Texas Trip

Every October we are invited to an HVAC training with a company that we work with. Two years ago the training was in Nashville, last year was Orlando and this year was Houston. Anthon and I always go a few days early to sightsee. We also bring some employees with us each year. My brother Mike recently moved to Austin Texas with his family so we decided to fly there first and spend a couple days with him.

The night before we left we dropped our kids off at Donna's house, like we usually do. The kids LOVE it when we go out of town because they get to be watched by their favorite people. This time it was Donna, Grandma Mecham and Grandma Chipman. (I find that if I ask people to watch our kids for only a few days, it is a lot easier on them. It's harder for me because I have to keep track of who they are with and when and give a bunch of different people the kids' schedule, but if it means that people are willing to watch my kids so that Anthon and I can go on trips, then I'll do whatever makes it easier for them.)

We left early Saturday morning and flew to Austin. Mike picked us up at the airport and brought us straight to the car rental place. We got there at 3:03pm and after we walked in the doors, the guy at the desk told us that they closed at 3pm so he couldn't help us because he had to leave right away to get to his other job. We were kind of shocked because we were all standing right there and he refused to give us a car and also because what rental car place closes at 3pm on a Saturday?! He wouldn't help us so we left. I had already pre-paid for the car so we couldn't just go to a different company. We had to go back the next day to get the car.

Mike's car was only big enough for his family, but luckily his kids are small so his two kids and Anthon and I were all able to squish into the back seat so we could all go out to dinner together. We ate at a really yummy Texas BBQ place. It was really nice to see Mike, his wife Lisa and their kids Morgan (8) and Jesse (6). They are the only ones that have never lived in Utah since they've been married so we don't get to see them very often. I really enjoyed spending a couple days with them.

We played card games, video games, went to church with Mike, and got a Texas sized donut before we left Monday morning.

 

Jesse loved that I played Kirby with him on Nintendo (I think) and when he found out Sunday night that we were leaving the next morning he started to cry. He told his mom that he thought we were going to live with them now. So cute!

Morgan kept trying to convince me to sleep in her room with her instead of the guest bedroom with my husband. It was a really fun visit.

Monday morning we drove from Austin to Houston. We stopped by the Houston Temple. We found out that the first level had been flooded during the hurricane last year and they had to repair and rededicate it this year.

Monday night we picked up two of our employees, Brittany and Seth, from the airport because they were going to join us for the heating and air conference. The conference didn't start until Wednesday so we spent Tuesday sightseeing. First we went to the NASA Space Center.

This was so cool! We got to see the NASA campus, space shuttles, space suits and tons more stuff. My two favorite parts were seeing the old mission control room and a huge space shuttle they have in a big warehouse.

The mission control room was really cool to see because it has been featured in movies like Apollo 13. It looks all torn apart and stuff because they are in the process of restoring it back to the way it was in the 70's. They are getting the wallpaper from the original place that made it and they are re-wiring all the big computer desks so that they work again.

They have a huge rocket called the Saturn V that was made to bring humans to the moon, but didn't end up being used so they have it on display in a huge warehouse made specifically for it.

There were so many things to learn and see there. We spent about 3 hours there and we could have spent even longer, but we were hungry and our brains could only handle so much amazement.

Space toilet.

We went and got some food at a local place that served armadillo eggs and other fried food.

Then we were stuffed and needed to walk around so we headed to the beach. Unfortunately Pleasure Pier was closed. So we just walked the beach for a little while.

That night another one of our employees, Jackie, arrived and we were ready for the conference the next day. It was a really good conference....if you like HVAC stuff....which we do.

On Friday, as the last part of the conference, we got to tour the huge Goodman plant. No one told us that we couldn't wear shorts or open-toed shoes so a bunch of us were almost not able to go on the tour. Luckily a large part of the group was going directly to the airport after the tour so they had their luggage with them and shared their pants and shoes with those of us who needed some. I had the privilege of wear the pants and shoes of the main presenter of the conference. We have gotten to know him a little over the past couple of years, but I never thought I'd wear his pants.

These are not our shoes.

We got to see how furnaces and air conditioners are assembled, which was really interesting...if you like that sort of thing....which we do.

After the tour Seth went to the airport and the rest of us were asking the locals what there was to do in Houston. They all said, "Go see the Space Center." We said, "We did that." Then they would say, "There is a beach." We said, "We saw that too." Then they said, "Ummmm...there's a big mall...." So we realized we had already done everything (the two things) there was to do in Houston and we still had 24 hours before we were leaving. Luckily we found out there was an Astros baseball game happening in just a couple hours so we drove into downtown Houston to go to that. When we got there (after fighting horrible traffic and finding a parking area that didn't cost $50 to park in) we found out they were sold out. However, we happened to be in the right place at the right time because there were 2 local guys that both had 2 tickets, but they could each only use 1 of them because their wives didn't come. They were hoping to find people from out of state to give them to and they were so kind to give them to us for free! We still needed 2 more tickets to get all of us in. We discovered that even though the ticket counters were sold out, there were still a few tickets available online. So we ordered 2 from online and then we were all able to get in. The tickets weren't all next to each other so Jackie and Brittany sat together and Anthon and I sat on the opposite end from them. At first us women weren't really excited about going to a baseball game, but Anthon really wanted to go and it turned out to be really fun!

That night we just hung out watching movies and then Saturday we flew home. It was a fun trip. We love being able to turn work trips into pleasure trips and going to new places. But apparently we have seen all there is to see in Houston....except for their "big mall."