The blogs at night are big and bright....

Good Saturday morning. It is only day two of my semi-annual baseball trip with my friend Randy. (that is if semi-annual means every two years - though that might be bi-annual but I think that means twice a year). Even though it is only day two it seems like day five because we tend to pack a lot into the days we have. That is one of my annoying habits on trips sometimes I think but I like to pack as much into the time I have in a different place so I can see as much as I can see. I think that is one of the reasons Randy and I like to come on these baseball trips together because I believe we are both do as much as you can to get as much out of a place your are visiting kind of guys. So, Thursday night we got to Dallas about midnight or so and by the time we got to the hotel it was about 1AM. We then got up in the morning yesterday and were on the road toward Houston by about 5AM. I drove and I like to live like the locals and, in this case, that meant drive like the natives. It only took us about 3 1/2 hours to get from Dallas to Houston because the locals, at least the one I decided to hook our wagon up to, likes to drive fast. For several of the miles we were flying down the highway at 104 miles an hour. I had to slow down to 98 at one point and another car passed me so I had to get back over to 100 to retake the pole position. I must say the the Chevy Cruise handles very well at high rates of speed.

This is the sign welcoming us to the Nolan Ryan Museum

We got to Dallas and checked into our new hotel (for last night) and we went off to Minute Maid Field for a tour of the ballpark. The Astros have a really cool ballpark. I like to do the baseball park tours. The group we toured with was only about twelve people or so and that is right about the right number I think.

What is the difference between a motel and a hotel? I m not really sure which one we are staying in.

After the tour, I am not gonna tell you every detail since these blogs can get boring enough on their own without my help, we decided to drive down to Alvin, Texas to see the Nolan Ryan Museum (he's from Alvin, Texas). If you do not know who Nolan Ryan is - he was one of the greatest pitchers of all time and now works for the Texas Rangers. He played for both the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers...he is definitely a good ole Texas boy. We made the hour or so trip down to Alvin and drive up to the museum about 2PM and immediately noticed that the parking lot was pretty empty. Cool - we'll have the place all to ourselves.

Please forgive any typos or misspellings today because I am trying to type in the dark so Randy can sleep a little longer - I am always up early because of my guilty conscience fro something I must have done in a past life.

We also had brisket yesterday at one of the million local barbecue places in Houston. I found out that I am not really a big fan of brisket but I am always willing to try all of the local customs at least once. That's actually one of the things I like best about going on trips is to try to experience local cultures and traditions.

Our car's console yesterday. 110? It's like Africa-hot here!

Last night we went to The Houston Astros game and watched them lose to The Celevland Indians. That baseball park is awesome. That was the first game I have ever been to where the roof was closed. I have been to many domed stadia but that was the first one with the lid on. I  am glad because it was hot outside. At the end of the game they opened the roof (only too about 15 minutes) and they had a fireworks show. It was a good time.

I had better wrap-up now because Randy is up and we are heading back to Dallas this morning and going to a Texas Rangers game among many other things. Maybe we will try to keep in under 100 mph back north. Though everything is bigger in Texas.

I hope you have a great day and I hope it's not over 100 degrees where you are. It's pretty hot here - that everything is bigger in Texas thing should have limitations (like the temperature). Thanks for stopping-in y'all. I will probably blog again tomorrow since I am always the early bird trying to catch the blogging worm. TTTT...MITM (where the stars at night are big and bright - clap clap clap clap - ...) I know you said it!!!! TA! I will try to get some photos up on my Facebook page.