Pre-Fourth Weekend in Houston

For Michael's birthday (way back in February), I gave him a "weekend in Houston," complete with tickets to two of the three games that the 'Stros were playing this Fourth of July weekend . . . against the Red Sox. I know he misses getting to see them with any regularity and I have never seen them, so I knew he would enjoy going to the games. Plus, we continued our tradition of going to the Alley Theatre's "Summer Chills" series.

I had a bit of a time deciding what hotel to book. I wanted it to be a nice one in downtown Houston (and Michael insisted on a pool), but I'm also a cheapskate. Finally, I bit the bullet and used Hotwire. We ended up at the Hyatt Regency. I was a little concerned about its distance from the theatre and the ballpark, but when we got there, we discovered they had a free downtown shuttle that would take you anywhere in the downtown area. Score! And, there was a Einstein Bros bagel shop in the lobby! Not a ton of savory selections, but still better than Beaumont. We really enjoyed our stay there, so I definitely recommend it to any of y'all that might be wanting to stay downtown. Plus, in looking at hotels since then, I've generally found it to be the cheapest 4+ star hotel in the area with a pool. Can't go wrong!

Friday we drove out, checked in a the hotel and headed straight for the game. We were pretty high up, almost directly behind home plate. So, while the players were small, we had an excellent view of the action. We were, of course cheering for the Sox, and I was getting concerned when, by the top of the 7th inning, the Sox were down 1-5. We had mostly Astros fans around us, and one gave us a sympathetic look and said "that's ok, you'll probably win tomorrow," at which point her companion shushed her and said "it's not over yet, they may still win tonight!" Sure enough, that inning the Sox scored 6 runs and won the game 7-5. Poor 'Stros. They are the worst team in baseball right now. What a downfall from when I moved here in 2005 and they won the NLCS!

Can you tell who those people are? Yeah, me neither.

We won! We Won!

After the game, we stayed for the fireworks show, which was pretty impressive. I tried to take some pictures, but did not have much success.

Michael claims that Citgo sign is a poor imitation of Fenway

A semi-decent fireworks shot! Sometimes, I surprise myself.

Saturday was mostly spent lazing around. We went to the Galleria to visit Michael's  favorite store: Brooks Brother's. We actually spent more time in their women's store, picking out some sweaters for me. I recently pulled my white (and only) cardigan out of the washer to discover yellow stains all over it. I really like having a sweater, since the AC in SETX can be freezing, but I had no luck finding any in the middle of summer. Fortunately, BB had several nice options and Michael spoiled me by buying three, plus a few polo shirts. He is gradually working to make me less of a schlub . . . poor man, he's got a long way to go! ;-P

That afternoon was spent at the hotel's rooftop pool and we both managed to escape with little to no sunburning. Woohoo! We then headed to a restaurant near the theatre for dinner . . . and dinner took far less time than we anticipated. Consequently,we had a good hour to kill before the show started so we wandered out around the small park near the theatre. Now, in view of how this is sort of a diary of our lives and really our only method of keeping a record of what has happened, I'm going to transcribe what we encountered in the park, but I warn you it is not pretty. So feel free to skip to this next paragraph, if you'd like!

As we entered the park and started walking along the river, a teenager came up and said "I don't know if you want to go down there, I think the guy laying down there is dead." Apparently, he and his friends had come across this man, sleeping (or so they thought) on a park bench, but something didn't seem right. When they couldn't wake him, they called 911 and emergencies crews were already on their way. Sure enough, when the EMTs arrived, they determined he was deceased. We didn't talk to the emergency crew, as we were not the people who discovered the body, but I am betting that the extreme heat that has been gripping all of Texas was the ultimate factor.

When we finally made it to the theatre, we had an excellent time at the show. They were producing Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I had read the book, but didn't remember all of it, plus she changed it up when she adapted it for the stage, so I was suitably mystified and surprised. So was Michael. Alley Theatre, as always, did an excellent job and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I wish we lived closer, so we could take more advantage of the it . . . although, to be honest, many of the shows they produce, I probably wouldn't want to go see anyway. They are doing Anton Chekov's The Seagull in February, though, so that will probably be Michael's birthday present next year! (Don't worry, I'm not giving anything away. One, we've already talked about it and two, he never reads this!).

Sunday was church back at St. Martin's, the best Episcopal church we found in the Houston area thus far, and then on to the game. We sat on the deck, in right field, so were much closer to the players, but not quite as good a view of all the action. Still enjoyable, particularly when the Sox won, sweeping the series. I think I can call Michael's birthday present a success!

More anonymous players

I guess that's why they're called the Red Sox.