Houston TX

We arrived in Houston Texas for 3 weeks while the circus played the Reliant Stadium. This is the largest arena RBBB play and it was pretty big. Someone said that if you walk the circumference of the area the concessions are on it is one mile. I'm not sure if this is true but it is big. Most of the arena staff seem to drive even inside the building. Animal open house looked really great with large banners and loads of trees and plants. It was just like a jungle, actually too much like a jungle and the bugs loved it too.




Across from the arena we had lots of shops including a Fiesta. This has become one of my favourite grocery stores. They do lots of nice stuff including a great international section. The UK section had more than the usual Tetley teabags, Marmite, Digestives and chocolate. It even had things like Scotch pies and black pudding. The Indian section was also good.

Since we were here a while we got a CityPass which resulted in us visiting losts of museums. Luckily most of them where within easy reach. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed with a few of them. We did pretty well on public transport. The buses and Metrorail where very easy to negotiate and only cost $1.25 each time.

The Children's Museum was one of the best we have been to in the US, and we have been to a lot. It was so good we went twice while we were here and I'm sure Willow would have liked to have gone more. It is a shame it is a children's museum as there are lots of parts adults would enjoy but you really need a child to go, otherwise they look at you a bit oddly. A bit like they looked at me and Tweed when we went on our own, Willow was already inside with her grandparents. Willow's favourite bit was Kidtropolis but she quite liked FlowWorks as well.



The Houston Museum of Natural Science could have been good but too many of the exhibits where not included in the general admission. Now I accept and understand by doing this it helps to keep the cost of the general admission down allowing more people to be able to afford it, but when there are at least 3 extras to pay for and they each cost more than the general admission I think it is way to much.

Houston Zoo was really nice. The children area here was pretty big just by itself and was set out really well with a good layout. Willow hoped to be able to pet a pig as she fell in love with one in Corpus Christi. She had to make do with brushing goats, she seemed happy with this.




The Downtown Aquarium was very disappointing, the aquarium area at the zoo was much better. The aquarium did have some tigers though and you don't see them every day. Oh hang on a minute maybe some people do. Joined to the outside of the aquarium was an area that was a bit like a mini fair which again cost more money as did seeing the sharks.

The last museum we went to was The Health Museum. It was pretty good, certainly better than the name suggests and the only interactive health science center in the US. The best bit was the Cartoon Network Animation Studio, though I'm not sure what it had to do with health. We also saw a 3D (nearly 4D) movie called Planet You.

Hermann Park was right next to the museum district and housed the zoo. It also had a miniature train you could tour the park and a play park and water park.

Whenever we are somewhere new we try to get to the visitors center and Houston was no exception. This one though is unlike any other we have been to. It is like an attraction in itself. It is one of the largest in the United States and from personal experience I would say the best, certainly so far. It even does tours!

Willows had a PR at Fox26 presenting the weather. At the time she said she didn't enjoy it and didn't want to do any more TV but she seems to be changing her mind as time goes on.



Very close to the train, well walking distance any way, was a beer can house. 50,000 flattened beer cans cover it, and the wall and fence are even made out off them.





While we were in Houston so was Circus Vazquez, a Mexican circus. It is a great show and even though very little English was spoken and we don't speak Spanish we still really enjoyed it, which shows how good it was.



House of pies is a restaurant in Texas that sells, well as the name suggests pies. I didn't actually go but sent orders with other people. The egg custard pie which is really a custard tart to the UK dwellers was really good and definitely made me want to try more from there, so I think it is just as well I didn't go myself.

We didn't get to the space center as it was a bit out of the way but I'm not to worried about that I think we managed to fit a lot in while we stayed here.

I liked Houston but when you are use to moving every week three weeks seems so long and most people were very happy to leave when we did.

Weekend Weather Kid. Houston TX

We are now in Houston Texas. While we were here Willow had a PR.



Houston Blog to follow.

Corpus Christi TX

So we left New Orleans and started the journey to Corpus Christi without being 100% sure we would even get there, as we weren't the only ones travelling in that direction. Tropical storm Alex (the first of the season) was also heading that way and rumour was it was picking up speed and could turn into a hurricane.

So the start of the week was a bit wild in more ways than one. You could feel the storm building all around you. Even though the actual hurricane took a different route and missed us we still experienced a tropical storm which was pretty wet and blustery, but still really hot. Along with the threat of hurricanes we also had tornado warnings. What a week for Tweedy's mum and dad to come and visit. Willow stayed at there hotel a few nights and after the first night they were evacuated to the hotel basement because of tornado warnings. I really didn't like that and first chance we got we put operation Digweed in place and rescued them.

