Houston Trip - Saturday, September 17, 2016 - Drive to Miami, OK

Our original plan had been to drive straight through to Dallas leaving early evening after we attended a memorial service for an instructor at my husband's Tae Kwon Doe Academy.  But after a restless night Friday night realizing it would not be a good idea to drive 18 hours straight without any sleep, we decided to leave Saturday morning and stop overnight in Miami, Oklahoma.  At 2:00 p.m. my husband's classmates were planning to make a formal bow at the memorial service and so we stopped off at a gas station at 2:00 p.m. along Route 66 to take a moment of silence and for my husband to bow to the instructor who made a difference in so many lives.

We left at 10:15 a.m., arrived at the Econo Lodge in Miami, Oklahoma at 9:50 p.m., spending 10 hours and 25 minutes driving 676.4 miles.

Houston Trip - Sunday, September 18, 2016 - Dallas, TX

We left the hotel at about 8:30 a.m. and headed for Dallas.  We had talked on and off about stopping at Six Flags Over Texas and so when we learned we could buy discounted tickets at a rest stop, we took advantage of it.  We were staying at the Sleep Inn Arlington Near Six Flags, walking distance from the park entrance.  So we arrived at the hotel about 2:30 p.m. and were on our first ride by 3:00 p.m.  In just under 3 hours, we did 8 major rides because the crowds were light and the lines were short.  My husband's favorites were Batman and Titan.  Titan has a 225' drop where you reach speeds of 85 mph.  He also enjoyed the Superman Tower of Power which drops you 325'.

Temperatures reached 99*F, so it was a bit hot but we cooled off quickly after a ride on the Aquaman which left us drenched.

I have a cousin in the Dallas area who we haven't seen in many years and we had never met his wife and 3 year old son so we took advantage of this opportunity to meet up with them and have dinner with them at Celebration Restaurant.  We had a great time catching up with them.

Today we drove 383 miles for a total of 6 hours and 41 minutes.

Houston Trip - Monday, September 19, 2016 - Dallas, TX

After a good breakfast at the hotel which included a Texas shaped waffle, we headed to the Dallas Zoo and were among the few to wander the zoo this morning.  It is a nice zoo.

We attended a Cheetah encounter that was really neat and brought us up close and personal with a cheetah and her best friend a black lab.

The Galapagos Island tortoises were active.

Here was a new animal to us.  ;)  Good thing we didn't bring the Mustang (this Mustang didn't fare too well with the Raptor).

Look closely, there's a very brave bird on the dinosaur's head!

The Giants of Savannah was a pretty impressive exhibit.

This one appears to be an escapee (as two zookeepers were trying to wrangle it in).

This may look a lot like an American Bald Eagle but is actually an African Fish Eagle.

Here are a couple of other animal pictures.

Then we had lunch at Pappadeaux with a couple of my husband's friends who had met in previous IRS trainings before heading to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza.  It was really neat to learn more about Kennedy and the circumstances surrounding his assassination but it was really crowded (despite it being a Monday in September and them limited the number of people they allow enter each half hour) making it not as enjoyable.  I couldn't take any pictures inside the Museum, but here are photos of the building where the sniper sat and the route the President took before he was assassinated.  They have marked the road with an X where he was fatally shot.

The grassy knoll...

6th Floor, Corner window just to the right of the arched window on the left side of the building

Today we drove 80.4 miles today for a total of 2 hours and 18 minutes in the car.  The morning at the zoo was in the mid to upper 90s.  By the time we were walking Dallas this afternoon around Dealey Plaza, the temperature reached 104*F.  The locals said it has been unusually hot and wet for this time of the year (usually everything's brown at the end of summer but it's all green!).

Houston Trip - Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - Drive to Houston, TX

We left Dallas at about 8:00 a.m. and arrived in Houston about 12:30 p.m.  After we checked into the hotel we found lunch at Genghis Grill, a build your own stir fry restaurant that is quite good.

I drove my husband and one of his co-instructors to the work site so they could spend a couple of hours setting up the classroom and enjoyed some time at Buffalo Bayou Park a couple of miles from the office while I waited for them to finish up.

Today we drove 275 miles for a total of 5 hours and 36 minutes in the car.

Houston Trip - Residence Inn Houston - West University

For these two and a half weeks we are staying in the Residence Inn Houston - West University. We have a one bedroom suite that has a full kitchen (minus an oven) which allows us to cook a lot of our meals and save money and not get sick of always going out.

The pool area has become a favorite of mine.  I spend several hours out there each day.

The breakfast is very good with things that I can actually eat that are within my restrictive diet, which is a nice change.

Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings they have a Mix event with beer, wine, and food.  Our first night here it was grilled checking, rice, and salad.  Another night it was top your own baked potatoes.  This again saves us money.

Lizards are plentiful around the grounds and pool area.  A family of pigeons has made a home in the pool area.

The hotel is walking distance from many restaurants, several grocery stores, Walgreens, CVS, etc. and is only 15-20 minutes from my husband's office downtown.  The free parking attracted us to the hotel in the first place.  It allows us to cheaply drive here and then each day, I drive my husband and his co-workers to and from work.  The location is very convenient.

Houston Trip - Buffalo Bayou Park - Houston, TX

I have gotten in the habit of walking at Buffalo Bayou Park just outside downtown after dropping off my husband and his co-workers at work each morning.  It is a beautiful park with miles of pathways along a river and a fair amount of wildlife.  I have seen great egrets, great blue herons, black-crowned night herons, turtles, ducks, bats, and various other birds.

It attracts runners and walkers and their dogs and I am already noticing a fair number of regulars.  There is a natural playground that makes me wish I were a kid again, an impressive skatepark under construction, many places to rent bikes, and many locations to put a canoe or kayak in the water.  Here are some photos:

Houston Police Officer Memorial

Adult Black-crowned night heron

Juvenile Black-crowned night heron

Here is Waugh Bridge where over 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats live during the day and emerge at sunset.  The second picture is looking straight up into one of the crevices of the bridge.  If you look closely you can see the heads of bats sticking out.

Here is the Barbara Fish Daniel Nature Play Area and the Lee & Joe Jamail Skatepark:

The building below have air conditioned restrooms and the top level provide a shady place to sit and admire the skyscrapers of Houston.  I sat here for quite a while the day we arrived while my husband spent a couple of hours in the office setting up the classroom for their first day teaching.