Holiday Inn Express Tyler South

I spent the last few days in Tyler, a little town in the east of Texas. I stayed with family that I didn't really know that I had and I seem to have tripled the number of relatives I have in a matter of hours. Whether you can actually have 3rd and 4th cousins is up for debate but it's always good to fatten the contact list on your phone to make yourself look more popular.Time was spent flitting around a little bit and I wound up in Dallas at one ...

... more rain in the forecast for tomorrow.
It was cloudy most of the morning but the sun did finally come out for a while this afternoon, but then it clouded up again. Today was the only day so far that we were not rained on - yeah we didn't have to stuff wadded up newspaper in our shoes.
Our event was at 3:00 PM in Tyler at the Broadway Square Mall. My honoree was a lovely lady named Barbara Seely. She has been donating ...

... station that sounded interesting. I stopped at the first visitor center in Texas and found a brochure for Marshall with pictures of both the hotel and station. Looked good. So I told Jack where I wanted to go and he told me the way. Don't waste your time!!! Neither looked like their pictures. The hotel was really run down and so many changes had been done to the architecture of the building it was almost impossible to ...

We are all getting excited to go on our first family vacation out of state together. We can not wait to see the ocean and the white sanded beaches. We will make sure we blog plenty of pictures and let you know how our our day to day life goes while we are setting out on the beach playing in the sand while we are gone. See yall soon!!!

... relate to the poor, how to handle everything we were going to see, and last but not least, bad roommates. (he he I really did ask that question!) I was really impressed at how well all of our teachers knew their stuff, they answered all of our questions without anyone having to ask one, well almost no one. It was awesome! The people are what really made the training so interesting, they had all lived on one of the ships at some point and had many stories to ...

By this time tomorrow, we will be on the road to DFW to depart to Heathrow!! Trying to keep our heads on straight and sort out any last minute packing details. We have checked and double checked (Vickie has triple checked :)) our lists. Getting more excited by the minute.

I stopped by Chamblee's Rose Nursery for plants to ship home. Even though two are going to friends Dan & Tracey, I hope the rest actually fit in my yard! I took photos in case they arrive without pictures on the info tags. Smart, huh? www.chambleeroses.com

I spent the morning in Edom, which is a tiny spot east of Tyler holding about 300 people, three restaurants, and several galleries. I hadn't had breakfast, so by the time I'd finished errands I was ready to chew on a fence rail. Lucky for me, I ate at The Shed Café instead. My, my, the best breakfast of the trip! An omelet with sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes and green ...

... at Mt Pleasant, TX I slowed to 55, and rolled the windows down. Then as I got close to Tyler, actually Tyler's loop road, the Excursion lost all power. I was approaching the intersection, and the engine stopped. Then I had no power steering! I came to rest, first in line, at the red light. ****!!! I tried to start the engine and it just cranked, but didn't start. No check engine light, not a damn thing! No coughing, sputtering, clanking, or ...

... batty). Whenever I go to Texas to visit my mother, I just have to remember that I am a cultural anthropologist. Visiting my mother is just a slow integration into the true Vietnamese culture of Vietnam. It is a strange culture that I was not raised by. I was raised by my father who now lives in Tyler, Texas. It is more Western and my dad does remember that I am an adult. Thank god for a bit of sanity. No wonder why I hate Texas.