Sweet Home Champaign-Urbana

Hello All! Home at last. Sorry about the lack of blogging, and if any of you were concerned that we had suddenly disappeared. Basically we just got too busy to blog, but we also received some sad news on Wednesday... Nikki's Grandma Hinman passed away. Needless to say blogging didn't seem quite as important when put into perspective. Nikki went ahead and finished up the trip as planned. Grandma Hinman was a big supporter of our road trips and Nikki and her family decided that she wouldn't want Nik to cut it short. We carried on and enjoyed the rest of our trip, although there were some teary moments along the way.



I will do a quick post to update you on the rest of our trip. We have plenty of more video footage that hopefully Nik and I can download later as time permits.



I think we left off with Wednesday. Sarah J went to work that morning to finish up a few things and Nikki and I headed to Jackson to do a little shopping. We met Sarah at the airport so she could drop off her car and it would be waiting for her when she flew back to Houston. We left Jackson that afternoon and drove down through MS, across LA and into Texas and stayed the night about an hour from Houston. Thursday morning we traveled along the gulf, and took the free ferry across to Galveston Island. It was Nik's first ever ferry ride and we all saw dolphins in the water during our 15-20 minute crossing. We had lunch on Galveston and spent the afternoon walking along the beach. The gulf water was nice and warm. We drove up to Houston that afternoon and got settled in our hotel. After dinner and a movie (we watched Hairspray on Nik's computer) we ventured to Houston Hobby airport to pick up Eric. It was great to see my Sweetie.



Nik & Sarah J at the beach, enjoying the warm gulf water


On Friday we all went to Space Center Houston at Johnson Space Center. Ideally we would have had more time there, we are all kind of into the space thing... but we made the most of it. My personal favorite was the tram tour and getting to see historic Mission Control where the famous "Houston, we have a problem!" was first heard. We all resisted the temptation to purchase clever t-shirts that said "It's Not Rocket Science!... Oh wait, yes it is... Space Center Houston" Late that afternoon we headed back to the hotel for a quick change and then off to the ballpark for the game.



Eric & I with the Saturn 5 rocket.

The Cards were swept by the Astros for the series, so nothing positive to report baseball-wise on this trip. Friday was however Brad Ausmus (aka "the cute Astro") bobble-head night, and after a few clicks on Google images Nik and I managed to introduce Sarah J to her new baseball boyfriend, Brad Ausmus. At the game we discovered that the female Astro fans are insanely fanatic about center fielder Hunter Pence. Seriously all weekend the Hunter Pence shrieks were over the top. Personally we don't really get it... he is kind of cute but nowhere near being as attractive as Brad, and frankly his baseball is pretty much just average.



Brad Ausmus: Attractive, and obviously a dog lover... no wonder we got Sarah hooked


Saturday, us old folks (Eric & I) were lazy bums and slept in, while Nik and Sarah J checked out the aquarium. They gave it a thumbs up. We met up for lunch at Flying Saucer where Eric and I sampled some good Texas beer, then we headed off to take a tour of Minute Maid Park. At the end of our tour we got to take in the Astro batting practice from the diamond seats behind home plate. We didn't think of it until later, but we should have asked our tour guide to point out George and Barbara Bush's seats... darn! Here are my thoughts on the ballpark. Overall it was a pleasant experience, the folks were friendly (I had been warned that we would be heckled, but didn't have any problems) and it is a nice park. The concourses are very open, and it reminds me of Miller Park in Milwaukee a bit. The roof was closed all three games due the heat, but we did get to see it open on Friday night for the fireworks show they had post-game. The purist in me finds the indoor baseball with the roof closed to be just plain wrong, but I have to admit the air conditioning was oh so enjoyable. It is way hot and humid in Houston. They have some great food including BBQ, and some awesome baked potatoes.





At Minute Maid, during Astros batting practice

On Sunday Sarah J flew back home, and Eric, Nik and I took in our third game. Another loser. After the game we started our very long trip home. We thought we would stay near Little Rock for the night, but had to press on until 2 a.m. and stopped less than an hour shy of Memphis as all of the Gustav evacuees had taken all of the hotel rooms. We got home at 1:30 Monday afternoon and dropped Nik off. Eric and I grabbed lunch, and then headed to the QC. I came back to C-U today and crashed until just a few hours ago.