I think when Reed asked if we could spend our honeymoon in Texas I was still a little high from the whole engagement, because I actually said yes. Let’s think about this. Angela, in Houston, during the heat of the summer. All I can say is, “what was I thinking!!!”
Okay, so the weather is REALLY awful in Houston this time of year — 100 degrees and 100+ percent humidity. Now, if it was just that, I think I could have handled things a bit more gracefully. But that was just the icing on the cake...
It all started with a very cramped ride to the airport. Five people and their luggage squished into our car. (We were giving out-of-state relatives a ride to the airport.) Being a bit claustrophobic, I got a little (okay a LOT) queasy. We arrived three hours early to the airport only to find out that the airline had canceled our flight. After some negotiation we decided the best option would be to take a 6am flight out the next morning — and that meant a stay at a motel near the airport.
After a restful two hours sleep we made our flight. The turbulence was pretty bad, and the people in front me insisted on leaning their chairs all the way back, furthering my claustrophobia. About half way through the flight, Reed saw how sick I was getting and asked the people to put their seats upright — they did so, begrudgingly. That did help to improve things a bit.
Once we arrived in Houston and I got off the plane the humidity hit me — I thought I was going to pass out! Between that and my airsickness I could barely move without needing to be sick. All I can say is, if there was a God, I would kiss her feet for the invention of the electric airport cart! This saved us having to walk the countless blocks from the gate to baggage claim.
After surviving the walk to the car through the thick sticky air, we headed to Reed’s folks’ house to borrow their extra car. We then headed out to check into our hotel. We made the mistake of making reservations at a hotel chain we didn’t know and had never seen. The place was pretty bad. It had mold on the wall and was rather dirty. It was at this time that we began to realize that our borrowed car’s air conditioning wasn’t really working, and in 110% humidity 100 degree Houston you MUST have working A/C.
Between all that we’d gone through in the preceding 48 hours, I started to cry (which is just not like me) and Reed went into “save the honeymoon” mode. He called up the local Holiday Inn to see if they had a room available. They did! After switching hotels, we called Enterprise car rental and rented the same type of car we have at home — we weren’t taking any chances at this point! By 6pm we had a nice room and a nice car — things were finally beginning to look up...
In the end we mostly had a good time — especially when Reed and I got to go off by ourselves. We went to the Johnson Space Center, Galveston Island and I got to see all the places where Reed grew up. I think that was my favorite part. We ate at a lot of GREAT restaurants — some very yummy food. Lots of BBQ in Texas —BBQ EVERYWHERE! It’s kind of funny, you’d see things like “Billy Bob’s Gas Station and BBQ”. Texans are serious when it comes to their BBQ.
The next time we head to Houston, it’s going to be in the winter! This Oregon gal now truly understands what they mean when they say “it’s not the heat — it’s the humidity”! They aren’t kidding!
Hello. My name is Angela Christine Byers (yes, my mother actually named me “Angel of Christ”), and I am an atheist.
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