Texans Playoffs and Baltimore

After a convincing win over Cincinnati 31-10 for their first playoff game, the Texans and Timmy T were going to Baltimore to face the Ravens.

 

 

JJ Watt for the sack

 

Touchdown Arian Foster



 When I got home from the game without my voice for 3 days it was straight to Stub Hub to look for a ticket to the game in Baltimore.  Found a ticket field level 15th row in the end zone and then a flight with hotel deal from Expedia. YES I am going to the Texans first road playoff game! Saturday morning off to Baltimore.  I decided to take the light rail to my hotel mistake, as I traveled toward my hotel there was graffiti on most everything. Passed the stadiums and into downtown over 70% of the buildings were boarded up and exiting in a really bad area to walk 3 blocks to my "recently renovated hotel" NOT.  I was not scared but very aware of where I was and who was around me. Ghetto.

On to the fun. I found a bar Luckies at the Power Plant Live down in the Inner Harbour area that is owned by a UT grad and the place for UT watch parties. Great bar and a fantastic time. The bar was packed with over 300 Texans fans and 1 Ravens fan excluding the bartenders. We watched the Saturday NFL games and the bar played all the songs that are played at Reliant Stadium during Texans games. Finished the night with a crab cake appetizer at Phillips Seafood, which were OK. Game time!



Where's Waldo or Timmy Toyota?

Headed to M and T Bank Stadium early for a meet with fellow Texans fans in the parking lot for tailgating. There were about 40 of us standing in the parking lot, no tailgating per say but we hung out and some of the guys took a taxi to a rough part of town to pick up some beer and liquor - no food but good conversation. It's not like we were in Texas nor Reliant (the best tailgating in the NFL 3 years running) this is Maryland. On the north side is Camden Yards, east is the Inner Harbour all the rest is "In the Ghetto"(I can hear Elvis singing). The game was great considering we lost. I entered the stadium 2 hours before kick off and watched the Texans warm-up, the news reported 11,000 Texans fans were coming. The people in the section I sat in were very nice, I made sure they got to know me so I would not end up in a fight. I am "In the ghetto" after all!  The fans in the section I was in were great, we even got to an agreement when either team did well we would low five. If you watched the game you know what happened, the Texans started strong, Jacoby Jones made a bone-headed move and fumbled, TJ Yates our rookie 3rd string QB threw 3 interceptons. However our defense was AMAZING with a 4th down stop on the one yard line and Arian Foster our running back ran all over their defense but could not over come 4 turnovers. Great effort but we lost.

Crazy story - I went to high school and graduated with the Texans fan in this picture.  We figured that out at the airport on the way home. He sits 5 rows above me in my section at the Texans home games. It's a small world.

Monday before heading home I took a taxi to Fort McHenry, the place Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangeled Banner sitting on a truce ship during the War of 1812.  Neat fort which over looks Cheasapeak Bay and a great story from our history. I walked aound the perimeter of the fort and checked out the new Visitors Center, out of the way but worth my time. I then took the MTA bus to Federal Hill area and had lunch at Ryleigh's Oyster Food and Spirits where I experienced both oysters and spirits(Yum) and headed back home. A quick stop by Babe Ruth's childhood home, back through the ghetto to the airport and home to H-town. Next year Superbowl!

48

Happy birthday to me. 48 and still limping along. What a great weekend. It started with a little golf Friday then on to Sugarland to meet out-laws for dinner at Liv e Oak for chickenfried steak and fried catfish. Yum Then on to Pasadena for the Hometown Opry at the East Harris County recreation center. Being my birthday I was in the right place with a room full of Seniors,as far as I could tell Staci and I were the only people without a hearing aid, cane, walker or a new hip. The band left quite a lot to be desired however our niece Lexi was the headliner and as always was fantastic. Her last song the great hymn "How great thou art" had the crowd(that was able) up on there feet singing along and great grandma Marcella with tears rolling down her cheeks. 
Saturday 36 holes of golf 109 degrees of heat 2 New Mexican margaritas at Chuy's some Creamy Jalapeno dip and chicken quasadillas a mini birthday cake, Blue Bell and king size Reese's and the cherry on top was Texans football. What a day!
Sunday lunch at Churrasccos $25 coupon fro Texans..Thank You! Then more golf, played in tournament with Dean 3rd place not bad but we can shot better.We will try again on Labor day.

