THURSDAY
Greetings, gentle reader! Although you probably haven't given a fig where I have been for the past few days, you should know by now that I don't care and I'm going to tell you anyway.
I'm not allowed to say that I am going on a trip before hand, for obvious reasons, but yes, I have been on a trip. A road trip of sorts, to Texas where I attended a Pratt family reunion. Don't worry, you'll get to hear all about that, but humor me by allowing me to start at the beginning of my tale.
We left on Thursday morning, after playing "Which Dog Will Be Harder to Control" while we took them to the pet resort. Bear seemed to be resigned of the fact that he would be staying with the Jones Valley Animal Resort folks for a few days, but, as usual, Butler spent the whole ride over trying to talk us out of leaving them there. Ever since he came home missing that tooth, he is afraid of what they will remove off of him every time he goes. Surprisingly, except for the normal wallerings and jumpings that we always deal with when we take the boys to the resort, they behaved quite nicely. Butler narrowly escaped being eaten by a miniature dachshund, but with the vet's quick reflexes, Butler made it past him without incident. Shut up, Kenny.
Unfortunately, instead of having my head about me when I was trying to get Bear into the car, I forgot my purse, so when Mr. Lee came to pick us up, I had to ask him to take me to the bank to take care of what should have been a fairly simple, in-and-out errand. However, apparently I had my deposit slip written in Klingon and they had to call in a specialist to decipher it. So that put us behind by about half an hour, which made me feel rather terrible, but we were soon on our way.
Because I was so intent on what I was doing, when we stopped at a Zaxby's for lunch, I had no idea where we were. I went out to get us a table, and I was just about to ask where we had stopped when I looked up and saw a giant University of Alabama collage. Of course, I kind of figured where we might be, but I asked anyways. I mean, I knew we were in the STATE of Alabama, so it was still possible that it was just there because of that. I shouldn't have asked. I was then given the visual tour of the place and all things hounds tooth and Bama was pointed out to me. So, I suppose I can now say I've been to Tuscaloosa. Never been there before, and I wasn't impressed. However, to be fair, I didn't see enough of it to form a complete opinion of it. I suppose I'll need to go back one day, as long as it isn't during a game. I've heard that the town is hell on wheels during football season!
It's weird to have dinner out with Steve and his dad. They don't talk much. I grew up in a family where we always talked when we had meals together, and I always forget the "Can't Talk, Eating" rule and try to have conversations. Yeah, got to get out of that habit of wanting interaction.
So we drove on, hitting the Mississippi visitor's center. That's the great thing about traveling with Mr. Lee, he likes to stop at the visitor's centers and roadside stands, which I always like to do. I got a piece of an emu egg and took a picture of my feet. It was thrilling.
The next place we stopped was the Louisiana welcome station. I'm not exactly sure what was going on in that place, but the workers jump you as soon as you open the door. We had only gone in to use the facilities, but the vulture-like welcome wagon wanted to give us a map...no, please, come back and get a map. MAP! MAP! I was scared. I scurried out to the ladies room before they could physically restrain me and force some literature in my hands. The bathrooms also had what looked like prison toilets. No lids, no funny business, so do what you need to do and leave. However, they were clean and that is what mattered! I didn't realize that Steve and his dad were already in the car, so I spent a few minutes walking about and snapping pictures. I found some interesting stuff in the vending machines, but I didn't buy any of it. Who really wants to eat something called "Crawtaters?" As I was leaving, I was once again accosted by the Village of the Damned Welcome Wagon and I was asked to sign their book and get the map. I took the map and some other random literature because I didn't want them following me down to the car with anything. Granted, I knew they were trying to be friendly, but they came across as both scary and desperate. Also, when I turned around and told them to have a nice day, they didn't seem to know how to respond. OK, then. From there we drove through Slidell and over Lake Pontchartrain. I was amazed at how much was still destroyed after Katrina. Whole neighborhoods, businesses, hotels, still in tatters. You could see that building was being done, but it was still like a ghost town. So sad. We passed N'Awlins proper, and even though things seem to be getting back to normal, it was still so battered. It gave me a whole new appreciation for what happened down there. Mr. Lee decided to show us around downtown New Orleans, and he drove down Bourbon Street so I could see it. I really couldn't tell much about it because we were driving, and the street is so narrow and the buildings so tall. One thing I did notice was that Hustler apparently owns many, many, MANY buildings along that street, and if you so desire, you can go inside and meet a few of the young ladies who work there. I silently hoped that even though Mr. Lee was driving, he had his eyes closed. He stopped in the French Quarter so I could get out and look around. I've never been to New Orleans, but now I'm hot to go back again so that I can take more pictures. We didn't go far, but we walked down one street and went in a few shops. I was able to get my requisite mini snow globe, and we went into another business where I found a couple of books on local color that I liked. While in there, I had to ask Mr. Lee to go to the other side of the store because of some of the more "Mardi Gras" type things that they were selling. I was mortified. He's my father-in-law, which is close enough to being my dad that now I'm scarred for life knowing he saw them. Dad's just aren't supposed to know things like that exist. I don't care what anyone says. : )
We needed to head on, but Mr. Lee wanted us to have some beignets, or French donuts as they kept being called. We went to Cafe du Monde (or something like that) and had some. They were wonderful. I also had a cafe au lait that will haunt my dreams. It was so good. I was able to get a few pictures, but not even a quarter of what I wanted. That's why I'm determined to go back!
