After a few weeks of convincing on my part (of course I was already making reservations, I mean I knew I was going to get my way) he reluctantly agreed to go. So I quickly started getting everything together, requesting days off, booking the hotel, and figuring out our itinerary.
I had heard about the Alabama beaches for several years so that was the part of the state I decided to visit. "They have beaches in Alabama?"yes and they're beautiful! We considered Huntsville as well for NASA but we have NASA in Texas too so we went with the coast.
Finally after a few weeks of planning we were off to start our tour of Dixie!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
It's 5am and I already packed up the car the night before. Rudy is exhausted! He worked until 3am so he's only been home for 2 hours. Normally he could have taken off but he was the only state trooper on the road last night so he had to work it. We already took our Pomeranian, Radar, to the kennel yesterday so that we could leave this early. That's the one downfall to this trip, having to leave our baby for a week. Well that and the 18 hr drive that is ahead of us.
After checking the stove a million times to be sure it's off, checking the doors, and turning up the AC we head out to the garage to begin our journey. Rudy is practically a walking zombie. Luckily I have prepared for this and put a pillow and blanket in the car. "Honey, can I go to sleep now?", "Yes dear, I'll wake you up when we get to Sugar Land." As I pull out of the driveway it hits me that if I'm going to drive the first 5 hours, I better grab some grub and coffee to keep awake. So I go down 2 exits and pull into McDonald's. Sleeping Beauty magically awakes and puts in his order for a number 3. We pull over and eat real quick then back on the road we go, me excited about what awaits us and Rudy snoring loudly over my private John Mayer concert playing in our Maxima.
The first few hours of the drive are very peaceful, it's dark still and the roads are dead. There's construction but nothing unbearable since I'm the only car on the road. When we drove thru Victoria I was shocked at how beautiful the area was. Nothing like the area we live in.
I finally get into Sugar Land which is our first scheduled stop at a gas station that I can't seem to find. Rudy awakes amidst all the confusion and helps me locate it. Well as we pull up we realize oh, it's closed! That was obvious due to all the caution tape....yeah, nice. "Well I have to pee so let's find another place!" Let me stop right here....if you ever need to pee in Houston, good luck! Half the gas stations are pay at the pump only (I'm guessing for security reasons) and have no building what so ever. Finally after 30 minutes of searching for a damn bathroom I pull into a hospital and have Rudy take over the driving. I've given up! Of course he was able to find a nice, huge, clean gas station within 5 minutes. I jump out and make a run for the outhouse while Rudy laughs and pumps gas. We stretch and buy some drinks and are ready to hit the road again.
We both had heard horrible horror stories of Houston traffic so we decided to avoid it all together by making a loop around it. No, not THE LOOP, but a loop around the loop, that's right, call me genius. It adds about an hour and half to our trip but we're safer this way and the drive is pretty.
My handsome hubby navigating Houston traffic
Our traveling companion watching over
Pouring over the maps
It's now 1pm and we're getting into Beaumont which is our 2nd planned stop. We were scheduled to get there about noon but our little restroom fiasco in Sugar Land put us about an hour back. There are 2 reasons for stopping in Beaumont (1) To eat lunch (2) To see...it. That's right folks! Beaumont is the home to the World's Largest Fire Hydrant. Who could resist to stop and see such an incredible thing? We head down to see the hydrant as soon as we get to town. It's at the Texas Firefighters Museum and apparently the 411 on the whole thing is that the Walt Disney Company presented it to them in 1999 to help promote the upcoming re-release of 101 Dalmatians. Oh and I saw my first gang fight break out in the streets on the way there, exciting huh? Lock the doors folks!
The only thing that sucks about going alone on
a trip together...shitty couple pics
So after leaving the hydrant we headed across town to eat lunch at Cheddars. The one in Fort Worth is just awesome, the one in Beaumont...not so much. We'll never be returning there but we got fed either way so I guess that was the main purpose.
