A Long Weekend in Houston

Last week Wednesday and Thursday, we drove to Houston, TX to attend the wedding of the daughter of good friends. The drive was pretty easy, in fact I was surprised at how little traffic there was on I-59 from Chattanooga to Slidell, LA. That's where we stayed overnight.

Driving across Louisiana on I-12 was a little different, though. There is a long causeway across the swamp, and some construction. That wouldn't be too bad, if not for the drivers there. They are made up of two groups as I observed. One group tends to drive at a speed less than the speed limit in the left lane, and are oblivious to other drivers. The other much smaller group is made up of people who weave in and out as they wend their way through the slalom course known as I-12. I-12 also seemed to be the most heavily patrolled road we traversed on our journey. My guess is that there are frequent accidents on this two lane (in each direction) road. And when one happens, the world stops for a long time until its cleared up. We decided to take a different route home.

The wedding weekend was quite nice. There was a party Thursday evening for the out-of-town guests at a very nice home in Houston. There were quite a few out-of-towners, as the groom's family is from New York. There were even relatives of the groom's mother from Paris, France. Friday's agenda included a rehearsal and dinner for the wedding party, but we had a free day to explore Houston. That evening, late for us at least, we met up with everyone at Goode's Armadillo Palace for drinks and finger food. A great place for party, although it seemed a bit loud to us. The younger crowd enjoyed it though. There was even a huge live longhorn steer there with a saddle. You could climb on up and get your picture taken.

Saturday, we spent the day touring art galleries with friends from Connecticut and South Carolina. We saw some very interesting and beautiful things. We capped the free part of the day off with some Texas Barbecue for lunch. For the evening, we donned our formal attire, the wife in her dress and me in my tux, and went to the church. St. Anne's on Westheimer was packed, with people even standing in the back. The traditional Catholic ceremony lasted just over an hour, and then we drove to the reception, held at River Oaks Country Club. It was a beautiful party, with a band playing music and a wonderful buffet of food. My guess is that there were at least 800 people there. The party was winding down a tad, and we bid our good-byes to our hosts.

Sunday morning we headed north on US 59 to Texarkana, where we picked up I-30 to Little Rock. Then it was I-40 all the way to Knoxville, punctuated by an overnight stay just west of Memphis.

Altogether a very enjoyable weekend. Now its back to what passes as normalcy.

More pictures

No, the snow was not in Tennessee. That was Good Friday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over 16" fell, and it was moderately wet and heavy. It didn't stop snowing until early Saturday morning.

Next, our little dog, Jasmine, enjoying the warm sunshine this afternoon.

Persian lilacs just starting to bloom, followed by daffodils in the front planter.

Then the tulips, first when they just started to poke out of the ground, and then in bloom, with many more promising to come soon. The reds bloomed first, and now it looks like the yellows and the purples just starting.