Down South
I spent the past week in the deep south. Actually 4 days were spent driving. I traveled through several states: Illinois, Missouri, Tennesee, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. On the way back, we drove through 6 of them in one day!
This is the biggest bug I saw.
Location: Forrest City Arkansas
It was hot and humid--really hot in Texas and Arkansas, cooler in Louisiana. I was looking forward to seeing really big bugs, I was disapointed to see only two, both in Arkansas. I ate some good local food, barbeque in Arkansas and cajun food in Louisiana. We made a point to eat in non franchise places, and suceeded. I guess you can say that we are becoming foodies.
Some surprises--I found the state of Mississippi to be very nice, great rest areas on the interstate, polite people in the gas station and restaurant. It had the best state welcome place on the trip.
Our destination was Houston, Texas. I learned that Houston has now passed Chicago in population, so it is number 3 in size. It certainly appears that way when you drive around. There is little or no public transportation, so the roads are really crowded. The main streets have 3-4 lanes each way. The smaller streets--the 2 lane ones, have a lot of traffic. The freeways are huge--5 to 6 lanes each way. The freeways are stacked one on top of each other in some places. Most of the shopping is in strip malls. One big exception is the Houston Galleria. That place is huge--think of all of the verticals malls on Michigan ave put together with the street stores and State Street all in one building. It is huge and you couldn't possibly shop all the stores in a day. It has an ice rink and a resturant row. It has all the famous designer's shops and Nordstroms, Saks, Macy's and more. Even the parking de
cks are huge.
Fiesta Market is a huge ethnic
grocery store. I am in front of
a large pile of jalepeno peppers.
The skating rink at the Houston Galleria. The
food court--or restaurant row is on the other
side.
I can't say that Houston is a pretty city. It has no geographic features--its very flat and has no river or lake. Everything is jumbled together on the main streets and there are signs and more signs. There are some nice areas, the Rice University campus is quite pretty and the residential areas around Rice are very nice. More about that next time.
This is the biggest bug I saw.
Location: Forrest City Arkansas
It was hot and humid--really hot in Texas and Arkansas, cooler in Louisiana. I was looking forward to seeing really big bugs, I was disapointed to see only two, both in Arkansas. I ate some good local food, barbeque in Arkansas and cajun food in Louisiana. We made a point to eat in non franchise places, and suceeded. I guess you can say that we are becoming foodies.
Some surprises--I found the state of Mississippi to be very nice, great rest areas on the interstate, polite people in the gas station and restaurant. It had the best state welcome place on the trip.
Our destination was Houston, Texas. I learned that Houston has now passed Chicago in population, so it is number 3 in size. It certainly appears that way when you drive around. There is little or no public transportation, so the roads are really crowded. The main streets have 3-4 lanes each way. The smaller streets--the 2 lane ones, have a lot of traffic. The freeways are huge--5 to 6 lanes each way. The freeways are stacked one on top of each other in some places. Most of the shopping is in strip malls. One big exception is the Houston Galleria. That place is huge--think of all of the verticals malls on Michigan ave put together with the street stores and State Street all in one building. It is huge and you couldn't possibly shop all the stores in a day. It has an ice rink and a resturant row. It has all the famous designer's shops and Nordstroms, Saks, Macy's and more. Even the parking de
cks are huge.
Fiesta Market is a huge ethnic
grocery store. I am in front of
a large pile of jalepeno peppers.
The skating rink at the Houston Galleria. The
food court--or restaurant row is on the other
side.
I can't say that Houston is a pretty city. It has no geographic features--its very flat and has no river or lake. Everything is jumbled together on the main streets and there are signs and more signs. There are some nice areas, the Rice University campus is quite pretty and the residential areas around Rice are very nice. More about that next time.
posted by eeroots at 11:38 AM
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