After we got back in the car Rudy told me he was getting sleepy again and asked if I could drive for a bit more. I said sure not knowing what lay ahead. Let me give you some background info on me, I'm horribly scared of bridges. I always have been but after this trip I was totally forced to get over that. Guys, over the next few hours I had to drive over some of the biggest, longest, craziest bridges in the freakin country! And don't even get me started on the one in Baton Rouge...oh my gawd...it's horrible. It's like a billion feet in the air, has a gazillion lanes, and you actually have people merging and exiting on this bridge, it's ridiculous! I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack. There were a few times on that bridge where I wanted to cry (and that tells you how big it is!) But it has to be tall because it goes over the Mississippi River.
Louisiana is just an interesting state all together. Half of the time we were driving over swampland. Those bridges didn't bother me though, they were like regular old roads. There was a few times though where we thought we saw alligators in the water and we probably did.
Louisiana Swamplands
Shortly after my traumatic experience of the bridge we arrived at our 3rd stop, Ponchatoula, Louisiana. Now let me stop here and personally nominate the guy who made they city's webpage for an award. He made the city look so cute and clean you would want to live there! When we pulled into the gas station I was so frightened I stayed in the car. I had to pee but hey, I wanted to live too. Now I have to cut them some slack, they're about 30 minutes outside of New Orleans so I'm sure they have seen better times. Perhaps back in the day it was a cute village. Rudy filled the car up with gas and quickly got back in. He was scared and he frickin works the roads for a living!
The main reason we had stopped in Ponchatoula was to see Old Hardhide, the town alligator. It's really a cute concept. They have this huge open air cage in the center of town where he resides. He's quite intelligent for his kind, he writes a weekly gossip column in the town's paper. When we saw him I was a bit disappointed I mean, he was pretty lazy. Not that I wanted him to charge the cage or anything but he could have at least waved!
When we got back in the car (rather quickly) we only had a few more hours to drive until we stopped for the day. And that's a good thing because it was about 6pm and both of us were tired of being on the road.
We arrived in Biloxi and check into our hotel at Imperial Palace. What a beautiful hotel! We were both in awe of the decor as we walked in to check in. I had just reserved the normal 100 buck a night room a few weeks earlier on the internet. "Ok, so it looks like you guys have been upgraded to a jacuzzi suite." Wow we thought, how cool is that? "Oh, I'm so sorry..." awww man she was wrong "......you've been upgraded to the penthouse suite." Rudy and I were silent. Neither of us wanted to say that we thought it was a mistake but deep down inside we were both overjoyed with excitement! So we get our keys and take the elevator to the private floor, that's right, private floor. When we walked in we were just completely in shock. It was gorgeous! It's the 32d floor overlooking the gulf. Breathtaking! Everything was top of the line and so clean and perfect. Rudy of course was so excited about the Plasma TV that he really didn't care about anything else. I was the same about the marble jacuzzi.
We got settled in and ordered room service so I could watch my Desperate Housewives. It was good but not great. I ordered the Prime Rib but they ruined it by obviously pan-frying it. Rudy had no complaints on his. After dinner we went downstairs and gambled a bit. I think I won about 100 bucks, nothing big. After that we went back upstairs and I took full advantage of that tub. I was so freaking tired after being on the road for 15 hours. Especially since I had driven about 11 of those. I instantly fell asleep in the tub. After about 2 hours I emerged from the bathroom and crashed on the bed (which was soooo comfy), to dream about the next day that was ahead of us.
World's Most Comfortable Bed
World's Most Comfortable Tub
Night View from Suite
Monday, April 30, 2007
After checking out and leaving our BEAUTIFUL room we decide to grab some burgers at a local gem, Burgers Burgers. We venture out of the parking lot and towards downtown Biloxi. Unfortunaly the entire area is still horrible with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The roads are cracks and shifted and there are mounds of timber everywhere where you could tell people’s homes used to be. It’s sad, horribly sad. So much that I tell Rudy to forget it and we head out of town. My heart aches for what those people have gone thru.
