Amarillo Zoo

Amarillo is a fairly small town, but big enough to have several attractions. Last Thursday we went to the Amarillo Zoo, which is run by volunteers so it's free of charge. Since it was free we weren't expecting much, but I had a ball nonetheless because it was something new we could do in a new city and free! The zoo had several exotic animals and lots of ordinary goats, horses, bison, and donkeys. We went during the afternoon so the animals were pretty tired and all napping in the shade. The best and most time consuming part were the Black-footed Spider Monkeys! There were so cute. The cool things about these guys is that they can support their whole weight we their tails!

We even witnessed a monkey fight! See... we noticed this outcast when we arrived. He then decided to come visit another monkey or two in the tree across the way.


Two other monkey, upon seeing the outcast walking over, started screaming and rushing towards him until all of them were squished on to one tree branch. All of the monkeys were screaming and slapping each other (mostly they were all slapping the outcast). As sad as it might sound, Drew and I loved it (who doesn't love going to the zoo and end up seeing an all out monkey fight!). We also watched a monkey swing over a 20 ft. drop, kind of spectacular, and wade through the water mote that surrounded them. It was fun.

We also went to see M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening on Friday the 13th. Nice, huh? Well, we weren't really satisfied because there was no twist. We still had fun on our date night though!

Today we are in Ft. Stockton. Tomorrow we will be in Midland on our way to El Paso! So far, this is has been out schedule while in Texas. I think it is obvious that I am sick of traveling and ready to go home any minute!

1. Start in Reno, NV to Houston, TX (1week, pre-approval site visits)
2. Fly from Houston,TX to Lubbock, TX including travel to Ralls, Dickens, Slaton, & Lamesa (3 days)
3. Lubbock, TX to Amarillo, TX including travel to Muleshoe, Olton, & Pampa (5 days)
4. Amarillo, TX to Lubbock In't Airport fly to Dallas fly to Midland/Odessa (2 nights and one huge storm!)
5. Odessa, TX to Fort Stockton, TX including travel to Alpine, Pecos, Balmohrea (2 days, 1 night)
6. Travel from Fort Stockton, TX to Midland, TX (1 night)
7. Fly from Midland, TX to El Paso, TX (5 days)
8. Fly from El Paso, TX to Houston, TX (1 night)
9. Fly from Houston, TX to Denver, CO (Christina's Family Reunion, 4 days)
10. Fly from Denver, CO to Houston, TX (2weeks... finish Internship in Houston **hopefully**)

Texas... finally

I can't believe we've been in Texas for a whole week already. It's just like Drew first described his mission to me, "the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days". We first arrived in Houston on Monday... so humid. I must admit that Houston has the craziest drivers, yet there's this general attitude in Houston that no one really cares and most follow the speed limit. After discussing Houston Drew and I turned to each other and said almost simultaneously, "Where do all these people come from? And where are they all going?" There is never a dull moment on the highways no matter what time of the day it is, constant traffic, like every hour is rush hour except rush hour is worse. I think Houston is just about the biggest city I've stayed at to date. During the week we spent our time doing Pre-approval site visits which was interesting, it was very hard to get a hold of the Summer Food Program Directors. Our last day in Houston, Saturday, we decided to tour a bit of downtown. First we went to the Downtown Aquarium which is mostly geared towards kids, but we didn't know that before we went. Drew kept saying how fun this would be when we had kids (I couldn't help but smile and think of the future, but we feel we still have one or two more years before we start catching up with my sisters) It was pretty expensive, but we still had a ton of fun. We saw a lot of sea life as well as lots of sharks and white tigers and a few other land animals. I think I would have rather gone to the Houston Zoo to see animals, but Drew had a lot of fun at the Aquarium, after all it was his choice. We left at about 2pm, ate lunch, and then I decided I couldn't pass up the Houston Fine Arts Center. Luckily for us students get in for $3.50! Nice deal. They had this amazing Pompeii exhibit at the time. Unfortunately we only got to peak in because the tickets were really expensive just to see that one exhibit. If we had gone there first we probably would have done it, but we had already spent a lot of money so we decided to spend the rest of our time in the two buildings that comprised the rest of the Fine Arts Center. Drew and I both enjoyed the Pre-Columbian/ Mayan, Asian, and African Exhibits the most. They were beautiful and very interesting. There was also a very "interesting" British Contemporary exhibit that was out of the box. Often I find myself thirsting for the culture that a big city brings, but I know that I could never actually live there permanently. City life is just not our slice of cake. I am very grateful that Drew and I are so similar in our lifestyle and that makes us happy. We almost always like the same things. And yet sometimes I look at him and wonder where in the world he ever came from? It was very enriching to see the Fine Arts Center and I am happy that we went.

Today we flew from Houston to Dallas to Lubbock where we will be for the next two days. We have two reviews to do here on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we drive up to Amarillo. As far as I know we come back to Lubbock after that, but we're not sure yet. We only get one week's worth of travel plans at a time. Lubbock definitely suits us better than Houston. There's too many people in Houston. Lubbock is smaller, simpler, and is easily navigable. The feeling of space is liberating and comforting. Our hotel here is much nicer than Houston although the room itself is smaller. Our hotel here has a indoor pool, spa, steam room with a fitness center, business center, laundry room and a billiards room, and there is an amazing continental breakfast at well. I am sad that we are not able to stay here longer. Our room is technically $200, but since we're considered government employees we get it for $69 a night instead. The job has a lot of up sides, yet it has a lot of down sides that I didn't really anticipate. I am already sick of flying everywhere, but entering a new city renews our excitement each time.

I just finished The Host by Stephanie Myer. Although I love The Twilight Series for young adults this is her first novel for adults and I am so pleased. Stephanie has a really powerful voice and I think I loved this book so much because it really made me think about human nature (the good with the bad) and my religious beliefs of other worlds. I zipped through it so fast and it was so good I never wanted it to end. As soon as I finish Water for Elephants I want to read The Host again.