Glen had a work trip scheduled for Houston last week and he invited me to go along. He was teaching a leadership training class and it just so happened to be the same week BYU was playing a game in Houston.
How convenient for him if I went along with him to help entertain him the 48 hours between teaching and game time. I told him he was just using me..., but I would make the best of the situation.
This is what greeted us at the Houston airport.
I have never seen a pet relief area sign in an airport before. It made me laugh...(look at the size of that dog)...being the animal "lover" that I am.
There was another G&K employee traveling with us to the hotel. We were trying to find a spot near the hotel to stop for dinner so we didn't have to go out again after we checked in. We were almost at the hotel when we spotted this lovely restaurant. Rest assured I did not try their "new crabra"--whatever that might be.
After this experience, I vowed we would only eat at places we couldn't eat at back home.
That evening an envelope addressed to D Thomas was stuck under our door. Inside it was two complimentary full breakfast buffet coupons compliments of Reynolds & Reynolds. That is not the company Glen was with and his company was feeding all the class attenders breakfast on site. It looked like they mistook G Thomas for D Thomas.
When I called down to the desk to report the mistake, they said there was not another Thomas guest in the hotel and told me to just go ahead and use the coupons. I was ecstatic. I was on my own for breakfast for 3 mornings, so this was perfect.
After Glen left, my morning routine was sleep in. Go to the exercise room to exercise all by myself while watching Live! With Kelly and Michael. Then enjoy a complimentary breakfast in the restaurant.
After that it was back to the room to shower, read a while, nap a while, read a while, and then be ready for Glen to be done teaching. We picked Logan's Roadhouse for our dinner the second night.
Texans are proud people and love to adorn things with their state shape. In hotels they feature waffles in the shape of Texas. Here on the sidewalk of Logan's Roadhouse, the state shape is embedded for ornamentation.
Don't mess with Texas!
Next day same routine. Glen teaching. Me sleeping in, exercising, using my complimentary breakfast coupon, reading, napping, etc.
That night we ate a delicious dinner at PappaDeaux Seafood Kitchen. I was on a trout kick and ate it several times on that trip. Here I had trout with spaghetti squash and loved it! I can't believe I didn't take a picture.
Next day more of the same. Glen teaching. Me sleeping in, exercising, this time not using my complimentary breakfast coupon, reading, but no napping. Glen got done early that day and we were able to go to the Houston Temple.
Since we were all dressed up, we decided to go to a very nice restaurant.
Quoting from the internet, "Imagine a 100-year-old log cabin restaurant on an acre of grounds right in the middle of Houston. Rainbow Lodge has been treating food lovers to succulent wild game and regional gulf seafood in a cozy lodge setting filled with refined touches." That means they give you good service and still have stuffed wild animal heads hanging all throughout the restaurant.
They definitely served fancy salads.
I almost ordered beef cheeks (thinking it would be two round patties of beef) until I asked the server what beef cheeks are. When he said beef and then patted his cheeks, and told me it was exactly what it sounded like, I quickly switched to a more traditional slab of beef over cauliflower whip.
Glen went for the wild game with gusto and ordered the wild game mixed grill including venison, lamb, Texas quail and wild boar. He is a person who loves pig meat (i.e. ham every morning, bacon fried crisp, now wild boar...).
It was quite the dining experience. The experience was definitely 5 star. The food was only 4 star for me because I wasn't asked how I like my meat cooked (probably cooked to the chef's preference instead of my preference) and it was a tad--more like a lot--under cooked and that pulled the rating down for me.
Glen said he loved his meal...but I'll just say...his stomach wasn't quite the same the next couple of days...