After a few miles we pass thru Pascagoula Mississippi. It hits me that I have the Mississippi Squirrel Revival on my Ipod so I turn it on and we sing and laugh to the lyrics. Corny, I know, but we had fun. Not too long after that we finally entered the great state of Alabama. They call it “Alabama The Beautiful” and it’s obvious why. We stop off at the welcoming center to take some pics and grab some pamplets.
We leave the welcoming center and get back on the road. We only have about another hour until we reach our destination. When we get into Mobile there’s a tunnel that goes under the water. Yeah! I’m freaked out by the whole experience, especially since we’re between the tunnel walls and a semi with sharks swimming all around us thinking “Break! Break!,” I’m sure.
Right on the other side of the tunnel there is the Battleship USS Alabama. Rudy looks at it longingly but I remind him that we have a lot of plans for that day and well that just wasn’t worked into them. I feel bad but maybe next time we come thru we can take an afternoon for it.
About an hour later we get into into Foley. It’s a really cute looking town. We don’t plan on stopping here but as we were passing by I see IT off in the distance. There is a beam of light crashing down upon it’s roof and I swear I hear angels singing….Backyard Burgers. “RUDY!!!! CHANGE LANES NOW!!! GET OVER! GET OVVVVVVVER!!!!” Rudy freaks out because he has no idea why I’m flipping. He pulls over and I point to the left towards the holy land. “Backyard Burgers? What is that?”, “Oh my Gawd! Just go, you’ll love it I promise!” I had had them a couple years back in Arkansas and I could still taste the wonderfulness in my mouth. We go inside and get lunch….I make Rudy into a life long Backyard Burger addict.
We finish our burgers and vow to stop there again before we leave the area. Back into the car we go, back onto the road we’ve grown to hate. After about 30 more minutes we FINALLY arrive in Orange Beach, Alabama. We pay the toll and venture over to the island to find our condo and get settled in.
We made our way down Perdido Beach Blvd which what I guess could be referred to as the “strip.” It’s the road that everything on the island is on- all the hotels, condos, restaurants, and other activities. It really did make everything very convenient. We were able to find the condo, Phoenix 8, quickly. I went in to check in while Rudy tried to organize everything in the car. The girl there was super nice. She said we could check in even though we were there an hour early. She called housekeeping to make sure our condo was ready. She says, “Okay, so about another 30 minutes then?” instantly I knew that we weren’t going to get to check in. She hangs up and explains that they’re not done cleaning it but that if we wanted to go ahead and do all the paperwork and run and have lunch somewhere it would be ready when we got back. “Okay that’s fine!” I didn’t really mind since we needed to go to Winn-Dixie anyways.
So off to the grocery store we went. We returned about an hour later and as soon as we walk in the same lady from earlier picks up the phone and asks about the status. “Oh my…..okay, ummm, let me talk to them”…hmmm, not good I think. “Debra it seems that the people that stayed in the condo last night got sick on the bedroom carpet. They’re having the carpets cleaned right now and you’re welcomed to wait but if you don’t want to there’s another unit you can have.” Gross! Okay well I’m anti-vomit so I say lemme see the other unit. We go up to a 5th floor condo and it’s nice but it only had 1 bathroom. I really wanted 2 bathrooms that way we could both easily get ready at the same time, and the vomit unit had 2 bathrooms. So we head down to floor 4 where the original unit was. I walked in and the guy was finishing up the carpet cleaning. Of course it smelled brand new with all the deodorizer from the cleaner and they had a big fan in there to dry it so Rudy and I talk it over and where like what the hell, let’s just go with this one.
We go back downstairs to start hauling everything from the car inside. We love the condo instantly. It’s much more roomy than a regular hotel room and you just couldn’t beat the location. Right on the beach, that’s the only way to have a beach vacation.. I quickly start trying to find a spot for everything to be put away while Rudy reads the guest books while watching the beach.