We did go to the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History which was right next door the the arena. This seemed like a safe activity as we would be able to get home easily from there. I'm glad we went as it was pretty good and a lot larger than we realised. One of the exhibitions here contain the ships of Christopher Columbus, not the real things but repliers of the Purra and the Santa Monica.







Outside was the Voyage: A journey through our solar system. This was very similar to one at one of the Smithsonian's in DC. This may be because this museum is also owned by the Smithsonian. There was also an art museum and a children's museum that we didn't get to as well as an aquarium and the USS Lexington.

Right outside the Arena was a water feature that you could paddle and play in and as always with these things Willow loved it.



Also right outside the arena was the sea. If you followed the sea wall round you came to a small area of sand where you could swim. Normally you can hire the usual beach things here but because of the hurricane everything that could blow away had been packed away. We managed to get in for a swim but it was a bit too rough to spend too long in there. Luckily we had use of a swimming pool at the hotel as well, so Willow managed to get loads of swimming in and I turned a lounger red!

The train yard and arena should have been perfect this week, in that it only took 10 minutes to walk from one to the other and in between the two were a bar called Brewster Street Icehouse and it had a playground for children to play in. Of course it would have been a bit better if the weather had been better, but it was still pretty good. We made it to the bar a few times, but not because it had a playground but because Willow moved in to a hotel for the week. The train was also split weird this week and we didn't have a vestibule which I really didn't like.



We had our first Whataburger here at the first ever Whataburger. It was OK, certainly better than MacDonalds or Burger King and it had a pretty good view across the sea.

We celebrated The 4th of July in Corpus Christi and were lucky enough to stumble across a street party. There was a parade, bands, pony rides and blow ups to bounce on but Willows favourite was definetly the petting zoo and she fell in love with a pig. Later on there were fireworks on the water front but we had to watch them from the train as we were too scared it would leave without us.





Corpus had great potential but we didn't manage to experience it to the full. We did manage to experience the threat of a hurricane, and tornado with a tropical storm thrown in for good measure. So we have done them now and don't need to repeat it.

New Orleans Louisiana

I was a bumpy start to the train run and we were on the front so I dread to think how rough it was at the back.

Once again we were not sure what to expect before we got here. We had heard New Orleans is a great party city but hadn't really heard much about it to get us excited. We had also heard that even though it was on the way to recovery since Hurricane Katrina it is not the city it once was. The small taste we did get I loved and it may have been better and had more life before but it still managed to make it into my top 5 favourite cities, even now. I can only imagine what it would have been like before, I would have loved to experienced that.

The arena was downtown again which meant walking distance to lots of stuff once again, which is always good.

The French quarter and French Market are really nice and they do have a bit of a European feel to them with their small streets.



The houses here are great and I just love all the wrought iron balconies.






The French market was OK though too much of it was new, I think markets need a certain amount of tat in them. Willow bought a really nice Mardi Gras mask though.



There were plenty of shops that did sell tat, antiques and old books though to make up for the lack of it in the market. There were also a lot of art shops and galleries and Willow fell in love with George Rodrigues Blue Dog.



One of the things I thought we had missed were beignet's at Cafe du Monde but Richard one of the clowns had bought some so we got to try them. They are a bit like a square funnel cake and very nice so maybe it is just as well I did not go myself.

Of course we also visited the famous Bourbon Street though we didn't spend too much time there or visited after dark as it really isn't the sort of place you want to spend too much time with a child.

Like so many major cities you can get carriage ride/tours and when my mum and dad visited in New York we did the tourist bit and took one around Central Park. Here however they are slightly different. The carriages are pulled mainly by Mules. They are so funny and have so much character but initially it did look a little odd to see.



We generally try to walk different routes to wherever we are going so that we may find something new or interesting. One day wandering back to the arena we came across an old closed theatre. It was called the Orpheum Theatre and there is nothing strange in seeing buildings like this unused especially in today's economic climate but it is only once you start looking at it and see the last performance here was August 2005, you just know it has never opened since Katrina.




River walk is a nice area with a mall, there isn't that much along the river but it is a nice stroll along to the French Market or you can do what we did and take the Riverfront streetcar line.



A few things we didn't do but would have liked to where a swamp tour, a cemetery tour, a plantation tour and a New Orleans Rebirth tour (so many tours).

Yes I really loved New Orleans.