Not much else happened after that. We drove on to Baton Rouge and got a hotel room. This was where I realized a couple of things. One, I had forgotten my pajamas. Granted, I could have slept naked, but no one needs to be subjected to that. Plus, I don't think Grandma would appreciate it. Two, my face was burned. Not sunburned, but apparently there was an unfortunate mix of facial cleansers or something going on there. It hurt, I do know that! So we had to make a Wal-Mart run to rectify the situations. Then, blessed sleep. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
FRIDAY
I woke up Friday morning in a Baton Rouge hotel room (sounds like the beginning of a questionable country song, doesn't it?) freezing to death. I've noticed that in hotel rooms, they are either stuffy or freezing. Hardly ever are they comfortable. Anyways, I got up to get ready for my day and I realized two things almost immediately. One, whomever decided that florescent lighting in the bathroom was a good idea, was an idiot. No woman wants to get up first thing and see what they really look like! We want shadows and forgiving lighting. Two, big mirrors that run the length of the wall are embarrassing while you're changing clothes. You think you know what you look like sometimes, and then you catch a glimpse of yourself in these mirrors. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.
After the lovely continental breakfast, we got back on the road. We spent most of the rest of that afternoon driving towards Conroe, Texas, where Grandma lives. I had been here once before, but had somehow slept most of the way. Today I got to see where we were headed. We crossed the Mississippi river (huge) and drove across a bridge that seemed to go on forever. Apparently it crosses about a billion miles on Louisiana wetlands, or swamps, if you will. Some of the places we drove through were beautiful. When we got to the border of LA, we stopped at the Texas welcome center where there is a really long walkway through a wetland that is so interesting. Spanish moss, water lilies, duckweed, cypress trees...you see so many beautiful things. My only problem that was that there were a lot of bugs. A lot. One flew into my shirt, and it was only the grace of God that it flew out quickly, or I would have soon been running naked through the swamps of east Texas. I don't like bugs.
After that we weren't that far away from Grandma. We passed through a place called "Cut & Shoot, Texas. Population 1158" and it made the Athens that I grew up in look like a thriving metropolis. It stretched about 6 miles and consisted of a police station/town hall, a post office, and a vegetable stand. Everything else we saw was houses, but there weren't many of those. We finally made it to Conroe and found Grandma's street. Of course, the first thing Steve and I did was take a nap. When I woke up, I felt horrible.
***ASIDE*** The woman that I work with brought her crud into my office in one of the many, many, MANY times she comes in to talk to me (uninvited) and she never once covered her mouth when she coughed. She also felt that it was a good idea to bring her sick one year old to work with instead of leaving her with her dad, who doesn't work at the moment or staying at home with her (because it would take up her sick leave and vacation time that she wants to use during Christmas. Don't even get me started.) and she brought the little girl into my office at least twice and let her touch things. Seriously, if your kid is sick, KEEP HER AT HOME! Ugh...I'll vent on that another time. ***END ASIDE***
Anyways, I had been working on a nice cold that the afore mentioned lady brought me and it finally won out over my frantic application of meds. After Grandma fed us dinner as only a grandma can, Mr. Lee wanted to go to a bookstore, but I felt so terrible that I begged off. I sat at Grandma's house and watched "Most Haunted" while wishing for a miracle to make me feel better before the reunion the next day. I also hoped that I would get better before the next week at least, because I was asked to sing at a wedding. If I'm still sick when that wedding comes up, I'm going to pick up that lady I work with and throw her off of the roof of the SpRocket like a lawn dart.
Not much else happened that day. Once everyone got home, we basically sat around and watched TV while Grandma talked to no one in particular. She does that. Steve and I tried to break into a wireless signal we found, but it was useless. I did find out that Westar is extremely lucky to have Steve as its Network Admin. Anyone who knows how to do the stuff he can do, but who uses his powers for good instead of evil, has to be some kind of asset!
When we went to bed, I found out that the hound dog that lives next door to us in Alabama apparently has a Texan cousin. We got to listen to Jay-Bob howl and bark. Borrorrorrrrr! Boooooorrrrrrrrr!
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