Chicago-Pizza, Wrigley Field and Architecture

      Well haven't posted lately because I haven't done much. Honey does and disc golf along with 2 weekend trips west of Houston since returning from Russia. I did take first place in a doubles tournament with a random partner a couple of weeks ago. I took a trip with Staci and my wonderful Mother In-law Marcella to San Angelo for a visit with her new great grandson Gage a little Smurf(No he's not blue). Then a weekend trip to visit my beautiful daughters in lovely(NOT) San Antonio. It was a great visit Christine started nursing school the previous week and Chelsea was my waitress at Red Robin one night for dinner.
    Time to get out of town and check another item off my bucket list Wrigley Field home of the Chicago Cubs. Monday morning I arrived in Chicago and my friend Donie Smith picked me up at O-hare in a Mercedes loaner car. I meet Donnie at Joe Myers when he was parts manager at the Mazda store years back. Donie lives in Houston and works in Chicago so he graciously allowed me to stay at his apartment and even gave up his bed for me to sleep in what a guy! Donie's apartment is a studio on the seventh floor just a couple of blocks from the beach on Lake Michigan and ."The Miraculos Mile". Within feet were bars and restaurants in every direction and people walking the streets and right around the corner was the Viagra Triangle a triangle of restaurants were we ate lunch 2 tables over from Vince Vaughn and family.
    Donie got 4 tickets to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field sitting in the bleachers with the rowdy locals. We sat front row dead center field and came just short of catching a home run ball from the Nationals. I ended up glad I did not catch it the guy who did was harassed by the crowd as they screamed unceasingly "Throw It Back" until he finally did. The next batter hit what should have been a base hit but a fan reached out and caught it in field which gave the visiting team another home run. He threw the ball back immediately but then the crowd began yelling "Left Field Sucks"! These guys are serious about there sports around here. Wrigley Field is a great historical stadium still very much as it was when it was built back in 1914, no large signs very nostalgic.
   I also rented a bike one morning and rode around downtown on to Shoreline Drive and up to Lincoln Park. The lake,beaches and park were very pretty and cool being next to all the skyscrapers. Later I took a 90 minute architectural boat tour on the Chicago River. A huge variety of styles in building in this city making the tour quite interesting such as The Sears Tower, Trump Tower and The John Hancock Building which I went up to the 94th floor Observatory. A quick subway ride south and a couple block walk I checked out Soldier Field with it's expansion looks like a spaceship landed on the great old stadium(so much for tradition here). 
  Food was fun here as I tried the Chicago deep dish pizza it was good but I am a New York thin crust guy. I had an Italian beef sandwich with hot peppers dipped in sauce/juice/grease I don't know but it was Hot and Fantastic. The last night we ate dinner at Ditka's Steakhouse were I enjoyed Habanero Margaritas and Filet with blue cheese crust. I had a great time and would go back and visit Chicago again.

Just 30 days and Staci and I will be off to Great Britain for 2 weeks talk about bucket list.

Moscow and Home at last.................

We packed up and left for the train station for a 4 and a half hour bullet train ride to Moscow, my first train ride ever and Tennyson ny nephew as well. All went well on the train. Through the countryside were many small farming areas with tiny rundown houses and many abandoned factories. Very sad! Shows you what communisum will do for you. I was told that my last post was negative, I did not mean for that just relaying the sadness I see here and my desire to get back home 11 days is too long to be away from my wife. 
Moscow is a little more of the same. The hotel gave us a room with one bed and I was supposed to sleep on a fold out, after several calls we got a room with twin beds. Thank you. Customer service is not in the Russian vocabulary. Thr hotel was located close to Red Square about a 25 minute walk. I took the walk and as you approch Red Square from the north you see why the call it that.  Two large red buildings in front of you and a red wall to the right. The funny thing is the Russian name means "beautiful" but translates to red.  As you walk into the square straight ahead across to the south side sits St Basil's Cathedral a beautiful church looks like a toy. I went and toured inside ST Basil's but it was unimpresive compared  to many of the Cathedrals I had already toured, small and cramped. On the right is the red wall that encompases the Kremlin which was closed so I came back with Rachelle and my new nephew on Friday and toured the Kremlin with them. The Kremlin was interesting place we just walked the grounds but did not go into any of the several Cathedrals inside or the Senate. Also inside the Kremlin was the Presidential Palace looks like many of the other palaces I toured. After walking these grounds it takes away all of the intimedation I wonce felt for the Soviet Union and these places.
A little more on the people here and there driving. First when the talk it remindes me of the chef from Sesame Street. LOL Not as quite as much of the beer drinking here as in St Pete but just as much smoking, I feel like I smoked a carton of cigarrets during these 11 days here. As far as driving the lines on the road are just a suggestion as well as which lane you can turn out of.
Finally time to come home. YES After loading the plane we sit and wait for United to check the brakes that heated up when it landed 3 hours earlier. That takes an hour then another hour for the Russian's to approve take off. Needless to say we mised our connection in DC to come home. Booooo. It was 5 pm but no flights to Houston tonight so another night in a hotel and another night before getting home. Booooo.

