Mission Control, This is Houston...

... The Tullys have landed.

I'm here!!! I still honestly can't believe 1) that I'm here, 2) that I'm staying here for a year?! and 3) that JVC starts on Sunday!

We drove through the Bayou this morning, and saw lots of signs for places we couldn't pronounce- Bigeux Lake, Atchafalya Basin- and advertisements for Cajun restaurants. While we didn't stop, it was great to see part of the culture I've learned about over the past few years.

There is a scene in Disney's The Princess and the Frog where the characters "go on down the bayou," and I of course had the song stuck in my head throughout the whole drive. If you haven't seen the movie, I won't spoil it for you (but you should go see it immediately!), but for those who have seen it: there is a place in the Bayou called Evangeline!

We crossed into Texas and were met with the typical "Welcome to..." sign, but the phrase below Welcome to Texas made me giggle: Drive friendly, it's the Texan way. The Texan drivers were friendly, but also very speedy! The speed limit on I-10 was 75--- lots of zooming and passing occurred, but we arrived safely. We were about 2 miles from the hotel, so excited to finally be done driving, and--- we hit traffic.

For the first time in 5 days, we hit traffic. Our last 2 miles were the longest. There was a terrible accident further down I-10 W, and it took about 45 minutes to go 2 miles... but at last, we were here! We arrived at the beautiful Magnolia Hotel, where we have complementary happy hour, milk and cookies before bed, and breakfast in the morning. A few days living in luxury before the simple life begins, eh?

I haven't really explored the city quite yet. We walked just around the corner for a nice light dinner tonight, which was a nice change. Southern food is delicious but HEAVY! Lots of fried, sauced, sweet, oily food--- which of course tastes amazing but after 4 days I was very happy to eat a big salad with some lovely ahi tuna.

In the lobby of the Magnolia

First observations: Houston is far more "cosmopolitan" than I had expected! It's very urban, and I walking down the street to dinner, I could have been in Philadelphia. We walked past "Center City Parking," which obviously made us think of home. I'm excited to explore more tomorrow- and see my little house on Polk Street! I will be moving my things into the house tomorrow afternoon.