Houston - Day 2

Today I drove with my cousins (they drove I sat in the passenger seat on the right), down the freeway to San Jacinto (stopping for lunch at subway on the way - where they had trouble understanding my pronunciation of Pepper and tried to give me Pickle!?).  On the way to San Jacinto we went past the central business district of Houston - with all the high rises, there are tunnels underground for you to walk in (as its too hot to walk outside on the street, it was 96 degrees today - apparently not that hot, but like a sauna for me). We also went past the oil refineries and there were lots of them! Refining the oil from the gulf.

At San Jacinto we went to look at the San Jacinto Monument - this is a monument that honours those who fought for Texas independence.  In 1836 the Texian Army defeated the Mexican forces on the plains of San Jacinto.  The monument is 567 feet tall.  We took the lift to the observation deck to see the view (pretty flash).  In the lift was a lady operating the lift (a wooden box) and clicking your tickets - she said she did this all day from 12pm to 6pm and enjoyed it!!!!??

I also found out today that Texas is the "Lone Star" State as it only has one star on its flag.  And is the only state allowed to fly its flag as high as the american flag (something about Texas being an independent state - I think. And can become a republic again if it wants to).  There are huge american and texan flags everywhere.

While at San Jacinto we also looked at the Texas Battleship from World War 2 (it was closed for repairs, sinking??).

Then we went to Walmart to get some food for tea - there was a great selection of food and other things (bit like the warehouse) and cupcakes decorated for the 4th of July and nice/cheap clothes.

Houston - Day One

Today I have spent with my cousins.  I have learnt all about Monster High Dolls, been to Ganders Sports Emporium (to look at all the guns you can buy straight over the counter (no licence required) there were even pink guns!) and to USA Toys - where we looked at school stationery (wow! you should have seen the stickers, borders, games, school signs etc and all at cheap prices (I have to go back, as we had only seen a quarter of the store when they came and said that it was closing). 

And the for tea we went to "Texas Roadhouse" and had Bread (which was sweet and you spread with cinnamon butter - this was a starter), Rattlesnack bites (not real rattlesnake, cheese with Jalapeno peppers in bread crumbs and deep fried)  and then had ribs as a main (they slow cook them and the meat falls off the bone - yum!!!) with chips and sweet corn with butter, so much food we have some for tomorrow. 

Today I have also heard about all the creepy crawlies here including the snakes, poison ivy (well that's a plant) and fire ants - if you poke a stick at their nest (which looks like a heap of sand) they all come running out (not something you want to do with bare feet).  Hope to see none of these tomorrow.

The adventure begins...

I have spent a very long Saturday either in an airport or on a plane. I'm currently sitting in LA airport waiting for my plane to Houston Texas.