Texas Trip!

So here is the much anticipated Texas trip post! You can check out my Facebook for every picture I took, I"ll just include a few on here. So I left on Friday morning and after a layover in a not so clean New Mexico airport landed that afternoon at the Houston Hobby airport. Little did I know such big cities have really bad traffic. Since Lidia had to work and didn't feel quite comfortable asking her boss to get off early since she just started, had her brother pick me up. It was interesting. I was on the phone with Lidia and she was talking to him on another one. We finally figured who we each were and I made him wave before I just jumped into the car. One of the first things I noticed when I got off the plane was how humid it was. I literally was sweating like crazy and could hardly breathe. I had to ask someone if this is how it is. He's all yup girl you're in Texas. I'm like oh lucky, but then he said actually it's just really bad inside, you'll be fine. So on our way. The traffic was insane and took like an hour and a half to get to her house (keep this in mind for when I left) It also was insanely confusing, he was giving me the tourist guide including that George Bush senior lives right by a hotel he works at and he even got to drop a senator off at his house (he didn't know this until he got there and security kept stopping him) Hillary Duff also lives on this street (Cameron, I totally forgot to tell you that haha I should have taken a pic for you :) anyway, it's huuuuuuuuuuge. I was almost in a culture shock. I took so many pictures of just the buildings. He said it's like there's four downtowns, but it's more a business place not someplace a lot of tourists come to visit. We get to her very lovely house and they have a guest room just for me. I couldn't believe it! They were all very nice. Lidia's brother who's 20, mom, dad and her live there. Her parents speak only a little bit of English and before this trip I though I forgot all my Spanish, but I think I did really well towards the end at least in remembering some basic things, it will get me ready for Guatemala. Oh I forgot this part, by the airport getting on the freeway there were all these people with coolers of water selling them on the side of the street. I sat there shocked I couldn't believe they did that, but I guess if you make money what the heck. So Lidia got home and she had told me about this outlet mall in Katy (right outside Houston where her house is) that doesn't even compare to Park City's it's so big and all inside. We decided to go there since we were going out dancing with her brother later that night and most of my pants have holes in them. It was huge. I found some pants, a shirt and jacket in about an hour or so, pretty good timing I think. So we go home and shower, I literally have been sweating this entire time my makeup is like off and my hair is so greasy it looks like I haven't showered in weeks. I then had to get approved by her brother on what to wear, including shoes. I was planning on flip flops or my skater shoes. Well apparently in Texas they'll turn you away if you aren't in heels. Don't ask my why but I actually packed a pair. It was an interesting experience, definitely different then the LDS stuff you see in Salt Lake. The next morning we, well I slept in haha, the time difference through me off I think it was about 9:00 their time 8:00 Salt Lake time. Lidia's mom made a very delicious breakfast of eggs, meat (I think like steak) and beans. I actually really liked it. Oh and she tried to make me like a vegetable drink with carots and celery. It was ok, but not something I could do everyday. Sorry poor Lidia. After, we decided to go down to Galveston, supposed to be about 45 minutes away where the Gulf of Mexico is. Hurricane Ike wiped it out last year and let me say it was so sad, I can't imagine the devastation Hurricane Katrina caused. On the way down one thing I noticed was there were multiple people camped on the side of the road with tables and things for sale. It was Valentine's Day so mostly bears and well hugemongo bears and whatnot. It was like a yard sale but just randomly on the side of the road. Most random and weird thing I've ever seen. I even took a picture. You know what I just decided I"ll do the pictures as a separate post, that will be easier. Anyway, traffic was pretty bad and in Texas it will rain then downpour then stop then again all within like 5 minutes. It kept doing this and we'd have to slow down in the downpour, you could hardly see the car in front of you. It was raining a little in Galveston, we went to this Aquarium since that's basically all that was open. It was cool to see my favorite the penguins and different fish. Even a stingray which you couldn't touch there. We then went to see the beach. It was raining so we decided to just stop and get out on the side of the road to see. We kept hearing all these sirens. We got worried thinking oh no its like a hurricane let's get out of here, when we realized it must be a parade or something. Mardi Gras was the next weekend, but they wanted to celebrate early apparently. We went down the street it was on to find we were at the endof the parade and people were going crazy for beads. I took some pictures of them, but fireman were sitting on the top of firetrucks throwing them out and people were going crazy for them, it was actually pretty funny. After a sonic diet coke because I wasn't feeling well I think from the sea smell and altitude change we headed home. I rested for awhile then got ready to go out with Lidia's parents at a real Latino dancing place for Valentine's. Oooh before this her mom made the best shrimp soup ever. Everyone knows I love shrimp and man oh man this was amazing. It was cool to see a place like this, although no one spoke in English there just Spanish, but it was a good experience to work on it. I even danced a little. There were sooooo many people we were squished into the wall! I got a seat eventually and sadly enough fell asleep (it had been a long two days) we rode with LIdia's parents and it was about midnight and we decided to head home. I went right to sleep and the next day we decided to go to San Antonio, about 2 to 2 and a half hours away. We went to the Riverwalk and to see the Alamo. The Riverwalk is pretty cool. There's these taxi ferries that drive around on the actual San Antonio river and you walk right beside it. Some parts aren't even fenced in and you could fall in, although I doubt its very deep. It definitely had a different feel then Houston. We then decided to walk to this I think called Rivermall that had all these authentic Mexican shops. We bought some things and after walking like 30 minutes to get there thanks to Lidia thinking it was two streets away :) sorry Lidia, we went back. We wanted some good Texas food and steak sounded really good, so we found this place called the Lonestar on the Riverwalk. Let me tell you don't eat there. The steak was gross and service was bad and when we got the ticket it was like a different name then the restaurant was called. All in all it was a weird experience and they set us under a tree with birds up in it. We then walked through the Alamo briefly and got a few more souvenious and headed home. Wait first we stopped to get gas at a station just off the freeway right outside San Antonio. One intersection had like 30 different lights pointing to everything, it was crazy and the gas station didn't have Twizler bites, I'm like who doesn't have those its a staple driving food. We then got back to Houston and decided to get a good steak to make up for it. After that we drove around to see some of the schools there. They were huge like bigger then colleges here I couldn't believe it. We then went home so we could sleep and get up early to catch my flight. My flight left at 7 and we decided to leave at 5 since it took so long before. Well we got there in like 20 minutes and I got through security and everything in like 20 minutes. So I was left to wait for an hour. I got on the flight and then realized we had to stop in Denver, grr I hate the stopping and starting part. On the way there some guy was farting by me and it was soo gross I almost puked. I was able to sleep most of it though. Anyway, all in all it was a good trip and glad I went. I'm excited to go to Guatemala in May even though Lidia's brother tried to scare me with it. Well I'm going to the Jazz game now, but I promise the pictures will be coming! Oh PS I checked my phone on things I forgot. Some guy was painting a sign in the rain, their stop signs are sideways not up and down very confusing, some guy was giving divorces out of his van at the gas station, people there don't know how to drive and everyone has their house on blocks on the coast.