The living room
The kitchen
The dining room
Bathroom
Bedroom
View from balcony
The pommie enjoying the balcony
After we get settled in we decide to head down to the beach and check it out. We grab the beach bag and out the door we go. There’s a long boardwalk that takes you out of the condo onto the beach. As soon as my feet hit the sand I’m in disbelief. I can’t believe how white and sugar like the sand is. It’s nothing like any beach I’ve ever been too. The water was incredibly clear and beautiful as well. We just played in the surf for a few hours before heading back up to the unit to shower and change for dinner.
All of these were taken directly in front of the condo
Before we left home I had checked out all the local reviews on the restaurants, lodging, and activities to do while we were there. We then picked out what we wanted to do, where to go, what to eat, and etc. So the first place we picked to eat dinner was Tacky Jacks. Despite several bad reviews we wanted to check it out since it was considered an Orange Beach tradition. It took us about an hour to find it because several of the roads had changed due to the battering of repeat hurricanes. When we finally did I thought, oh, this is cute…should be fun!
YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!! It was horrible. I think maybe the biggest problem was that it was built on a pier that sits on a bayou. So when you’re eating (outside) no matter what you order tastes like fish because of the constant fishy odor coming up thru the floor. Now maybe this wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t hate fish like I do. I ate my onion rings (which were awesome!) and a couple bites of my club. Rudy didn’t mind his, but he likes fish. Had we just gone there for drinks, I think it would have been fine but for a meal….not so much.
Tacky Jacks
He better back off! Oh wait…actually he can have it
Thankfully the pommie is there to take this
After we finished dinner we went back to the condo and just relaxed and enjoyed some drinks on the balcony. It was so incredibly peaceful. Since it was like 10pm nobody was out except a couple with a small child looking for sea turtles. It was cute listening to the boy’s laughter running along side his parents with his flashlight only a foot and half off the sand. Other than that the only noise was the crash of the waves on the sand.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
We wake up have breakfast on the balcony and watch the sailboats go by. It was so incredibly peaceful. The weather was perfect, just the right amount of sun and wind. After I finished my ginormous box of Lucky Charms we took showers and go ready to head out for the day.
The idea was to spend the day at the local shops and maybe take in a few sea exhibits but that got boring after about an hour. So instead we decided to head over to Pensacola to check out the National Naval Aviation Museum at the base there. I was totally dreading it but it ended up being an interesting little trip. Pensacola is only about a 20 minute drive from where we were staying and it was a pretty one. You have to cross over the Pensacola Bay Bridge which is 13 miles long but it wasn’t a suspension bridge so I was fine with it.
When we finally got there Rudy was in dreamland. He’s really into Military History (yawwwwwn) so this was his favorite part of the trip. I have to say that it wasn’t that bad, and I’m actually glad we went. It was interesting seeing all the different planes. Plus this is the Blue Angels headquarters so that was fascinating.
In front of museum
Blue Angel Floor
Me doing my best impression of this plane
Atomic Bomb…wonder how they pieced it back together?
Flag that flew over USS Enterprise
After we left the museum we decided to drive a little further into Florida. On the way out of the base the Blue Angels were practicing over our heads. It had only been a week since one of them had lost their life in a show up in South Carolina and they were practicing for their return back into the shows after taking the week off in mourning.
Anyways, I had heard of the “perfect” beach in Navarro. We eventually found Navarro but never the “perfect” beach. We instead decided to head back to Orange Beach and enjoy the one at the condo. On the way back we found this cute little Souvenir City on the side of the road. Who could resist an entire city of souvenirs? So we stopped to check it out.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
When we got back into Orange Beach we took our bags up to the condo then got ready for dinner. We decided to check out a place in town called Franco’s Italian Restaurant. Oh my gawd….DELICIOUS! This place really really made Tacky Jack’s the night before look horrible. Unfortunally I forgot my camera so I’ll just have to describe it. It’s this little elegant café in the shopping center. The décor was the traditional Italian Bistro look. The food was just incredible and they had a wine list bigger than Olive Gardens. I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I think maybe even the food was better there too (eeek! I feel like such a traitor)
After stuffing ourselves with homemade pasta and sauce we ventured back down the road to the condo to go out on the beach to play in the sand and take in a sunset.
