1998 Vacation Part VIII: Seawolf, Atomic Caf�, Ikea, and Playing with Francis
9/21/1

written by Postwood, September, 1998

Well, the 7 to 15 foot waves were pretty impressive looking. But we really hadn't seen anything yet. The day was nice and we got going at around 9 a.m.

Our first stop was Seawolf Park. The Seawolf is a submarine that kill, kill, killed in, I think, WW1. Unless they didn't have subs then, and then it was WW2. The sub was not in the water but had been sunk into the earth. I am sure there was an anchor of concrete that it was settled into. Also there was an escort destroyer there too. The interior of the sub was in good condition, but the exterior had one full side had rusted out. The boat was quite nice and had big guns on it. Inside the sub made me claustrophobic, though I'm not.

We also went from the big vehicles to the "plaza" or whatever it is. I took some good pictures of Aisai looking through a pay telescope up there.

Then we went into Houston.

See, we were looking for this place called the Atomic Caf�. We assumed that it was a cyber caf� since it was listed under both IPSs and restaurants. It's on Nance. Now, if you are a Houstonian and know your way around, you realize that area of the city is under heavy construction. Not only that, it is the warehouse district. And the Atomic Caf� is hard to find, scary, and locked at noon. Needless to say, Aisai and I didn't check our email.

The cyber caf� in Houston that I know about is the Liquid Lab. Add a wubbawoo, wubbawoo, wubbawoo, and a com to that and you can get there.

But before that, we had our little worldview shifted. Ever have a locally owned business that really looks local turn out to be a chain? Two men and a truck is a chain. I thought it was a nice little entrepreneur here in Huntsville, but no. Also, Leslie's pool supply is also a chain. Who woulda thunk it?

Next up on the Agenda was to find Ikea.

The problem with a person who is not from Houston is that the Katy freeway is the same as I-10 on the east side of town. I knew this, but found it hard to accept. We have an interstate that goes through Huntsville, I-565, but it only has that name. We headed east on I-10 and sure enough, Ikea was right where we thought it was. This was Aisai traveling to Mecca. We got a picture of her in front of Ikea. We bought some cheap unfinished frames (3 for $2), a white crock ($1), and some "art cards" or whatever. They are postcards that are really nice. We got a series that has the same color as our kitchen counter / backsplash.

Have I ever shown you web people our kitchen? I may have to do that. We color-matched the Formica and got some paint and painted up to the bottom of the cabinets. When the paint reaches the window over the sink and the wall appears where the cabinets were, we used some white pin striping made for autos and established the border. Looks very nice. We saw some folks on TV that had gone up to that level but used Formica on both. Of course they were rich, otherwise their house wouldn't be on TV.

After that we were hungry. We continued on the Katy freeway until we got to the Goode Company Barbecue. I had been calling this Goode & Company Barbecue for the last 4 years. We got the brisket dinner. That jalape�o bread is great. But since we were there at 3 p.m. the workers gave us the cold shoulder a bit. They really wanted to do some prep for the dinner rush and we were making them do other stuff. Excellent place. If you are ever in Houston, eat there.

We then returned to Galveston. On the way back I picked up a paper, I was looking for something specific, but I don't remember now. Up till now it still hadn't rained. We went to the strand and did some shopping. See, I like collecting refrigerator magnets.

Not like I have tons. But every time you go somewhere, like on a vacation, you want to get a souvenir. My only two acceptable forms of souvenir are magnets and shirts. Oh, and pressed pennies, but you don't get to see those daily, so they don't quite rank as high. But if there is a penny-squishing machine, I'll cough up the two quarters and a penny to get my squished penny. Note: if you are making squished pennies, use newer, zinc filled pennies.

While we were there at the Strand, it rained like a foo-yan. Then stopped.

We shopped until I had gotten so hungry and tired that I was turning surly. On the way home, with me very hungry to the point of my communication skills being diminished, we stopped at a place to get the 3 T-shirts for $10. The place was a head shop. We couldn't find 3 shirts we liked. We got two we liked and then got a little one for our nephew Mac. I wish they had the cute Galveston shirt that we got him in our size.

The sunny pictures of the water shooting over the seawall with Aisai and I cavorting in the spray came from this day. At this point, joggers and other people would still walk on the other side of the road. It was kind of neat getting sprayed, or soaked, by the water. Later it would get entirely unpleasant.

Papa John's for dinner. We did a one topping special so we got pepperoni. If it were two toppings, I could get Aisai to go along with my bacon and onions pizza. It's very good. I don't really go for pepperoni. But I don't dislike it.

We swam some that night. The wind was 35 mph. The pool had been evaporating all day in that wind. The hot tub was a nice temp, for a pool. Aisai likes swimming in cold water. She is so odd. But I did get in the pool since she wanted to swim and she felt funny if no one was in the pool with her.

That brings me to mention something that I should have long ago. All the places that we went, tourist wise, were nearly abandoned. That tropical storm was scaring everyone off. We were the only two people that weren't fishers at Seawolf Park. The Museum�Oh, I haven't gotten there yet. Nevermind.