1998 Vacation Part IX: The Last Day
9/21/1

written by Postwood, Thursday, September 24, 1998

We woke up at 7 a.m. but really didn't get started until 9 a.m. My notes say "Big Waves" and at this point they would probably be 15 to 17 feet tall. Tropical Storm Francis had shut down some streets. But they didn't mention 61st, which was our way out of town, Broadway, or I-45. There was lots of water on the streets and we went to Whataburger.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. They ripped us off on the two taquitos again. But this time I was more alert. They charged us like a dollar and a half too much. I went up and asked the gal about it and she said she'd get us a refund. Well, she disappeared somehow.

Things got confusing since this older man and woman had come in and the older woman had fallen and cut her knee pretty badly on the pavement outside. The man was a jerk about it, but I couldn't tell you why. Another gal helped me and we got our money back. The taquitos were wonderful. Probably the last breakfast burritos I'll have in years.

See, today it was raining. The parking lot next to the Whataburger, in front of the K mart, was flooded big time. Maybe three feet in the middle. I don't know why they made the parking lot like a big dish. Maybe the storm sewers are clogged up.

We went into Houston again, heading for the Museum of Natural Sciences. We bought an IMAX movie and admission to the museum. We didn't go for their butterfly Johnny-come-lately exhibit.

We missed the ancient Chinese jade exhibit that was there for Labor Day. And they had the Ansel Adams exhibit removed. And they were doing work on the Hall of Energy, so that was closed. But the hall of very expensive gems and minerals was there.

I would have loved to see the China exhibit. But the Ansel Adams, that stuff is photographs. By it's very nature, I can go to Deck the Walls in Madison Square Mall and look at Adams prints and it will be of the same quality. They are photographs.

The Hall of Energy was the exhibit that Matt and I had spent so much time in years ago that the museum actually closed when we had only read 1/3 of the way through.

The hall of expensive rocks was very impressive at the beginning. We looked at every one and read every little plaque. At the end of the exhibit was a big...dang�one of those green on the outside, purple on the inside giant geode type things�I don't remember the name. Anyway, you get there to the end and to your left there is another long hall full of stuff. At the end of this is a big malachite vase, about 5 feet tall, from some Russian dude to some English gal. He obviously had the hots for her. Well, to the left again there is more, including some cool fluorescent minerals. After that cut stones. After that we did what a lady and her kid said, they said it aloud, but we said it silently, "How do you get out of here?"

The IMAX that we saw was Everest.

Now, I know I have been saying a lot of negative stuff about what happened today. Let me say now that as I write this, I am not in a bad mood. Nor was I in a bad mood at on that day. But the events of that day cannot be placed in narrative that contains value judgments without appearing as they do.

That said, the movie Everest is about stupid people. These stupid people are fairly interesting to watch, just as the fools who run from the police on those Fox shows are. These people decided to climb Mount Everest. That in itself, if it had never been done, isn't terribly bad. But one dude takes off on the last day without his oxygen and reaches the peak before all the other folks that he climbed with, but can't stay at the top, since he has no oxygen, so he comes down before the other "two" people climbing with him get up there.

Hey, Mark. Why did you put the "two" in quotes? Well, because this was just like the movie that I will see tonight at the theater, it is a work of fiction. "What?" you say. Yes.

See, they must have had a robot carrying the camera if there weren't other people reaching the peak. The two had a camera documenting them on the top with the camera following their movement. By all means, if my memory is wrong, let me know.

After that giant squirting of testosterone, we went back into the museum and found the best part of it. The hands-on kiddie section. Best thing was a speaker that would put out a variable frequency and these little polystyrene foam beads will line up where they aren't getting bombarded by�oh, I don't know why it works. Lots of cool stuff.

Took some pictures on the way out and bought a magnet. We should have gotten the plastic Neanderthal in the gift shop. I doubt that we will have that opportunity again.

I was starving before the movie and had a soft serve ice cream cone from the McDonald's in the museum. I kid you not. But I was still very hungry. And we had not eaten at Olive Garden, which Aisai had been looking forward to for a long time, so on the way back, we did.

Getting there wasn't half the fun. There was a "spaghetti bowl" of overpasses right next to the thing and I couldn't figure out how to get over across the road. After messing up by almost getting on the pay road 8, and driving through a residential area when school got out, we finally got there.

There was no one else there. I think there was a group of wine sipping real estate selling women, but they don't count. Our waiter was named Prince. I made the obvious joke, Aisai flinched, and we ordered our food. We got that thing that Aisai always gets. All I remember is that it sounds like the name of a jungle. I got the same thing. I was very hungry, and was losing the ability to communicate in anything other than grunts, and that keeps it easy.

Prince liked to talk, and so do I. We chatted and I let him know that his manager, who was very unprofessional, was wrong about when to bring us our food. She said, in front of us, that he brought out our food too quickly. She said it only takes a minute to make the jungle meal, and that he should hold it in the back until we had a few minutes to eat salad only. I told him that he did good since I had mentioned to him that I was starving earlier. Getting me my food early keeps those expensive chew marks off the furniture.

Then back to the island. Tropical Storm Francis was pummeling us pretty badly. Swimming or visiting the hot tub wasn't an option. I sat on the deck and watched the cars drive down the road as the waves beat over the seawall.

Aisai came out and asked me if I'd like to go home a day early. I had mentioned this before when we were getting ready that morning. I said yes. So we got to bed around 10 p.m. so that we could wake up at 5 a.m.

Since we had already gone to bed, Tropical Storm Francis hitting land at midnight will be included in the next part or the story.