The boardwalk from beach to our condo
After we came back inside and washed up we went down the street to Adventure Island. It’s this cute putt place that has go carts, an arcade, bumper boats and all that good stuff in addition to the putt putt. I really liked the place. We were there kind of late so there really wasn’t anyone else there. Plus they have a live volcano you play on…now how many places can claim that? Rudy beat me by 6 strokes but hey I’m new to this thing and he’s an incredible golfer so I mean, I really didn’t stand a chance anyways.
Rudy at the volcano…no he’s not laying down
When we finished our game and I was finally able to drag Rudy away from the arcade crying and begging me for more quarters we went back to the condo. It was about 11pm so we took in the nighttime breeze on the balcony for about an hour before heading to bed.
When we get into the bedroom to settle in it hit me like a ton of bricks…..oh my God, it was horrible….I couldn’t quite put my finger on it….but…but….what is that SMELL???? I immediately start searching for the source of the stench after of course giving Rudy that look and him denying it was him. Where did I know this smell from? It’s so familiar yet….. so vile. This was something I had smelt before! Then it hit me, this smell was the smell I smelt in 3rd grade when I threw up in cousins mom’s van…. it was VOMIT!! The vomit from the previous tenants was back with vengeance! But they had cleaned the carpets and we hadn’t smelled it. Why was it back now?
When we lay down I noticed it was stronger on my side…easy fix…”Rudy, switch sides with me!” He’s so good to me. He didn’t even complain. Finally after a few hours of trying to stomach the smell we both fell asleep.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was call downstairs and complain about the smell. They were really nice about it and said they’d send a cleaning lady up. Okay, that’s cool. So in the meantime we had breakfast on the balcony then got ready for our day.
After about 30 minutes the doorbell rang. It’s the cleaning lady standing there with this little green machine and totally flustered. As soon as I had opened the door she started going on and on about how Payton Manning is staying there and how the other cleaning lady had seen him and had we seen him and yada yada yada. I told her we hadn’t seen him then I let her in and she went straight to the bedroom to look for the problem, still beaming ear to ear and rambling on about her football hunk. “Oh wow, it is strong!” she says about the smell, then she asks if she can look under the bed and everything. Sure, I didn’t care, I just wanted to not gag in my sleep!
She gives up on trying to find the source of the problem then says she’ll leave that little machine and that it gives out a mint smell as long as it’s plugged in. Okay, good deal, anything that helps. So she leaves and we go out behind her headed for the days adventures.
This day we had established as our Gulf Shores day. Gulf Shores in just down the road from Orange Beach. So after a short drive we arrived at our destination, The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. We both love animals and theres a really interesting story behind this zoo so we decided to check it out. This zoo has a weekly show on the Animal Planet called The Little Zoo That Could. The zoo has taken the beating from several hurricanes, most recently being Hurricane Katrina. It is a small privately owned zoo that runs solely off of donations so it’s been a very difficult time for them rebuilding. It may not have all the exotic animals as let’s say the Fort Worth Zoo but it was fun to see, to hear their story, and to help them out.
I actually fought this camel and won. How many people can say that?
Note: Never ask a monkey to take your picture
Lamer in a baby swing
So after the zoo we were ready for lunch. We found a Godfather’s Pizza in a little shopping center. It was okay but it wasn’t as great as I had remembered as a child. But then again, what is? After lunch we went to Gulf State Park to take in some sand and sun for about an hour.
