The road trip to Houston

Hello everyone (like anyone is going to really read this... anyways) this is my 1st post. I want to remember my journey to my new life here in Houston.

Sergio,my boyfriend, (and I hope soon-to-be-fiance) moved to Houston June 8th, 2009 from Florida. We began our trip from Gainesville, Florida and drove to Louisiana. In Louisiana we stayed at Sergio's mom's friends house, Martha. She was the biggest sweetheart and made us feel like we were with family. We got our own room in her house with a huge KING bed. The 1st day in Louisiana we decided to explore New Orleans on our own because Martha and her family were going to a wedding. Peter, Martha's son, told us about this Beignet shop that was right by the cathedral. He said it was a big tourist attraction and we decided to check it out. He also warned us about not parking on the streets because our car could get "side swipped". So he recommended we pay for parking, but to still be careful as to where we parked.

We have our GPS which guided us through our trip and used it to get to New Orleand. I drove from Martha's houses to New Orleans , but I could not understand the stupid GPS instructions and kept making circles. AHHHHH was that frustrating! But finally we made it to the heart of N.O. and our initial impression was that the city looked real old and run down. We were kind of surprised and did not understand what all the commotion about this city was. But later that night we soon learned how cool this city really is.

So we looked for parking and choose this garage that looked legit and was like $10. The only weird thing was that they lifted some of the cars (like in repair shops) to allow for more parking. Sergio was a bit concerned but we hoped it would be okay.

We made our way to the Beignet shop and ordered some French donuts. They are basically fried dough with lots of powdered sugar. They were all right and the best part of this place was the silly asian waitress who did not understand a word I was asking her. I wanted to know if the coffee drink they had was like a frappucino and she just kept repeating the name of the coffee drink name. I asked her if there was someone else I could ask like the old guy waiter behind her and she asked him to help her. That waiter blew me off basically with my question and I decided to just try thet coffee drink.

When the waiter came back with our food she immediately said "You pay now" and I was like "How much?" since she didn't even bring a receipt. She added the total in her head and told us it was $10.... I was skeptical about her math so I decided to confirm it by adding the totals in my cellphones calculator. I got a total close to her so I paid her. We then were like "Oh were we suppose to tip her right now or do we leave it on the table?" Sergio said the girl kep looking at him like "Where's my tip?" and she was counting her tip money with a sad face. So after a few minutes I called her over and gave her the tip and asked for a to-go box. She perked up right after she got her money. I guess she thought we weren't going to tip her.

After this we walked over to the Mississippi River and saw the ferry that takes you on a mini tour. We went to the cathedral saw the wedding party but not Martha and her family, took pics, and made our way to Bourbon Street. We were greeted with a breakdancing crew which was really funny and entertaining. I even tipped them because of all there jokes. And as we walked away I even got a shout out from one of the dancers (I think it was to be b/c he sd the shout out was for the girl with the yellow dress and I was wearing one but another girl a few feet behind be was also wearing a yellow dress".

Basically to sum up this night we had a ton of fun at the club Razzers seeing the crazy bar tenders and the drunk ass sluts on stage. Walking the streets at night was so much fun= as there are lights, music, people, and lots of strip clubs. We entered one for a brief minute but I was immediately freaked out when I saw the inside of the club and decided to walk right out. We had a blast and wished we could come back with our friends because we knew we would have a blast.

We decided to head out around 10:30pm to get a quick bite. We put in the GPS a pizza place and when we arrived at our destination we found a new restaurant in its spot. We almost went to Denny's but changed our mind when we saw the time. It was almost 11pm and Martha had told us they would pick us up at this time to take us to their families house. So instead we went to Popeyes and I was dissapoited with my food selection. I don't think I ever want to eat Popeyes after that time.

I was really tired so I asked Sergio if he could tell Martha that we would not go out that night because we were tired. The next morning we had a nice Nica breakfast, hung out, went back to N.O. with Peter, saw him run game to get out of paying for parking, got a Praline (or black people candy like Peter likes to call it) and went to eat at Harbor. Sergio and I tried oysters for the 1st time and we thought they tasted mostly like the cocktail sauce. I ate Gumbo and didn't like it that much. I wished I had got a Po'boy like the day before when we ate here for lunch. The rest of the night consisted of us watching the basketball game.

The next morning we left early to Houston. I was honestly disgusted with all the traffic and construction in the TMC. I think this was due to a long trip that had me tired of being confined to a car. Our 1st stop was Wells Fargo at the Baylor clinic. We then went to check in at our hoter. Value Place at Westchase. We had a minor check in issue but soon made our way to our room and were pleased with what we saw.

The next few day involved going to look at condos with our realtor Ben, going to Baylor so that Sergio could turn in paperwork, going to the Hospitals to ask about GN residency programs,visiting the Galleria mall, trying to get my Texas registration and license plates, inspecting my car, going to Walmart, groceries at Fiesta supermarket(one of my favorite things of Houston so far), eating at Jack in the Box, going to Rice Village (my other fave of Houston), eating at a cool place called Chocolate Bar, eating at an okay Sushi place, going to Holy Ghost church (shocked my all the babies and the food sales after church), going to the park to save on parking, studying for the NCLEX, having GPS fights, sharing lots of intimacy, watching movies from the $1box, going to see the "Hangover" at a really nice theater (except for paying for parking and them keeping my licence),trying to be on a diet b/c quite frankly we need one, wishing we had more cash to enjoy more things like mochi...cupcakes...tacos...yummies, and participating in research studies to make some cash.

Houston has been a good experience so far but I truly hope to get a job soon, purchase our dream condo, and enjoy more of Houston life.