Trip to Texas
Well, I did promise to at least attempt to update my LJ once in a while. And so I'm gonna post about Texas.
For the backstory, as I mentioned in my last post, Melissa's parents and my parents chipped in to get us two plane tickets to Texas. See, I had wanted to get her a really nice Christmas present, and there had been some random discussions amongst her friends about all getting together in Texas sometime, since two of them live there. Well, I took this one step further, and emailed all of them, set up a good time for us to meet (first week of January, before schools get back in session), and got our parents to buy us the tickets for Christmas. I also got in touch with her boss to get her the time off work. So I had it all set up wayyyy in advance.
Anyways, we flew out on Thursday the 3rd, from Portland to Dallas Love Field (with a stopover in Kansas City, but we didn't need to get off the plane). We flew Southwest, which we had never done before. It is a really good airline to fly. We were allowed to check 3 bags per passenger, which was good as we actually had 5 largish bags between us (plus our two backpacks). The seats are really comfortable, and we got exit row seats on all our flights. The flight attendants were really friendly, and it was just a pleasant experience. Melissa did amazingly well on the flight. She's been terrified of airplanes for a few years now, even going so far as to attempt to claw her way out the window on our way home from our honeymoon. But this time she just closed her eyes for like 30 seconds during takeoff, and that was *IT*. So proud of her :-)
We got into Dallas and Kelly picked us up. We stopped at Half-Price Books on the way home, the first time of many (the chain started in Texas, and there are quite a few of them there). We crashed that night in Kelly's very nice yet small apartment. Then Friday morning we got up and drove to the airport to pick up Christine, and went directly from there down to Houston. We spent most of the time there in Houston, since that's where Christina (Melissa's college roommate, hereafter referred to as Roomie) lived, with a bigger apartment. We still got a hotel room, because 6 people in even that apartment would be wayyyy too many. Kelly stayed at the hotel with us, since we had brought our air mattress from home.
That Friday night we all did our Christmas present exchange, and got a ton of fun stuff that I won't bother listing here, though I am very grateful for all of it :-) Friday night we had a fun and exciting adventure when, just as we were leaving the apartment, we found out that one of the tires on Kelly's van was flat. Now, this wouldn't have been such a problem, as I know how to change a tire, it's not hard. But the spare for a van is winched up underneath the back of the van, and part of that winching mechanism was so rusted that the tire was stuck. So we ended up having to call AAA, and with enough kicking and prying we eventually got it down.
That Saturday we obviously had to go to Wal-mart to get a new tire, so that was a fun shopping outing for everyone. Then we got lost in downtown Houston trying to find the Hard Rock Cafe so Melissa could get the bear that she collects (Houston = NASA = Astronaut bear). They were out of keychains though :-( Roomie had a wedding to go to that night, so the rest of us went to Half-Price Books and had fun.
Sunday was church, of course. We went to Roomie's church, which was nice. After church, we went to Roomie's parents house, and got to eat Sunday dinner with them and meet her family. Then after that, everyone but Roomie went back to our hotel to A) try to go swimming in the pool and B) play Settlers of Catan. The first didn't work out so well (though we did get in the water, it was freezing), the second was a lot of fun. We played with the Cities and Knights expansion, since all of us were at least moderately familiar with the game (Roomie had never played, which was why we chose a time when she was otherwise occupied). After she was done with church and stuff, she met us at the hotel and we went to Applebee's for half-price appetizers. College tradition, and a lot of fun.
Monday we all went to another HPB, and to a local coffeeshop. Then we went to the apartment, had a delicious quiche, and then I got kicked out for "Girl's Night". The girls all dyed their hair (red), and watched Waitress, and other girly stuff. When they were all done, I came back, and we all went out to IHOP, because they were all dressed up and needed to get out somewhere.
Tuesday we went to the playground near Roomie's apartments, and took some group pictures of us. They had a really nifty jungle-gym kinda thing that we all got on, and generally had fun. Then, after dinner, we had to say our goodbyes. Christine, Kelly, Melissa, and I needed to drive back to Dallas, because Melissa and I had to fly out early-ish the next day. So we stayed in a hotel near Dallas, because there was no way Kelly's apartment could fit four people.
