was in my luggage. 

The Lyft got us to RDU on time and security and boarding went about as smoothly as possible. I have to give RDU credit, they don't even have a Starbucks anymore. They're making an effort to add as many local businesses as possible. I think that's rather admirable. 

As we got on the plane, I took my middle seat, and I felt an aggressive allergy attack coming on. I guess it's no surprise considering Carolina is now entering pollen season. Seemed like I spent almost the whole 3 hour ride wiping my nose with a thin, worn out handkerchief. During final descent, all the cabin pressure went right to my head. It was that feeling of squeezing all the juice out of on orange, a slow build up of pounding tension. 

We only had about 30 minutes in DFW, but wow, Terminal C looks amazing. Big LED gate signs, checkout-less shops, even a restaurant and bar named after Dirk Nowitzki. But this may be the coolest and weirdest feature that I saw. The restrooms have signs outside how many stalls are open and how far the walk is to the next restroom.

We landed in the middle of a Houston rainstorm. After collecting luggage, we took a shuttle van to the rental car center. Now we were renting with York car rental. If you're wondering what that is, I was wondering the same thing when I made the reservation. But again, $372 for 3 days and nights of a hotel and car is pretty good. The legitimate companies like Avis, Dollar, and Budget all have their own sections in the center. Not York. We had to go to the off site desk where a totally disinterested woman was holding a QR code for us to scan. A father and son were right in front of us and doing the same thing. The code brought up a 3 minute video on where to walk to get the next shuttle. So we go down the escalator and walk about 5 minutes while moving our luggage to get to the unmarked outdoor spot. I tried calling a provided number and it didn't work. There was even a rental car courtesy phone... and it didn't work either. So they're are 4 of us wondering what the hell we're supposed to do. Eventually, a white Stride van drove by. He picked us up and drove out to the site... right next to the garbage dump. And it's only appropriate because their center was a dump as well. Two desks, a vending machine, a few travel brochures, about 20 uncomfortable seats that probably came from the local dmv, some collapsing sheet rock for good measure. 

We let the other 2 go first, they had to drive to Austin. Then my turn. Now I've only rented a few cars, but I didn't foresee any issues. But then they try to upsell me on pre paying tolls. Almost to the point of manipulating me. I explained I would not use tolls and the guy was pissed about it. I guess I cost him a bonus or something.  Then I gave them my credit card for the deposit and it didn't go through. I never really use it anyway. But it hadn't expired, there were no issues to my knowledge. But they wouldn't accept a debit card, which was never explained in the reservation. And even though my mother was there, they would not accept her card because my name was on the reservation. Just completely absurd. Even when my mother explained to them about her years in the travel industry, he responds by saying then she should know how these systems work. He flat out disrespected her. I wanted to strangle that son of a bitch, I had to walk away to try to calm down. But they basically had me by the balls, they had the power to refuse me. I was going to have to rent a vehicle somewhere else. So we got a ride back to the center and mom had to rent a car. I then filed a report with Priceline to make them aware of the rude service and try to get some money back. 

Mom was gracious enough to rent the car from Budget and it was about $310 for 72 hours. That was with 2 drivers and an airline discount. I felt absolutely sick over it. But we went to Pappadeaux, probably mom's favorite restaurant that we used frequent in Chicago. But it's Houston based, along with several other restaurants in the Pappas family. We had the seafood Cobb salad and an order of fried octopus and calamari. It's not cheap, but mom loves it. And we'd been through enough distress that morning, also factoring in a certain medical email that she received. 

The rain increased, so we went to the Galleria, the bougie mall near where my hotel was. They have all the rich stores from Nordstrom to Neiman Marcus. I purchased a crimson colored neck t-shirt at a store called True Classic, which specializes in men's clothes with older looks but made of nicer materials. 

Around 3 pm, we checked into the Best Western hotel. I think we were the only white guests there. After such a rough day, we rested for a bit before going to King Ranch. The restaurant stood out to me because it's a local steakhouse with an impressive Happy Hour. Of course we arrived just in time to watch the end of the Mets loss to Houston. Anyway we ordered brisket taquitos with pico, queso fresco, picked onions, and a little guacamole. Excellent. We also had the French dip sliders with caramelized onions. Two might not be a lot, but they were really good as well. Mom was full but not me, I had a bowl of prime rib chili. Excellent flavor, super meaty, just a little touch of spice. All I needed was some oyster crackers or some cornbread. But the highlight was dessert. The pecan pie was probably the best I've ever had. It was served in a hot cast iron skillet. The warm butter flaky crust...I couldn't get enough of it. Plenty of pecans in the goo with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a caramel drizzle on top. I promised myself I would not have another dessert all weekend because nothing could live up to that. Their grilled pineapple margarita was quite good too.

After dropping mom off, I drove to Neon Boots, a small local honky tonk that's been around for decades under various names. But legends like Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline used to frequent it. I was late for the line dancing class so I just sat and watched. I didn't even feel like drinking, I just felt numb on the inside after everything that had gone on. Maybe I stayed an hour and that was it. Before heading back, I made a stop at Target. I got a lame belt, the type where the cloth goes through the plastic loops. I also got a couple of waters and a USB-C outlet. 

