Even though I have a lot of family in Houston, Texas, it's been about 15 years since I have been here. The first two days in town was spent getting my Thai Business Visa at the consulate, the next two days were spent catching up with my three aunts and their families.
Today was especially busy. Aunt #1 drove me from Houston down to Galveston, just to do a quick drive-through of the historic town. And historic it was, but quite a bit run-down, unfortunately. It reminded me a lot of downtown Pensacola, before all of the renovations turned a down-and-out area into a quaint historic shopping and entertainment center.
Then, it was on to Clear Lake where we had lunch with Aunt #2. And although I didn't get to meet her grandchildren, I got an ear-full about what they are up to these days. After lunch we stopped by Aunt #1's house and spent about an hour there playing duets on her piano. I haven't had piano lessons in about 20 years, but she did a pretty good job of teaching me some tricks about how to play bass chords by reading the treble clef. It was so much
After piano lessons, I headed out on my own to find my grandmother's old house. She passed away about 20 years ago, but I just wanted to see where we used to go visit her. I didn't realize it as a kid, but she lived out in the middle of nowhere. Even now, the signpost into her town said it had a population of 773. And by the looks of it, that sign might have been optimistic.
The next and final stop was to visit Aunt #3 near Cold Springs, north of Houston. I also stopped by to visit a cousin who is just a couple of weeks younger than me, but who I haven't seen in decades. Aunt #3 fixed me a delicious steak dinner with red wine and cheesecake. It's times like these that I LOVE the US.
And then it was a long drive back to Houston to spend the night before my plane leaves in the morning. All in all it was a nice visit to get reacquainted with family members I haven't seen in a long time. Tomorrow, it's on to St. Louis, and then to Florida for Christmas. Ho Ho Ho!
