4 September, Tuesday – Towne Place Suites, Houston TX

Yesterday I thought I didn’t have to remember any more room numbers, but I need to file just one more in my memory banks.  Our AC was so noisy last night we turned it off even though Kim thought he was suffocating because there was no air!  So 301 is the last room number I will have to remember for a while.

It’s so cute listening to little kids speak a foreign language, it is something I can’t do and I am always a little bit envious/impressed.

What to do today?  There is always shopping and it’s a bit cloudy to start so we might do that this am, then back for a nice relax by the pool.

We take a drive out towards Willowbrook Mall and get caught in a heavy rain shower enroute and even as we arrive.

Look at the rainwater cascading off the highway above!

Coming back from there a lot later in the day we, for the first time, have to stop behind a school bus which has pulled in to the curb in front of us and put out it’s STOP signs.

Stopped behind the school bus waiting for it to disgorge its passengers!

Tonight and every week day night Mon to Thurs the hotel hosts a social between 5.30 and 7pm.  We go along to see what it is about and they are serving food -  a selection of salad, baked potatoes with all the trimmings.  Nice, that’s dinner for me, I was getting a bit peckish.  Thank you Towne Place Suites : )

3 September, Monday – Towne Place Suites, Houston TX

Great burgers last night, if I worked here I could learn how!!  Couldn't afford to buy many though at $12/hr!

What the heck?  Is that rain falling out of the sky this morning! Haven’t seen that for a long time, months even, it’s still warm though!

Goodbye nice hotel – there are not too many in our neck of the woods but there is one in Melbourne, I would def stay at an Element hotel again!

Best accommodation we have stayed at in the whole of the US

In my next life I want to design bathrooms for hotels, they occasionally get it right (for me) but not often and it would be so easy to do better.  This hotel has got it pretty much sorted.

Our Chrysler Pacifica 7 seater has worked out well for us, we had to put one of the third row seats down and we can get our two cases plus the new rather large softsided one and the backpack and the chilly bag all in very easily.

Leaving Dallas in the rain

We drive south on the I45 pretty much all the way to Houston (240 miles) stopping just 40 miles out for lunch, a break and get back on the road again.  It has been on and off rain all day, some of it heavy enough we have to use double speed wipers and extend our following distance.  Not much to see, just interstate until we get towards Conroe which is our old stomping territory, we often stayed out here in the motorhome so we know the lay of the land.

Denny’s is our choice for lunch today and being a holiday Monday, it is crowded but we only wait about five minutes before we get seated.  Might have something to do with Kim standing in the middle of the entrance way until they give us a seat : )

We arrive at the Towne Place Suites North Houston, where we have stayed three times before and it is really nice.  This is the last room number I have to remember for a while!

2 September, Sunday – Element, Dallas TX

I totally recommend the Element chain of hotels, our room is fabulous and the breakfast was superb right down to made to order French toast with either Nutella or a range of berries/fruit etc.  Hot choice was bacon and eggs and we even had china mugs for our tea, although you could get it in a take-out cup it you wanted??   It’s a shame they are not everywhere, but there are lots in North America, nine in China and solitary sites dotted through Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan and even one in Melbourne.

Sightseeing today and maybe a little shopping later!  We arrive at Fort Worth in time to watch the Texas Long Horn cattle drive, one of the cowboys was a girl!  Kim’s comment is that it is overly commercialised but I guess that’s how they can keep doing it!

Texas Longhorn cattle drive through the paved streets of 'Cowtown'

Fort Worth Livestock Exchange

Boss Hogg car

Cow skin upholstery!!

We drive a little bit into downtown Fort Worth for a looksee then head back towards home stopping briefly North East Mall (didn't do all of the 150 stores). Kim wins the bag count today, thank you Dillards!  It’s hot, 34C and the sun is beating down.  We are back at the hotel by 4pm and spend an hour or so at the pool having a wind down and a swim!

Dinner tonight is at In-N-Out Burger, burgers made to order on site with fresh ingredients, real lettuce and tomato!.  Kim went for the double double burger and the cheese burger for me, it was real good tucker.  The Snyders opened their first In-N-Out restaurant in California in 1948 and today there are 335 sites throughout a lot of the States.  Not only that, they actively support abused children to the tune of $2.53 million last year.  Well worth the visit!

Home early to repack our bags ready for the drive south to Houston tomorrow.  Only five more sleeps until we fly home : )

1 September, Saturday – Dallas TX

White Rabbits!!  We are on the road before 10am heading south to Dallas TX.  We have a little over 200 miles to travel today which will take nearly three hours.  We have an uneventful drive, traffic is pretty light even though this is a long weekend – Labor Day on Monday.  We only see one Safari coach on the way, the rest must have gone other directions.

Get the ‘Welcome to Texas’ photo, as we cross the state line.  This will be the last one, Texas is our final stop!

Drive friendly - The Texas Way

Big city - it helps to have an idea where you are going!!

The GPS and CoPilot don’t recognise the address for the hotel so we have a wee hiccup finding it but when we arrive we are happy.  We have a lovely room on the second floor, on the quiet side, away from the highway.  I think they call it an aparthotel, it has a full kitchen with a large fridge and dishwasher, a lounge, a king bed and a huge bathroom.

Kim needs to eat and there is a McD right on the corner so after we install our bags in the room we head over there.  I then spend a couple of hours at the pool reading in the 35C heat, cooling down with a couple of swims while Kim hangs out in the AC.

Grapevine Mills Mall is huge and it’s only about 5 miles away so after our wee rest we go take a look. It’s open until 9pm and we are there until the end.