Really nice pavilion
Funny thing about this..it’s Orange “Beach” but he didn’t have room for the Beach AND it’s taken in Gulf Shores
A trash can took this picture, seriously no lie
After brushing the sand off ourselves we decided to take in a movie. We finally found the theatre we decided on Meet The Robinsons. It was pretty cute and it was 2 in the afternoon so we were seriously the only people there. Plus it was the nicest theater we have ever been too. I wish they had one like that here. Unfortunally I really couldn’t see the last 30 minutes or so of the movie because I had sand in my eyes. As soon as it was over we headed to Target (right next door) to buy me some eye wash.
I had read a million great reviews on a place in town called Hope’s Cheesecake. Now cheesecake is my thing. We all have that one dessert weakness and for me, it’s cheesecake. I’m one of those idiots who will spend 40 bucks for one from New York on QVC. So after indulging myself in Junior’s Cheesecake out of NYC for a few years now, I was pretty sure Hope had nothing on him. Boy was I wrong! It was hands down the best I’d ever had. Oh and you know what’s really dangerous? They deliver by UPS…oh God, I can see the look on Weight Watchers faces now.
So after rolling out of Hope’s we decided to go play some more putt-putt. The people who owned Adventure Island over in Orange Beach owned Pirate’s Island over in Gulf Shores. We had fun, I felt adventurous so I opted for the for challenging course. And you’ll never believe it but we actually tied! Either I’m getting better or Rudy is losing his skills.
Hey, that’s not a real pirate!
When we finished our game we were both starting to feel the long day and the 90 degree heat so we decided to go out to dinner and then head back. Right down the road from Pirate’s Island is LuLu’s. If you’re ever anywhere close to the area you need to go check it out. It’s Lucy Buffet’s restaurant on the canal. Lucy Buffet is Jimmy Buffet’s little sister. It’s a very fun very cool place. We got the best seat in the house, in the back corner, right on the water. There was a live bad (who of course played Margaritaville a billion times), good food, great drinks, and a nice breeze. I had my first banana daiquiri and it was awesome! For dinner I had the “Crazy Lil Sista” which was a roast beef sandwich and Rudy had the fish combo basket. MMMM…just talking about it makes me wanna go back. Too bad they don’t ship their stuff UPS too!
View from our table
Of course he went with us!
Barge when it went by our table
The waiter insisted
We finished dinner and headed back to Orange Beach. It had been a very long day! We grabbed some ice cream and took it out on the balcony for our nightly beach watch.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
When I woke up this morning Rudy was asleep on the couch. Huh, that’s weird. When I woke him up he told me that he had been awake throwing up all night and frankly, it showed. I guess the vomit room had claimed another victim. I felt his forehead but it wasn’t too hot. What could it be? Why was he suddenly so sick? “Rudy what was in the fish basket last night?”, “Just fish and shrimp”……ding ding ding ding….we have a winner folks! Just a month before he got crazy sick on a crab ragoon at PF Changs. “Rudy I really think you’re allergic to shellfish”, “noooooooo don’t say that!” Rudy loves shrimp but it seems shrimp doesn’t love Rudy so much anymore.
Since he was feeling so bad I really didn’t wanna make him get out much that day. But it was our last day before heading home so I didn’t wanna spend it at the condo either. So we got dressed and headed towards Foley. I just wanted to check out the Outlet Mall there and take Rudy to Lambert’s Café which he had never been too.
We didn’t spend much time at the mall. It wasn’t the best outlet mall in the world so we got bored quick. Plus I didn’t wanna drag him from store to store feeling like he did. I did find a really cute apron for my niece, Emily, and we bought Radar some cookies in the shape of palm trees at a pet shop.
After the outlet we found Lamberts. Lamberts is the home of the flying rolls. This place is something everyone needs to experience once. It’s nuts, totally nuts. The waitresses try a little too hard to be comedians if you know what I mean, so that can be annoying but it’s all a part of the experience. You order your main dish then all the side dishes get passed around, table to table for you to pick and choose which ones you want. Then the great part about the whole thing is that if you want a roll, they throw it to you. Odd, I know, but it’s unique.
