From NE Ohio to Houston Texas

Now there is some back story I feel the need to lay out here. I have been trying to escape the confines of Ohio since I was 16. I'm 34. It took me a while. Don't ask. If your really interested let me know and I will bore you to tears with back story. Anyway, my husband went job shopping for anything outside of the toilet bowls' epicenter and after a summer of searching he landed a job in Houston TX! I've never seen Houston, EVER. But did I care? NO! So primed with Google Maps, Rent.com, Craigslist, etc. I went about finding an apartment big enough for us and our two kids Alex (4) and Zoe (2). The search was on!

Now let's get real. Renting an apartment site unseen over the Internet, though exciting for me at the time, was not a great idea. But I was too excited and knee deep in my Disneyfied visualizations to care at the time. So by the time Thanksgiving came around our house was rented out, most of the stuff we owned was halfway to Houston in our overly packed Dodge Grand Caravan, in the Pontiac Vibe we were all going to go in (not much room there), or bunking at our parents houses indefinitely. Let it be known that I was aware of how close IKEA was to our new place and I could care less about most of my old furniture. Mark and I hit our 10 year anniversary that month, and as a note to all couples, getting all new everything after ten years is WONDERFUL!!! Plus with kids, slipcovers are the bomb! Yes, I said it, I call my brother Dude too.

The day after Thanksgiving we were on the ultimate road trip to Houston with Ohio in the rear view mirror. The kids were snugly packed in with their blankies and DVDs. I had my coffee, Mark had the rest. We did one last check of the roof pack and headed out.

About 30 minutes into driving we realized that those roof rack packs were soooo not worth it when it came to gas mileage and loudness. The trip down went better than we expected. The kids were relatively good, the car held up, and we only lost the bed rail because it ripped the carrier.

Note to self: Always pack duct tape!

Now I've only been to Austin, Texas once in my life and fell in love with it. I unwittingly thought all of Texas would look like that. Let's just say that Houston was a surprise. If you asked any NE Ohioan what they thought Texas would be like most of the answers would be: flat, dusty, barren, cows, horses, gallon hats, southern accents, guns, lots of land etc. When I went to Austin I about fell over, it was hilly, green, amazingly pretty. But when we drove into Houston, I was in for a surprise...

My first impressions of Houston - coming soon!