Our RV Adventures

Jan and I were once again up at 7am (this is getting to be a very bad habit), and after a quick stop at the office to get the new gate code, we were on the road by about 8:45.

Despite having no AC, due to the cloud cover, the trip was nice with no real traffic along the way. And there was no problem with the engine cooling either, so we arrived at Brandi’s right on time at 10.

Then it was off to the Houston Zoo with Landon, and Lendell and Sonja, his other grandparents. But as we had already been warned might happen, we couldn’t really get anywhere near the Zoo. There was a 3 mile line of cars trying to enter at the Zoo entrance, so we went on past to check out the remote parking site a couple of miles away.

And found it no better. There was a long line of cars waiting to get into the lot, and an even longer line of people standing out in the hot sun waiting for the tram back to the Zoo. So it was a No-Go for the Zoo, and even Landon wasn’t too upset.

So since we had planned to have lunch at the Zoo, we decided instead to have lunch at the nearby Cleburne’s Cafeteria, a place where we’ve eaten many times over the years. And it’s pretty special. Owned and operated by the same Greek family since 1941, it’s well known for its great food and delicious desserts. And we had some to take home.

Landon said he wanted to go to the Mall and play in the castle so we were off to Memorial City Mall and Frolic’s Castle, a dedicated fairy play land for the kids.

Landon played with all the other kids for an hour or so, before he was ready to move on.

 
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Later Landon decided to try on my glasses. They don’t look bad on him.

Next up on Landon’s agenda was a ride on the Mall’s beautiful double-decker carousel. It’s a real work of heart, and fun for the kids.

Due to Landon’s height (less than 36”) Jan had to ride with him, and unfortunately  for her, he wanted to ride on the upper deck. Up the stairs on the upper deck.

After that, it was on to the electric Dinosaur Ride, one of Landon’s favorites. And he was quickly all saddled up and ready to ride when a problem developed.

Unlike the same ride at Katy Mills Mall, where he always rides by himself, here they said he had to have a co-rider.

And guess who got to do it. At least there were no stairs involved, right Jan?

Kinda looks like she’s having more fun than he is.

With Landon finally getting a little worn down, we all headed back to Brandi’s. We had originally planned to have dinner at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro when Brandi got home from work, but we were all still too full from Cleburne’s. And everyone including Landon, seemed to think a nap was in order, anyway.

Then about 5pm Jan and I headed back to Conroe for the night. And for the trip we thought we’d take a new way home, the recently-opened SR99 Grand Parkway Toll Road, that runs from I-10 in Katy to The Woodlands and I-45.

And it made for a very fast trip, especially for this time of day, albeit somewhat more expensive. It was pretty much 70-75 mph the entire way, amazing for this time of day. A lot of the route is out in the countryside with very little around to cause slowdowns.

But at ~$6.50+, it’s more than twice as expensive as taking the Beltway Toll Road at $3.00. I say approximately (that’s what the ~ means) because of the weird pricing at the toll scanners. And by weird, I mean one toll was $1.03, the next one was $0.95, and then next one was $1.11. What’s up with that?

And FWIW, it’s about 5 miles further.

So for our Sunday back and forth’s between Colorado River and Lake Conroe, there’s no gain. It’s further and it costs more. And there would have been no gain if we’d used it this morning, either, since there wasn’t much traffic then.

But anytime during rush hour, it’s a good deal.

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog about trying to find a more level site, and right after we got home this afternoon, Debi and Ed Hurlburt came by to offer us theirs, since they’re leaving tomorrow morning.

But we had to turn down their offer, since Jan and I are leaving out for the Clear Lake area about 8am tomorrow for the last our of yearly medical stuff, and then lunch with the kids. Too bad too, since they have a nice site in the newly-upgraded ‘G’ area.

Thought for the Day:

Epic Cake Decorating Fails!

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