i just returned from a brief trip to the motherland late last night, the motherland being texas. i was considering taking a trip down there back in july… looking at going at the end of august or early september to visit friends and family in austin. but, work got busy and i really wasn’t up for going at that time considering it’s the middle/end of the summer and still insanely hot. myra called me at the end of august to see if i would join her and a bunch of friends in houston for a weekend towards the end of september to celebrate her birthday. after looking at flight prices to houston and back, i decided it would be awesome to hang out with college friends again, most of whom i have not seen in quite a while (like carisa). i called eric (college roommate) who lives in austin to see if he wanted to meet up in houston that weekend, spilt a hotel room and hang out as well which he did. so the trip was set… the motherland visit from sep 21st through sep 25th.
i left seattle early friday morning (the 21st) at 700am and arrived in houston around 2pm that afternoon (remember we’re losing 2 hours there). upon arrival, i picked up a rental car for the trip, (and it definitely felt awesome to drive again though not enough to warrant having a car back in seattle!) headed downtown and met up with eric at our hotel. then we grabbed dinner at a nearby mexican food restaurant (mmm, real tex-mex again…something seattle doesn’t have). before myra’s get-together at the tasting room that evening, eric and i went back to the hotel to chill for a little while and of course we had to start drinking. 
that evening was occupied hanging our with some good college friends and their friends from houston, and more importantly consuming large quantities of wine. myra had ordered a large variety of wine (i would say at least 12-15 bottles), champagne (3 bottles) and a few platters of appetizers. we all had a good time and i ended up stealing myra’s camera in order to take random photos while no one is paying attention. i hate posed photos and much prefer candid ones to really capture the event better, but apparently some others weren’t too fond of them. afterwards we reviewed them and there are definitely some really good ones, which i will filter through and post at some point over the next few days. by the end of the night when the place closed at 11pm we were all feeling quite tipsy, though i was feeling okay since i cut off the drinking an hour or so beforehand (i am of course a responsible driver). everyone else left but eric, kim (one of myra’s co-workers) and myself decided we that the night was young and wanted to go to a club and get some dancing in. so we head over to the montrose area nearby and hit up south beach (dance club). they drank more (and eventually paid the price) while i was sick from the plane food earlier and still had to drive, so i refused to drink anymore. we stayed there until about 3-330am and then headed home…exhausted.
the next morning was the latest i’ve slept in a while… feeling the effects of the drinking and dancing the night before forced me to stay in bed until 1030am. i had to quickly get up and ready to meet myra and carisa for lunch, which eric was definitely not up for since he was still hungover and sick in bed. so i went to lunch and myra and i hung out afterwards, driving around downtown and chatting over some much needed coffee. i went back to the hotel afterwards to find eric still in bed and in total darkness with all daylight shut-out by the curtains. he was still really sick from the drinking the night before and could not get up. so i went out to get him some medicine and chilled there for a little while lol. that evening i drove out to the western side of houston to meet carisa and kerry for dinner at a korean restaurant which was really good as well, but apparently not as good as it usually is according to both of them.
the next morning eric and i slept in until about the same time, checked out of the hotel by noon and headed off for lunch before leaving houston. he headed up to dallas that afternoon to hang out with some friends while i was header to la grange to spend a a couple of days with the family. the trip to la grange was rather quick, especially since the western edge of houston has expanded considerably over the last few years. mom didn’t know i was coming to texas as i wanted it to be a surprise, so when i arrived to la grange i stopped by her work to see if she was still there which she was. so i decided to surprise her there rather than at home. she was definitely surprised and dumbfounded when she saw me walking in! she was just getting off of work so we headed to the house afterwards where we just hung out and talked that evening after going out for dinner.
monday i suggested that i drive them to austin in order to get them out and away from the house and so that we do not sit around watching television all day which would have been the case otherwise and would have driven me insane. so we take off for austin around noon on monday (since mom doesn’t wake up no earlier than 10am unless she has to), grab lunch and then head to zilker park to chill for a little while. i was amazing at how much had actually changed in austin with all of the development going on downtown and in the west campus area. a lot has changed in a year! we left austin around 6pm and headed back to la grange, where we were going to spend time with my grand-parents before i head back to seattle on tuesday.
overall it was a good trip, just long enough, and enjoyed spending time with friends and family. maybe a few more days would have been good so i could have hung out with friends back in austin which i didn’t get to do, but this was not intended to be a vacation…just a quick trip for an extended weekend. however, the trip also reinforced how much i really don’t like texas overall–not just the heat (and it was still bloody hot), but the cities, landscape and the people in general. it’s interesting how much more aware you are of things once you have been separated from them for an extended period. i observed things that i don’t think i would have ever noticed had i not been away for a little over a year.
yeah… i will NOT be moving back to texas anytime soon nor at any point in my remaining lifetime that’s for sure!