http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States , Texas , Houston en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:21:53 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:21:53 UTC http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-348014.html I love Chicago. I love window shopping at the Magnificent Miles.I love doing my Sat long runs at the lakefront trails.I love the buildings and the stories behind each one of them.I love the endless summer festivals.I love having four seasons here Always delighted to see flowers blooming in the Spring just can't stand the bursts of heat waves in the Summer time witnessing that beautiful fall co http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-347678.html I was horrified to realize with Eli as he drove me from George Bush International airport that it had been over A YEAR since I had seen him and Elana. Had a really nice time in TX with them. Drank a lot of Dr. Pepper. Went to some of E and Ersquos favorite restaurants. Heard all about the joys of applying for lawschool from Elana as well as the joy of working for FedEx from Eli. Got a tour http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-344394.html Checking to make sure this works... http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-342702.html I leave tomorrow so here goes my first entry. It is finally starting to hit me that I am leaving. I will miss all my family and friends. I am keeping this blog so that you can keep up to date with me. Please keep me informed with whats going on with you. I will appreciate all of your prayers and wishes. Thanks to my friends who gave me the good bye send off last night.My email address is bgmerr http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-342699.html Ernest and I are anxiously waiting to take off on our next adventure. This trip to China is my birthday most of you know it's a big one Christmas present from Ernest and I'm so excited I've been through my guide books surfed the net and interviewed Ernest's friends and family who've been there so I'm getting all my notes together on places to go and things to do. We don't have much free time http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-338967.html This is the beginning of a long way out. It is time for me to go too. I am compulsively researching the possibility and viability of traveling back home by bus. My home Natal Brazil. I have had countless trips across Brazil and Mexico by bus. I have no idea of how it works in Central America. I am up to the challenge and for my purest love of surfing this beautiful coast. Yes I know I wont http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-335708.html http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-326524.html Gee we made it thru the delivery all seemed well with life. We went from Deale Maryland to Seabrook TX in 17 days around Florida during hurricane season and saw no tropical weather thunderstomrs for most of the trip but no Tropical weather....So its September now and the weather is fine I see a Tropical disturbance called Ike out in the Atlantic and my first thought was that thin http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-325030.html Early last Saturday hurricane Ike hit Houston. I wonrsquot show you any pictures of the aftermath. You have already seen plenty of those if you are reading this. I went to Bryan Sunday to get supplies. I grew up in Byran. My trip to Bryan is the only thing that makes this a travel blog. My son bought me a chainsaw. I told him that I would pay him back. This is my first chainsaw. They are so much http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-324718.html http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-321136.html Ok here is the more later from the end of the Houston flight. BTW I think all our drama is over we have 34 passengers on our way to Costa Rica everyone has a few seats Kiley has her own row and is lying down comfortably. So right at the end the kids decided to fall asleep about when we started final decent they slept through landing and through the long wait for the door to be open. We we http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-315422.html Well here we sit on the plane. I guess that is a definite measure of success. Mom may have comments that tell a different story but she didnrsquot even see the half of it I think the morning went fine. I seem to have the time as it sit here so... well Irsquoll let you decide. After what felt like 5 min sleep I woke up to Kiley crying about how bad her ear hurthellip oh wait I have to http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-315421.html http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-314448.html http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-314444.html I'm at the houston airport. And oregonians the answer is yes Texans actually DO wear red white and blue texas shirts bearing the lone star of their beloved state with awkwardly MASSIVE cowboy hats all the time. I'm huddled in this corner of my terminal waiting another two hours at the gate i board to be taken to JFK. Three of the outfits described above are within an eyeshot. no joke. Unfortu http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-314246.html Well I'm finishing up my stay here in hot hot Texas. I'm glad I was able to stay two whole weeks with Trish and her gorgeous new son. I won't see him again for a year so this time was special for me. It's amazing how much a baby can change just in the first two weeks. And I was able to help take care of the house while Trish focused on her baby. Of course the home theatre and swimming pool were http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-312784.html Hello http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-309148.html Wedding of the Year in TexasI went to Houston with all the family on Wednesday we went out for dinner and went right to bed.The next day we went shopping in the galleria. It was a lot of fun.At night we had Laurens Bachlorette Party going on. It was a blast I had so much fun.Then friday around 6p.m. there was the Rehearsal and we went out for the rehearsaldinner afterwards.The wedding was goi http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-306646.html hahahaha. Its funny how my last blog had to do with the some type of storm cause well so will this one.Saturday July 5th 2008 San Antonio TexasSo we woke up and were getting everything started kinda late but the weather looked pretty good so we didn't really care. the day went by quick and people really didn't buy to much stuff. then at around 330p.m. we're told that there MIGHT be a chance http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-296198.html I am learing how to add photos to the blog site so be patient with me...here are some to checkWhat we have here is the old boat an Island Spirit 401 named SWACat and then the fire damage which ended up totaling the boat and then the new boat a Morgan 60 named Absolute for now maybe changed to Kewl Breeze http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-286261.html Howdy This blog details the trials and tribulations of the Frakes family in their quest to buy a boat and sail off to the Caribbean to do missionary work build church buildings. So let me begin at the beginning a logical place it seems.In 2005 after owning a Maine Cat 30 for 4 years we decided to buy a bigger cat. Something we could go cruising on. We wanted a St. Francis 50 but could http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-286248.html Well it was quite the journey before leaving. I had to basically get all my gear together and ensure that I had everything for one of those trips you hate to pack for outdoor gear cold weather gear gear for heat dress clothes items required for 70 days.The picture was taken in December when I the first inception of the trip occured. I knew I needed a holiday and I didnt want a simple holida http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-283369.html Amy is going home to see her family. She is curious about Sweden even though she has no clue about its whereabouts. Central America maybe Doesnrsquot matter...The meal includes a small dessert. I consume the dessert before the meal. She asks if that is a custom in Sweden. No itrsquos just me. Whatever. rdquoHouston we have a problemrdquo. Houston is down there when I ask her if wersqu http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-275477.html On Valentine's Day this past February I took Martina to see one of my favorite bands Cross Canadian Ragweed. No they're not Canadian. That's what I assumed also when I first saw the name. Actually they're from Oklahoma. They are techincally considered Alternative Country but a lot of what they do sounds like Rock 'n Roll to me maybe that's why I like them so much. The band is extr http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-271959.html I'm back in Houston for another 2 weeks and I have to admit that I hate this city. The majority of the people here are the cream of America rich and thick. I used to think the city itself just put me in a bad mood or that I was depressed these things are probably true but I've also realized I was not born to live in this heat. Fuck this place. I leave for Alaska on the 9th and everything http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-270326.html We were each given a key to get into either one of the rooms where we were staying and after waking up and packing the van Jon started collecting them. However we were missing one wersquod looked everywhere inside and unpacked all our luggage but we had no idea where it was. Eventually we gave up looking Jon wasnrsquot happy but we had a massive drive today and couldnrsquot hang around an http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-267565.html