Home at last!

St Petersburg People and Places

Before I left for Russia my mom told me how proud the peolpe were of there city. I don't see it! There is graffiti on almost every building along with the empty beer cans and bottles as well as the ciggarete butts cluttering the streets and sidwalks. In fact one of the iterpriters asked what I thought of there "beautiful city" and luckly my not often used filter took over and I told her the things I liked. The city is young only 308 years old which they celebrated this past Monday, it does seem to be quite well planned out. The buildings are all very similar painted yellow with an Italian style. The city is built next to the Neva River and has many canals. It was built by the first Russian czar Peter the Great to defend against the Fin's.  It is also very expensive here and you do not get your moneys worth. A cheap meal is $15 with small portions and mostly terrible food water and soda will run $5 and liquor is also expensive around $15 a drink. So far I have not been full except when we ate at Pizza Hut. Yep Pizza Hut! It has been years since I have eaten at Pizza Hut but when you are hungry you do what you gotta do.
The people here don't smile at all. When we asked why they told us because they have not had anything to smile about. All over this town the Russian's come to the many museums and Palaces after there weddings for pictures and I saw countless numbers of bride and grooms and not a won was smiling as they took pictures. Bizzare to me since it should be the happiest day of your life other than one of your childrens births. The women here are very beautiful and TALL, the men not so pretty(OK they are ugly I fit right in here). My thoughts before coming were the men especially in uniform would be intimidating, the fear of the Soviet Union that was pounded into us growing up. Not so in fact the soldiers I saw lookind like 12 year old boys in costume. Now some of the women I ran into were unfriendly actually scary at least the ugly ones :) The peolpe don't smile or make eye contact, nor do they bath or use deoderant. Walking down the sidewalks they don't move either they will walk 4 wide and never attempt to let you have one inch of space. When visiting museums and the such the push and cut in line as if you were never there. After 8 days of this I have lost my smile as well. Give me a yankee any day. The roads are crazy basicaly no rules the drive and cuteach other off without thinking about it. There is no defensive driving you have to be on the offense at all times. In fact the drivers in Mexico are excellent drivers compared to this country.
I have visited several museums and Cathedrals in the city and two outside the city. The first was The Hermatige which was Peter the Great's Winter Palace now a museum it is located in St Peters Square a very beautiful arcitecture inside and out. I went alone while my sister was doing paperwork, Not much of a lover of art there were thousands of pieces in the place. Artists that you would deffenatly know and appreciate such as Monet, Da Vinci, Van Goug but the one piece that took my eye was a marble statue by Michael Angelo you could see the chisel marks very cool. Toured St Issac's Cathedral now a museum and climbed the 300 steps to the top for a view of the city. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood was the highlight of all the places I toured. The inside was decorated completly in mosaics and was frankly unbelievably beautiful. It was biult on the spot were Czar Alexander II was assassinated by a bomb in 1881. We took a hydrofoil boat to Peterhof the Summer Palace of Peter the Great on the Gulf of Finland. It is know for it's fountains which were incredible and it's vast gardens. At this point as far as palaces went you seen one you know you have seen them all so we declied to pay more money to tour the palace itself. Across the river from our hotel was The Perter and Paul Fortress which had another cathedral St Peter and St PAul Cathedral which I walked to twice once alone the with Rachelle and again seen one Cathedral you seen them all. The only thing we missed were the tombs of all the Czars were in inside. Last of all we took a tour to Pushkin or Cathrine's Palace the main attraction for touring this palace was The Amber Room. The Amber room was decorated entirely in amber quite beautiful. The rest of the palace well you know!
I decided since I was in Russia I should see a ballet as this is one thing they are known for. We went to see Swan Lake at the Winter Palace. The theatre was quaint seating maybe 250 people and don't ask me if it was great ballet how should I know? The orchaestra was very good and the main character or is it dancer was very good. The women dancers were extremly skinny and the main male part as showing way to much!
I was very disappointed last Friday when walking down the street I saw a poster Iron Maiden was here the night before. I am still not over it yet. One more night in this city before heading to Moscow for 3 days then home. I have never missed home this bad and now know why people kiss the ground when they get home. I can't imagine what a soldier being stuck in one of those far away countrys for months or years at a time. We should all pray harder for them and there families for the great sacrafices they make.
I have many fantastic pictures to share when I return, thanks for reading and I hope all is well with you and your families.

