For our part, we did have a good time with our friends, Rob & Bonnie, who came down from Austin to visit for the 4th. They got to Houston on Friday, at about 8pm and they brought their dog, Marley. Their dog is a 9 year old "weimer" and we were curious to see how he would interact with our coonhound, Rosco. It only took about 10 minutes to see that Marley wasn't a big fan of puppies. In record time, he nipped Rosco and our dog ran immediately back into his crate...yelping. Oh, but that didn't stop Rosco from trying to play with Marley all weekend... all to no avail. Yet, Marley is old and didn't want anything to do with a frisky puppy. No, major problems overall between the two of them. Overall, I think it is a good thing for Rosco to be around big dogs even with the occasional nip. He must learn the boundaries. Rosco, despite his lack of charisma with older dogs, continues to be a bigger hit with the humans.So, after a couple of beers and some chips & salsa back at the apartment, we walked Downtown to "Cabo," a Cal-Mex restaurant with a two story patio overlooking the street. We all tried the specialty, fish tacos with our resident "Californian," Rob, giving his seal of approval. So, after a couple margaritas and debaucherous Peace Corps stories, we moved on to another bar, "Carafe." Carafe is a rustic - cash only- beer and wine bar that Brooke and I discovered with John and Crystal during their visit a few weeks back (supposedly, it is the oldest bar in Houston). Wanting to try something different, I ordered everyone a round of Dale's Pale Ale from Colorado. Just the other day I had read someone's review on it, so it caught my eye. Apparently, this person thought "Dale's" was the best beer-in-a-can around. Normally, being labeled the "best beer-in-a-can" would be like being labeled "the best industry in Michigan."
Well, this guy could be be right. "Dale's" is actually really good especially if you like hops. Definitely the hoppiest beer I've ever had in a can. I honestly thought hops were banned from all aluminum cans by some obscure brewing law. Actually, the bar "dweeb" at Carafe said it was the special "polymer" coating on the inside of the beer can which made "Dale's" so good. In all seriousness, you could put a "polymer" coating on the inside of most other canned-beers like Miller lite or Budweiser and they still would taste like crap. I mean, didn't Keystone beer use that same gimmick in the 1990's. Subsequently, "Polymer" became the catchphrase of the night. As in, the air conditioning in this bar feels nice...it must be the "polymers."So, after a couple of "Dale's" we left Carafe and meandered over to some Irish pub on Main Street. Rob and I ordered a Murphy's and the girls had...I believe...Newcastles. I seemed we were in the bar for 5 minutes and the lights started to flash..signaling the close of the bar and, subsequently, the end of our night. We walked home through the gauntlet of the surprising number of booty clubs in Downtown Houston with all the guys and girls doing their best Kanye-West and Beyonce impressions. Houston's own, Beyonce, I might add.
The next morning, Brooke and I woke up with horrific headaches, yet Rob and Bonnie were fine. We mobilized enough to make a trip out to "Chachos" for some massive breakfast tacos and then came back to hit the apartment pool and drink some terere. When Bonnie and Rob went back to their car to grab sunglasses they discovered that their car (and sunglasses in the car) were gone. Supposedly, they had parked on the 5th floor of the parking garage instead of the 6th floor, which is specifically reserved for guests. In reality, they had been parked on the ramp between the 5th and 6th floor - which, it should be noted - was (and always is) completely empty. Brooke and I noticed that they were a lot more calm then Brooke or (especially) I would have been under the circumstances. Bonnie and Rob talked to the people at the apartment front desk to get the tow-truck information and just resigned themselves to enjoy the pool. Indeed, very impressive.
About, an hour later, we drove them to the lot to pick up their vehicle, grabbed the dogs, and moseyed over to Erin & Gray's to use the grill to cook burgers, Anaheim peppers, and Salmon. The food turned out great. It must be noted that it helps to have all the right tools of the trade...like a gas grill, metal spatula, beer on tap, room to maneuver, etc. It made me miss holiday's at our house in Orange City...inviting people over, sitting on the porch, using my grill under the car-port.
Later - in true 4th of July spirit- we went back to the apartment to see fireworks in Downtown Houston from the vantage of our 8 story parking garage. It appears we weren't the only people with that same idea, as when we arrived -after hitting the pool again - about 50 people were already up on the roof tailgating from their trucks. The view was great of everything, but the fireworks. The tall Houston skyline was blocking the complete view of the show because the fireworks were actually emanating from the Buffalo Bayou. No matter, we had a bottle of wine, there was a nice breeze, and the view of everything else was very cool. Later, we capped the night off by watching movies in the community movie theater in our apartment which - fortuitously - was left vacant after the fireworks show.
Sunday, we all felt much better than we did on Saturday. Rob and Bonnie had to get back to Austin, so we decided get food one last time before they left. Once again, I chose "The Boiling Crab" because I figured that it was fairly unique to Houston and the food would be memorable for a guy from California and a girl from Arkansas. Oh, yeah, if you couldn't tell by my earlier posts...I love Cajun food! As anticipated, the food was great and the restaurant was a hit with Rob and Bonnie. I was stuffed, but everyone else found room for frozen yogurt at the self-service yogurt place, "Rainbow's" - across from "The Boiling Crab." The decor at this place was "uber-wonka," with rainbows painted on the crown molding, vinyl cloud scenes superimposed over the florescent lights, blinding colored chairs, and a quirky clerk who keep disappearing into a mysterious back room. True to its Wonka inspired heritage, Rainbow's sugary product was top notch.
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