Texas

[Kyle]Next up on the big, ol' list was a visit to my sister Cori and her partner Shawn, who live in the greater Houston area. To be perfectly honest, Houston is not my favorite. I've spent enough time living and working there to be assured of my conviction.

That being said, Cori does not live or work in any of the parts of Houston that I did, so her experience may differ. In fact, I would dare say her region is "nice adjacent" because I am a curmudgeon and I will never admit to liking any part of Houston - ever.

On route we stopped in San Antonio, home of The Alamo, but we just slept in a hotel for our visit, and then carried on driving, no sightseeing. On route to San Antonio we shared the road with several giant wind turbine blades being delivered.

On the second (and shorter) day of driving Cori had suggested we should DEFINITELY stop at a Buc-ee's (a convenience store/gas station stop). Hmm, Isn't one like any other? No - Buc-ee's is crazy - huge, has art in the bathrooms, has grocery-store-like deli counters and makes pulled pork (and other) sandwiches - fresh - in front of the customers - it sells t-shirts, Christmas ornaments, beer and a million other things as well as the obvious coffee and gas/petrol.

Buc-ee's

Working in favor of visiting Houston (aside from Cori), was that it was the week in November when the weather there is pleasant (There is another one in February). Cori's house seems normal enough from the road. Once inside, though, it went on and on so far that I could barely even see the back wall. This is the standard Texas way of dealing with the heat - enclose the entire (or almost entire) property with a house as a way of air conditioning your land. Then put the badminton court on the inside next to the miniature golf course. After an extensive tour, we were showed the UPSTAIRS! Holy moly!

Not only is their giant house big, but it is filled with technology. While suckers like me and Maryanne are bumping our way around looking for light switches or ceiling fan controls, Cori and Shawn just amble through, telling their house to do their bidding for them.

That is the upside. The downside is that since their house is too big to see all at once, it helpfully keeps them informed of any activity in it's nether regions. This means that every time we opened a window or ventured too close to an exit, the house would ring a helpful little bell. This wasn't a problem in the daytime, but it made a stealthy run to the kitchen for a midnight glass of water impossible. After a lovely evening soak in their jacuzzi with them, their dryer dropped a dime on me by sending Shawn an email when I put our towels in to dry.

We had a great time, including a trip to a local park and to see Cori's workplace. We played games with virtual reality goggles (our first time), ate well, and hung out in the hot tub!

Cori, we already knew, but for both of us it was our first time meeting Shawn. I liked him immediately. Despite being a pretty physically imposing guy who could have easily skated through life on his brawn alone, he is inquisitive, intelligent and very self-aware. He is an interesting guy who can carry on an entertaining conversation about almost anything, even if his house sometimes doesn't get the joke and starts lighting up like a disco. At least I didn't wake in the middle of the night to find it holding a pillow over my face and saying, "Shhhh, shhhh… sleep!"