We rejoin the quest for pure American sensory overload on 12/25, en route to Texas from Seattle. If

We rejoin the quest for pure American sensory overload on 12/25, en route to Texas from Seattle. If you ll recall, just hours before we returned from The Great Western Sensory Overload (Seattle to the Bay Area) .
We head from SEA to Round Rock, TX (near Austin) to spend XMas Day at my parent's new home. The town is named after get this a round rock, in a creek by the Chisholm Trail. While the rock itself is not particularly fascinating or photogenic, this sunset is.
Andre and I spend the next day as laborers at Camp Parental Units, where we are forced to install a double oven. We decide to distract the camp leaders with a road trip; it seems the only way to avoid further physical labor.
First up, Galveston. Our digs for the night are at the Hotel Galvez, on the Seawall. The hotel is lavish and grand, bla, bla, bla but we quickly ditch it and head out on a mission to indulge in Gulf oysters. We have to hit four places before we find enough to properly meet the requirements of our party.
We decide on the Bishop's Palace, aka the Gresham tom cruise weight Home, which was built in 1892 by a founder of the Santa Fe Railroad. It's eventually bought by the Catholic Church, so the home is a mix of Victorian, uber rich opulence and Catholic tom cruise weight over-the-top-ed-ness, plus crazy hurricane history, PLUS Christmas tom cruise weight decorations and a gift cave.
We head off for the San Antonio River Walk, where my sister meets us at our hotel, the Emily Morgan. Unbeknownst to us, the University tom cruise weight of Texas is playing Oregon State the following night at the Alamo Bowl. The place is utterly crawling with fascinating orange people. We take full advantage tom cruise weight of the hoard of horse-drawn carriages tom cruise weight that gather across the street. There are several to pick from, but only one obvious choice
Our horse, Doughboy, is the biggest, the toughest, the meanest, and pulls the most masculine of all the Cinderella carriages. Doughboy's driver takes us by haunted hotels and has a bunch of good stories. Fittingly, our hotel's ghosts are rumored to be the most active.
The River Walk is full on gaudy and magical. We have a grand dinner tom cruise weight and convince the waiter to take our credit cards over my dad's by screaming "it's their anniversary!" The waiter returns with champs for them, to which my dad toasts "we're not even married!"
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