Wednesday we flew out, and got home safely, with all our luggage. So it was an awesomely fun trip, we had a wonderful time, and we love all our friends :-P
For the backstory, as I mentioned in my last post, Melissa's parents and my parents chipped in to get us two plane tickets to Texas. See, I had wanted to get her a really nice Christmas present, and there had been some random discussions amongst her friends about all getting together in Texas sometime, since two of them live there. Well, I took this one step further, and emailed all of them, set up a good time for us to meet (first week of January, before schools get back in session), and got our parents to buy us the tickets for Christmas. I also got in touch with her boss to get her the time off work. So I had it all set up wayyyy in advance.
Anyways, we flew out on Thursday the 3rd, from Portland to Dallas Love Field (with a stopover in Kansas City, but we didn't need to get off the plane). We flew Southwest, which we had never done before. It is a really good airline to fly. We were allowed to check 3 bags per passenger, which was good as we actually had 5 largish bags between us (plus our two backpacks). The seats are really comfortable, and we got exit row seats on all our flights. The flight attendants were really friendly, and it was just a pleasant experience. Melissa did amazingly well on the flight. She's been terrified of airplanes for a few years now, even going so far as to attempt to claw her way out the window on our way home from our honeymoon. But this time she just closed her eyes for like 30 seconds during takeoff, and that was *IT*. So proud of her :-)
We got into Dallas and Kelly picked us up. We stopped at Half-Price Books on the way home, the first time of many (the chain started in Texas, and there are quite a few of them there). We crashed that night in Kelly's very nice yet small apartment. Then Friday morning we got up and drove to the airport to pick up Christine, and went directly from there down to Houston. We spent most of the time there in Houston, since that's where Christina (Melissa's college roommate, hereafter referred to as Roomie) lived, with a bigger apartment. We still got a hotel room, because 6 people in even that apartment would be wayyyy too many. Kelly stayed at the hotel with us, since we had brought our air mattress from home.
That Friday night we all did our Christmas present exchange, and got a ton of fun stuff that I won't bother listing here, though I am very grateful for all of it :-) Friday night we had a fun and exciting adventure when, just as we were leaving the apartment, we found out that one of the tires on Kelly's van was flat. Now, this wouldn't have been such a problem, as I know how to change a tire, it's not hard. But the spare for a van is winched up underneath the back of the van, and part of that winching mechanism was so rusted that the tire was stuck. So we ended up having to call AAA, and with enough kicking and prying we eventually got it down.
That Saturday we obviously had to go to Wal-mart to get a new tire, so that was a fun shopping outing for everyone. Then we got lost in downtown Houston trying to find the Hard Rock Cafe so Melissa could get the bear that she collects (Houston = NASA = Astronaut bear). They were out of keychains though :-( Roomie had a wedding to go to that night, so the rest of us went to Half-Price Books and had fun.
Sunday was church, of course. We went to Roomie's church, which was nice. After church, we went to Roomie's parents house, and got to eat Sunday dinner with them and meet her family. Then after that, everyone but Roomie went back to our hotel to A) try to go swimming in the pool and B) play Settlers of Catan. The first didn't work out so well (though we did get in the water, it was freezing), the second was a lot of fun. We played with the Cities and Knights expansion, since all of us were at least moderately familiar with the game (Roomie had never played, which was why we chose a time when she was otherwise occupied). After she was done with church and stuff, she met us at the hotel and we went to Applebee's for half-price appetizers. College tradition, and a lot of fun.
Monday we all went to another HPB, and to a local coffeeshop. Then we went to the apartment, had a delicious quiche, and then I got kicked out for "Girl's Night". The girls all dyed their hair (red), and watched Waitress, and other girly stuff. When they were all done, I came back, and we all went out to IHOP, because they were all dressed up and needed to get out somewhere.
Tuesday we went to the playground near Roomie's apartments, and took some group pictures of us. They had a really nifty jungle-gym kinda thing that we all got on, and generally had fun. Then, after dinner, we had to say our goodbyes. Christine, Kelly, Melissa, and I needed to drive back to Dallas, because Melissa and I had to fly out early-ish the next day. So we stayed in a hotel near Dallas, because there was no way Kelly's apartment could fit four people.
Wednesday we flew out, and got home safely, with all our luggage. So it was an awesomely fun trip, we had a wonderful time, and we love all our friends :-P