There is a little more oversharing to be had in regards to the cruise we took over the week of July 4. We arrived in Hobby, Texas the day before the cruise because I didn’t want to miss the boat due to a flight delay. Unfortunately, our travel agent put my credit number in wrong when she tried to get tickets on Southwest, and it took a couple hours to sort the whole thing out, and by that time, there were no cheap flights to be had at any normal times of day. So, we had the distinct pleasure of leaving our house at 4:30am. For some of my local friends, this is a normal time to arise because they have to take care of the horses and cows, and collect eggs, etc. For the Haldeman west suburban transplants, this is ridiculously early. Insanely early. And I had to have all six of us in the car pulling out of the drive with luggage at 4:30. By the time we arrived in Hobby, we were glassy eyed and tired. Still, I was determined to get my nails done BEFORE we got on the boat because I am cheap. And getting nails done on a boat is NOT cheap. So, after the hotel driver took us to a restaurant for lunch, Taryn, Tessa, and I had the hotel driver take us to the closest nail place. The driver seemed reluctant to leave us at the nail salon, asking a few times if we were okay. I could tell right away that this was not a touristy area. Still, we pressed on. The salon itself was standard. We felt comfortable and the women who owned/worked there were incredibly nice. Unfortunately, there were only two women to do nails and three of us. I chatted pleasantly with the one doing my nails as she ran a cheese grater device over my feet. After a minute, I yelped and asked her to stop with the grater. She talked about the importance of filing down callouses and whatever else she said. The sides of my feet hurt and I asked her to leave that part alone. Turns out, I was bleeding there from the removal of a much needed callouses that developed specific to my very favorite sandals…the very sandals I planned to walk around in the next ten days. And now I had open wounds instead of callouses.

While I was lamenting my hurty feet, it started to get uncomfortably warm in the salon. After some chatter in Vietnamese (that’s where they were from, and it turns out this whole section of town was Vietnamese), a gentleman came out holding two of the dirtiest furnace filters I had ever seen. They were black with dirt. It was pretty clear that there were other problems as they chattered excitedly. All I know is that it continued to get hotter and hotter in the salon and the gentleman was staring at the thermostat as if it might magically turn on. Hobby, Texas in late June is perhaps not a good place to be without air conditioning. And the poor ladies had to work in the heat. At least I just sat there. I opted against the manicure because I needed to get out of there. My feet were bleeding (thanks Taryn for the band aids), it was unbelievably hot, and I was starting to feel sick. I actually stood outside for a while because it was cooler out there because a small, but powerful storm cell had pushed past. Once the girls were done, I called the driver and we returned to the hotel. When we got to the hotel the power was out. Seriously, the entire hotel didn’t have power. That storm cell had lightening that hit near the hotel and knocked something out. Great. I went to our rooms on the fifth floor and promptly took a nap. I awoke a couple hours later in a quickly darkening room and in a pool of my own sweat. I rallied the troops to make a plan. The kids’ room was already an explosion of stuff. Really? We were staying one night. And they were all napping. How did that even happen? The hotel had no idea if or when the power would turn on. The first floor wasn’t bad, but we were on the top floor, and that floor was HOT! Texas was not turning out to be my friend. Other local hotels had power and yes, they would arrange a transfer. Of course, the front desk clerk hadn’t seen the debris in my kids’ room or he wouldn’t have been so convinced that a hotel transfer was in the realm of possibility.

Instead, we had the hotel driver take us to Dairy Queen. Ice cream is always the answer. It doesn’t matter what the question is. After a few hours (we decided to stay in the hot box hotel), the power turned on. While the AC worked feverishly to cool the hotel, Travis and I went to the pool (even though it was already closed…but what were they going to say) and chilled with a bottle of wine. I think the only people that stayed were us and the two guys in the lobby who were pounding back cold beers and joking about the heat in Texas. It was our own personal hotel. Okay, in the morning, there were more people. I don’t know where they were hiding during the electrical meltdown. They probably had rooms on the first floor and they were closed in, retaining their cool air.

So, after that interesting start, we had an extremely fun cruise, even if my feet hurt a little. I was even excited at the end of the cruise because I had so much clean underwear (see last week’s post), and I had brought only my favorite underwear. No back-up underwear made the trip. And, of course, I had brought extra underwear because…well, just in case. Always bring extra underwear. So, I wouldn’t have to wear the back-up underwear while I plowed through the mountain of post-vacation laundry. I could have the good stuff. Except, I left all my clean underwear neatly tucked in the bottom drawer on the ship. Seriously, I checked all the drawers in the kids’ rooms and forgot to double check my own. So, now I have three pair of my favorite underwear left. And since we are moving, I refuse to order any new underwear until we are moved in to the new house. And it’s like a gold moment when I see that one of the three favorites are clean!! It’s about appreciating the little things. And the cruise was still a success, even if it cost me my underwear. Do other people have these underwear issues or is it just me?