Across the pond to "The Red State"

Monday 6:30 PM leave IAH for St. Petersburg Russia to assist my sister Rachelle with bringing home her newly adopted son Tennyson. First stop Frankfurt, Germany after a ten hour flight longest for me. Thank you ambien slept on and off for most of th flight. Rachelle is a frequent traveler and had axcess to the presidential club which was very nice, serve yourself food and liquior(passed on the booze). Next a 2 and a half hour flight arriving in St. Petersburg at 7PM Tuesday. Picked up by adoption driver and she dropped us at our hotel then we had dinner at the hotel. I tried Beef Strouganaf as Russia is supposed to be where it was created, it was good but not great. Rachelle hit the sack and I went for a long walk down to river and walked about 4 miles around hoping to get a little tired so I could sleep. As I walked around the Russian people were haging out and all of them smoking and drinking big beers(which I found out later many were mixed with hard liquor). The city from what I see is very dirty they trow there ciggaret buts on the ground along with there empty beer bottles. My mom told me they were proud of there city I don't see it!
Tomorrow I start the Palace and Cathedral march. I miss Amerca already!

Yellowstone day 2.

 Monday morning and the weather....absolutely beautiful blue sky Thank You! We had plans to do 2 hikes and see how the rest of the day went. The roads are narrow with no shoulder and with the wild life you have to drive very slow and we get stopped by a heard of Bison on the road. The neatest traffic jam ever. We get to our first turn off for hiking to Upper and Lower Falls both of which are in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and notice the road north is closed by a Forest Ranger. He told us they were testing a water main under the road if it failed the road would be closed for 6 days. Continuing on to first planned stop Uncle Tom's Trail and it is closed snow pack, haven't heard that one yet. LOL We were still able to view the Upper Falls beautiful and running very high from snow melt. Then continuing on to the next stop Artist Point again no hiking but the view was amazing. As we arrived I began taking a few pictures then a rainbow began to develop from the mist of the Lower Falls. Apparently this happens once a day and you have to be there at the right time and it lasts for a few minuets. Bonus! Back to the cut off we wait 2 minutes and the road opened, water main go to go. We are living right! On west to the Norris Geyser Basin  were we walked all the trails and boardwalks of volcanic activity. We are not sure how many miles we walked but this place is worth every step. Since we weren't able to do any of the hikes we planned on we kept on driving north to Mammoth Hot Springs area. We passed on the Hot Springs stopped in the Visitor Area for a hamburger and Elk are all over the place. People every where and Elk just chillin. Now it was east across the northern area of Yellowstone to Lamar Valley where the wildlife were most prevalent. There was little to no snow in the northern area of Yellowstone??????  Before we get to Lamar Valley the road both ways come to a stop. Down in the valley below there were 30 Bison, pronghorns and a Grizzly Bear. We got out  of the 4runner I was taking pictures and a Ranger comes up the road lights, Staci gets in the truck and drives past me I don't even notice. Click Click Click  I had to run up the road to catch up to her, apparently some lady yelled at Staci for leaving the truck parked in the road. Not like it was just us. Lamar Valley was loaded with wildlife. Countless hundreds of bison, pronghorns,3 more grizzlies all with cubs, mountain goats in a picnic area minding there own business alone mile deer and more elk. Then it was a 2 hour drive back the way we came due to one main road still closed due to the mountain pass snow pack. We had dinner at the Lake Yellowstone Lodge again just have a drink or glass of wine in the lobby and eat another sandwich. :) Back to our cabin and more adventure tomorrow.