Rudy said he enjoyed it but I could tell he still wasn’t feeling too great. So after lunch we went back to the condo. I got him all settled in with the couch, blanket, and tv then out to door I went to the souvenir shops. There are several huge ones there. I mean, HUGE, like 2 stories. Alvin’s Island, Souvenir City, Surf Stop, and a few more but the place I loved the most was SC Tootie’s Yellow Broom. Now, this is a girls place. I think most men would hate it so it’s good that Rudy wasn’t with me. I probably spent an hour in there just looking at all the little shell jewelry and such. I finally found a pink leather wallet I liked and went to check out and that’s when I met her….SC Tootie, live in da flesh. Wow….this lady is something else. She’s this older, adorable lady. You know, the kind that has the REALLY thick southern accent. I think she may have been a Georgia peach. We talked and talked and I didn’t wanna leave. She was like that grandma that everyone wants. Finally I told her I had to get back to my dying husband and she said “Well okay Baby! You come back, you hear? I hope you enjoy your new wallet!”…so cute, I can see why she’s been in business for so many years and has rebuilt hurricane after hurricane.
That night for dinner Rudy didn’t wanna venture out so we just ordered pizza and enjoyed our last night on the beach. I can still hear the waves crashing against the sand. After dinner I gathered everything up got it ready for the car in the morning. We planned on leaving at 6am since we had such a long drive ahead of us. We went to bed dreading what was ahead of us in the morning.
NOTE: Sorry I didn’t take any pictures for Thursday. Green doesn’t exactly look good on Rudy.
Friday, May 04, 2007
It’s 6am the car is loaded and we just checked out. Only 18 hours and we’ll be home.
It wasn’t exactly a boring trip home. Remember that bridge I told you about in Baton Rouge? Well we hit it this time in the middle of a horrible thunderstorm. It was so bad we couldn’t even see. We crept across it at about 10mph, praying some 18 wheeler wouldn’t hit us doing 70. We couldn’t see the road, we couldn’t see other cars and it was just the scariest thing ever. Thank God we got over it safely and thank God Rudy was driving.
When we got into Beaumont we stopped at a gas station and I got hit on by a guy with a mullet. I thought Rudy was going to die laughing (oh and he’s feeling great today…I guess it was the shrimp). My husband, my hero, he didn’t stand up for me because he thought it was just too funny. We got back on the road and it took us FOUR hours to get through Houston. Unfortunally we hit rush hour on a Friday so it was just a nightmare.
We finally got home about 11pm. We’re tired. The car is tired. And the mailbox is stuffed. We glance at the mail, don’t even unload the car and just go to bed. We have to get up early to pick our baby up from the kennel. It can’t come soon enough though, we had a great time but we really missed our little guy.
TRIP UPDATE: The Sunday after we got back I get a call from Irene at the condo we stayed at. She has a rude annoyed voice and accuses us of throwing up in the nightstand. Hold up…wait a minute! You mean the reason that smell was there the entire time was because there was still vomit in the nightstand?????
I was PISSED! And that is putting it really really mildly. I immediately tell her to check the facts before she calls and starts accusing people since we had complained of the smell the entire time we were there and not only that but there has to be record of the fact they had to clean the carpets before we got there because the guy before us had thrown up all over the damn place. She gets all defensive and hangs up.
I spring into action. I write a nasty gram to the head of the condo agency we rented from and explained how upset we were that not only were accused of doing such a disgusting thing but more importantly that we had slept next to a drawer of vomit all freakin week!
The next few days the apology calls started calling, followed by an apology letter, and a refund check for the full amount of our stay. They knew they had dropped the ball on this one.
All in all it was a great trip and I’m glad they took the time and effort to make things up to us because we liked it there and hope to return someday….as long as the vomit is gone.
