What Now

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: FAMILY REUNION EDITION

FRIDAY 4/17: Today we drove. We drove and drove and drove and drove. Then we drove some more! It really was a day of almost nothing more than driving. After a fairly good continental breakfast at our hotel, we set off over the river and through the woods to grandma's house. I was listening to the novel "Psycho" and was trying to learn a new crochet pattern, so I kept myself occupied. At around noon, we stopped in a small town and had lunch at this hole-in-the-wall place that was apparently a local favorite. It was FULL of people, and we got there just ahead of the second wave. The place was a family owned restaurant in Iowa, LA called "Fausto's " and it had some really spectacular hamburgers. The people were also really nice there, and I got to talk to a nice man who accidentally bumped into me and spent a while apologizing. I wish I had taken a picture of the inside, which was small and had lots of stuffed fish on the walls, but I've come to learn that people don't really like when you take pictures inside of their stores and stuff, and I also didn't want to annoy the locals, so I kept the camera away. I WAS determined to take my traditional foot picture with the sign, but when I went outside, there was a good-ol-boy convention out there, so I had to do it ninja-style from inside of the van. I hope they didn't see me! :)

After that we got back on the road and eventually got to the Texas Welcome Station that we always stop at. It's located in Blue Elbow Swamp, and there is a long boardwalk behind the building that winds through the swamp. I've never been there in the spring, just during the summer, so I've never seen any wildlife there before. This time there were lots of reptiles around! Luckily they were all down in the water and I was safely away on the bridge! I saw turtles, a lizard, some blue colored crabs, tiny fishes and lots and lots of snakes. I'm pretty sure at least half of them were cottonmouths, but they were small and busy eating minnows. We actually came across this weird knot of snakes writhing around all knotted up together in a pile. Mr. Lee and I watched it for quite a while before realizing that they were mating. I had taken some pictures of them before I knew what was going on, so I got a picture of a snake orgy! It was not as appealing as it sounds. :)

After we got our fill of watching the animals, we left from there and drove some more. We got caught in a terrible, terrible thunderstorm in Houston that flooded the roads in just a few minutes and caused traffic to back up for a long time. We had been looking for an Ikea, since we had never been to one before, and we finally found it and got out of the storm. Dear Lord, I didn't expect the sheer size of the place! I thought an Ikea was like any kind of store that you'd see in a mall. I didn't expect it to be the size of a mall! We got lost and wandered around for a long time before finding our way out of there. It was really cool! I felt kind of like a bupkin for being slightly overwhelmed by the size of it, but to be honest, I defy anyone who's never been to one to be able to find their way around on their first visit! :P After we lest there, we stopped at a huge electronics store called "Fry's" and I was bored out of my mind, but Steve and Mr. Lee had a ball.

There are a lot of Mexican people in Houston.

We finally got to Grandma's house and I walked in to give her a hug. I expected her to tell me she was glad to see me, but all she did was tell me that she needed someone to open the pickle jar! I love that crazy old lady! She had fixed us a wonderful and huge dinner, and we snarfed like crazy people. I was so hungry, and Grandma is a good cook! Then she gave us home made chocolate pie. I think I died a little bit inside, but in a good way.

Tomorrow is our family reunion!