Blackhawk setlist

Venue: Weldon Mills Theater

8:04 start time 

Down In Flames

Goodbye Says It All

Every Once In a While

Love Like This

Let Em Whirl

Big Dreams In a Small Town

Almost a Memory Now

Down From the Mountain

Wichita

I'm Not Strong Enough To Say No

The Bluest Eyes In Texas

Like There Ain't No Yesterday

King of the World

I Sure Can Smell the Rain

There You Have It

That's Just About Right

Postmarked Brimingham

Big Guitar

Live From Laurel Canyon setlist

Venue: DPAC
Set 1
California Dreaming
Mr. Tambourine Man
For What It's Worth
Light My Fire
Helplessly Hoping
Woodstock
Cinnamon Girl

Set 2

It's Too Late
Fire and Rain
Ventura Highway
Running On Empty
You're No Good
Hotel California

NOLA and Cruise-Day 8 & 9

Friday was our final full day on board. I actually started with breakfast, yes, a custom omelet, French toast, bacon, and fruit. An hour later, I lifted a few weights for about a half hour. I was actually there for the 9:30 stretch class. About 7 or 8 of us were on the floor doing our own stretches, waiting for the instructor. Well 9:30 came. Then 9:35 and 9:40. No one came to lead. So we kept doing our own stretching. I guess that's why it was free.

 

I then went to the Captains corner in the Pacifica Theater, where three of the senior officers answered questions about the inner workings of the ship, life on a cruise ship, etc. I was ready for some sun, and I spent about 90 minutes by the pool. I downed a Corona and two pain killers. Not a pill. It's a cocktail with dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, coconut syrup, and a dash of nutmeg. Hey when the beverage package costs $76 a day, you have to get your money's worth. And you can't do that on water, coke, coffee, and tea.

Lunch was only going to be in the solarium, I didn't want to eat in Windjammer, didn't want to eat in Minstrel either. It was s going to be one last roast beef sandwich with horseradish and mustard on the kummelweck roll. 

2 pm marked an exciting event. The Love and Marriage in the Pacifica theater, for 18+. Couldn't wait for that one. The three couples who were selected had been married 1 month, 36 years, and 46 years, respectively. It was hysterical. The younger guy was a bit of an ass on stage, basically implying he had no annoying habits. Well I could see one right there. But he got a hot wife so... Anyway, the older two couples were great. The women had no filters at all. Just a great time.

I finished most of my packing and then played 90s music trivia and went 20 for 20. OK granted, I did not know the song Closing Time, but enough people around me said the name out loud where I was able to write it down! One last general trivia, and then dinner with a Mediterranean app plate, braised lamb, and an excellent peach berry trifle. 

Music was what I wanted to hear on my final night. In Colony Club, I listened to some jazz, but then it was 45 minutes of Dixieland. The band was amazing, it was a 4 piece horn section, piano, banjo, bass, and drums. Man I could have listened to that all night, it definitely got my NOLA vibe going.

The Mardi Gras party in the Centrum was fun. The four piece band played great 50s and 60s music most of the week, but this time, they even did a great version of Free Bird with only one guitar! Hundreds of green and purple balloons fell from the ceiling as the part carried on for about an hour.

I listened to Nathan in King and Country play guitar for about another half hour. Thought about karaoke, but it was just too much. A little more classic guitar from Andres in a quiet Schooner Bar, and that was it for the night.

Departure day, oh my goodness. We grabbed a quick breakfast, and took our bags down to the 5th deck, where the gangway is located. We prepared to grab a cab, go right to the airport, and get the earliest flights to Charlotte that we could before going on to our respective destinations. However, the wonderful security team of RC had other ideas. We had to scan our pass cards to leave. I got through fine, but mom didn't. Apparently it was reflecting an unpaid credit card balance and they insisted she go down to Guest Services to clear it. The problem was she had a new card mailed to her and hadn't had a chance to activate it yet. Well there was no way she was going downstairs to resolve this and wait in line again to depart. We were put on the phone with one of the security big shots and they even tried to convince me to go down alone and pay the balance. No effing way.

After the guy on the phone hung up on my mother out of frustration, we just left. We got off with our luggage, did the whole passport scanning process, and began a walk down a long corridor to get to the taxi stand. But on the way, a guy holding a sign that said Airport $15 stopped us. It caught our attention. Next thing we know, for 15 bucks per person, we're sitting in a minivan with five others and on our way to MSY. 

Check in and security were super easy to get through in New Orleans. We got to our gate about a half hour ahead of schedule. I had actually listed myself for a 10:57 flight, but we were there for the 9:44. Mom then asked me to get her a coffee at Starbucks. So I'm on line, and all of a sudden, out go the lights. I've been flying for 40 years, and this was the first time I was in an airport that experienced a power surge. 

So we got to Charlotte, pulling into Gate C10. Mom was going to Phoenix at Gate C14 and I was going back to Raleigh, my gate was C12. So if we stood in the right place, we could monitor both standby list screens. Super strange situation. Despite the terminal being packed, we had a good feeling about my flight because with some weather issues in the south, flights were getting delayed and people were missing their connections in Charlotte. Plus, only 4 standby passengers were listed for my flight and I was #2. Not bad for a mid morning trip.

Phoenix did not look so good for Mom though. She was #10 on the list and after both jump seats had been assigned, 4 standbys had been given seats. Sure enough, I boarded my plane, and I was sitting in seat 31B on my flight when she texted me a picture of seat 35C. So we both made our flights.

I Ubered back to mom's house to get my car and on the way home, I stopped at Harris Teeter, because I was in the mood for my first pizza in 2 weeks. I guess my cruise diet was still in effect for the rest of the day. Home Run Inn with pepperoni.