This is Downtown Houston about 15 mins away by car, 45 mins by foot - also the starting place of the Houston Marathon which John walked mid January. John picked up our first American friends on this walk - Sam & Pat whom we now see regularly and who are introducing us to their friends and they are all opening doors for us to so many interesting and exciting places and events.
Blake (our daughter) arrived at the end of Jan for an 8 day holiday and we spent a few days down in New Orleans which was awesome and a real eye opener - they were having their Mardi Gras and we were there just at the right time when everything was in full party mode. Of course we also witnessed some of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina which was very humbling. This is a paddle steamer on the Mississippi we watched cruise by while eating the local Cajun dish "Gumbo".
This is our apartment complex and when the Rodeo came to town the cowboys paraded right past the front - it was very 'John Wayne' and typical of what a lot of Texans love. We actually were taken to the Rodeo twice and loved the experience. We saw everything from lassoing poor little calves to 'extreme' bull riding. Each event was followed by a concert and we were lucky enough to see Reba McIntyr
e and then ZZ Top. The cowboy culture is starting to take hold - John now owns a cowboy hat and is looking for boots! We are both enjoying the local country music - one of the most popular artists here is Keith Urban - an Australian of course!Only been here 3 months yet have seen so much and travelled far. In T
exas alone, which is a state the size of South Australia, we have been to Dallas and Fort Worth in the north, Austin and San Antonio in the west, Corpus Christi and Galveston in the south and travelled east to get to the state of Louisianna. Enjoyed every destination so far with a lot more to see and a favourite is San Antonio, a place we have already visited 3 times thanks to business requirements. It is about a 3 hour drive from Houston and has a 'Venice' like canal running through its downtown surrounded by restaurants and shopping and the historic Alamo nearby.
The big surprise destination was a trip to the Bahamas where we needed to travel in order to obtain our US visa's. We arrived on the day of Anna Nicole's funeral so the place was a buzz. We stayed on Paradise Island and it was just that - paradise! The resort was incredible, a bit like Disneyland, where the most expensive room was $25ooo a night! The colour of the sea was spectacular and the beaches beautiful - just a bit crowded and everything was so expensive. We just loved the experience of it all.
Back in Adelaide we would be getting ready to resume our walking of the Heysen Trail and John would be peaking to do another 100 kms. Over here we have had to make some adjustments as we are strugggling to find some hills - Houston is sooooo flat. Fortunately we live near 'Memorial Park' which is a huge green oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle of freeways here. Memorial Park is over 1400 acres and includes an 18-hole golf course, has facilities for numerous sports as well as an exercise trail - a three-mile (whatever that is in kilometres!) crushed granite pathway that is continually used by hundreds of walkers and runners (bit like Rundle Mall at Christmas time!) Fortunately we have discovered a mountain bike track (although we haven't seen too many mountain bikes!) through the woods not far from our apartment which we are walking regularly - very much reminds us of Chookaloo in the Kuitpo Forest in South Australia.
In addition to the above we have also had exposure to a broad cross section o
f life in Houston/Texas covering live theatre including Irish dancers on St. Pat's Day, the launch of "Hot Town, Cool City" a doco about this great place (http://www.hottowncoolcity.org.org), a night with Tim Flannery (Australian of the Year 2007) listening to him talk about global warming and climate change and spent a wonderful afternoon at the Houston Art Festival where over a thousand exhibits were on display by artists from all around the USA. Throw in a couple of alligators, plenty of squirrels, woodpeckers and coyotes - we are certainly experiencing the local scene.
Sounds like we are on a full time holiday but all of this is being fitted in and around a fairly hectic work schedule. Fortunately most of the time we get to travel together when business takes John out of town and also for the past 7 weeks I have been working in the office with him as he has had to recruit a new office manager. She has now started so I can resume my 'holiday' here in Houston. Next Friday (Good Friday) I am off to London to meet Blake and Shelda (my cousin from Adelaide) and we are going to have a ball seeing the sights of London, Prague and Paris. I will fill you in on our adventures in the next update.
Happy Easter to all ( http://egg.d21c.com/egg.swf )
exas alone, which is a state the size of South Australia, we have been to Dallas and Fort Worth in the north, Austin and San Antonio in the west, Corpus Christi and Galveston in the south and travelled east to get to the state of Louisianna. Enjoyed every destination so far with a lot more to see and a favourite is San Antonio, a place we have already visited 3 times thanks to business requirements. It is about a 3 hour drive from Houston and has a 'Venice' like canal running through its downtown surrounded by restaurants and shopping and the historic Alamo nearby.
The big surprise destination was a trip to the Bahamas where we needed to travel in order to obtain our US visa's. We arrived on the day of Anna Nicole's funeral so the place was a buzz. We stayed on Paradise Island and it was just that - paradise! The resort was incredible, a bit like Disneyland, where the most expensive room was $25ooo a night! The colour of the sea was spectacular and the beaches beautiful - just a bit crowded and everything was so expensive. We just loved the experience of it all.
Back in Adelaide we would be getting ready to resume our walking of the Heysen Trail and John would be peaking to do another 100 kms. Over here we have had to make some adjustments as we are strugggling to find some hills - Houston is sooooo flat. Fortunately we live near 'Memorial Park' which is a huge green oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle of freeways here. Memorial Park is over 1400 acres and includes an 18-hole golf course, has facilities for numerous sports as well as an exercise trail - a three-mile (whatever that is in kilometres!) crushed granite pathway that is continually used by hundreds of walkers and runners (bit like Rundle Mall at Christmas time!) Fortunately we have discovered a mountain bike track (although we haven't seen too many mountain bikes!) through the woods not far from our apartment which we are walking regularly - very much reminds us of Chookaloo in the Kuitpo Forest in South Australia.
In addition to the above we have also had exposure to a broad cross section o
f life in Houston/Texas covering live theatre including Irish dancers on St. Pat's Day, the launch of "Hot Town, Cool City" a doco about this great place (http://www.hottowncoolcity.org.org), a night with Tim Flannery (Australian of the Year 2007) listening to him talk about global warming and climate change and spent a wonderful afternoon at the Houston Art Festival where over a thousand exhibits were on display by artists from all around the USA. Throw in a couple of alligators, plenty of squirrels, woodpeckers and coyotes - we are certainly experiencing the local scene.Sounds like we are on a full time holiday but all of this is being fitted in and around a fairly hectic work schedule. Fortunately most of the time we get to travel together when business takes John out of town and also for the past 7 weeks I have been working in the office with him as he has had to recruit a new office manager. She has now started so I can resume my 'holiday' here in Houston. Next Friday (Good Friday) I am off to London to meet Blake and Shelda (my cousin from Adelaide) and we are going to have a ball seeing the sights of London, Prague and Paris. I will fill you in on our adventures in the next update.
Happy Easter to all ( http://egg.d21c.com/egg.swf )
1 comment:
Hey guys! Good work on the blog and integrating the photos too! You did well.
Sounds like your having fun, good to start making some good friends in a new place heh.
Jeremy
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