Saturday, December 11, 2010

H-town

So, while it was snowing up north...



Austin and I had a quick trip to Houston this weekend. I had a friend from Alaska come to Houston and also a cousin there so it seemed a good time to explore. Austin and I are trying to see Texas while we're here so while Houston was not on our big must-do life list, it was also definitely within reason from where we live.

We got in Friday evening and took a quick trip to the zoo. There was almost no one there so we had a great time taking it in almost on our own. It's such a reminder of how crazy this planet is when you really look at how various animals have evolved and adapted to their environments. Austin and I just loved having a zoo to ourselves on the off-peak hours.

After that, my cousin picked us up from our hotel and Austin got to meet her and we both got to meet her boyfriend. They took us to an amazing Thai place and the four of us shared three dishes- a classic pad Thai, green curry, and triple-flavored tofu (we weren't able to distinguish exactly which three flavors they meant!). We had cocktails at the hotel after and had some really interesting conversations about the overlapping languages we all shared: English, French, Japanese, and Spanish.

Today we met up with one of my friends from WI who now lives in AK and went for a walk around the pond by the zoo so she could take in some nice weather. Houston hit a high of 78 today and Austin and I posed under a palm to contrast the pictures of snow piles we received throughout the day from our friends and fam in MN/WI. I really miss the excitement of the first big storm and the idea that everyone has to stay home regardless of previous plans. We don't so much miss these weather events when it's, say, March, but luckily for this first one, Facebook, Twitter, et al. have kept us as updated as possible.

We came home to a "cold" front in the 50s, promptly turned our fireplace, and are relaxing. Tomorrow is home/house work day as Austin writes code, I do grading, and we tackle the usual household tasks.

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