I just love airports and long lay overs...

...NO...Seriously...I do...I really had a great time today at the Houston airport...I realize that maybe I am at times a tad bit sarcastic, but I actually had a great time at the airport and when I say that I am a big fan of airports and fairly long lay overs, I am completely serious...

Today, I flew into Houston and had a great experience on the first day of the second leg of the Queen's travel tour...(first day of the second leg...that's a mouthful, huh??)

My morning at the airport in LBK started the way every trip to the airport for me begins...with the pat down...When you have a lot of metal in your body, you always set off the security alarm -- in fact, I'd be concerned if I didn't set off the buzzer, I'd frankly be worried about anybody bringing on to the plane the amount of metal I'm carrying unless, of course, like me, they’re carrying it internally...and by internally, I don't mean they've temporarily stashed it in some orifice, but that it's permanently implanted -- So, I had the pat down...which would be much more entertaining and worth the price of my ticket if they would actually let me choose the employee that pats me down. The woman that did the pat down was nice, but seemed much more interested in the Indian gentleman that was waiting for his wife to practically be unrolled from her sari (or whatever her customary Indian garb is called (I should look that up)) and removing all her jewelry so that she could make it past the checkpoint. The security woman asked me several times if I would be more comfortable being patted down where he wasn't watching, if I wanted to be patted down in private -- which sounded way too intimate of an encounter to be having with someone I just met...AND I’ve been patted down in numerous airports by now SO I didn’t need privacy. What I needed was for the cute guy who was diligently securing my flip flops and laptop bag to help with this procedure....BUT, no such luck...maybe if I keep traveling they will tell me about some 'frequently felt-up flyer' program...one in which I choose who does the pat down...A girl can dream....

Anyway, The flight from LBK to Houston was for the most part uneventful...I read...I, of course, endured a good bit of shaking and such on descent, but such as the way it goes when you travel out of LBK on an ExpressJet or Eagle or whatever they want to call those tiny planes that compromise the ‘commuter jet service’ fleet from lovely West Texas to anywhere worth going. The ‘commuter’ jet fleet makes me seriously question what is meant by commuter service of any type...In fact, for me commuter has a very negative connotation...ie, commuter parking at Texas Tech -- another name for 'park in Wolfforth and hike to campus' or ride an always over-crowded Citi-bus. Hence the current thought going thru my brain that the ‘commuter’ rail service from Boston to Concord I’ve been considering might best be avoided by simply renting a taxi when I get there...But that’s a different story for another day when I’m actually headed to Concord and not to Cleveland via Houston....

When I arrived at Houston (outside in the sun, walking down rickety rolling metal steps in the heat, and across a half a mile of tarmac to actually get to the terminal -- apparently they don’t give lots of priority to securing actual jetways for the ‘jumbo commuter’ jets that fly out of small airports like LBK) I was comfortable with the fact that I had a 2 hour and 18 minute lay over. It meant that I could easily walk the mile and a half to the tram, ride it for 57 seconds and be at the terminal I was departing from. I was comfortable with that...and frankly I must have appeared very comfortable and confident because the sweet West Texas farmer in his pearl snap short sleeve plaid shirt and John Deere cap followed me to the tram and said he was “Sure glad you know where you are going, little lady.”...

I was comfortable with the time I had for my lay over until I got to terminal D/E...At which point I became ECSTATIC about the time I had between flights.

Terminal D/E at the Houston airport houses the international terminal and other Continental departures. I immediately encounter a virtual rainbow of individuals. Many speaking languages I could never hope to understand (although given enough time I could have learned because in this very terminal was a Rosetta Stone kiosk which sold guides to learning a plethora of languages in mere moments) ...and yet I somehow found the chatter oddly comforting and melodic. I was on an adventure, a journey, and hearing people speak in numerous tongues of their various countries made me feel like a real adventure was beginning.

Besides that lovely fact, I was also greeted by a big, beautiful yellow and red sign that said PAPPADEUX....What??!!?? That’s right dear friends the Houston airport has a Pappadeux...and it just happened to be lunch time.

I walked toward the Pappadeux beside a lovely black woman from Jersey -- I know that she was from Jersey because... and those of you who know about my severe stranger danger are going to be shocked ...she and I chatted casually throughout the terminal about where we were from, what kind of travel we were doing AND our pleasant surprise of being able to have Pappadeux while we waited for our planes. She was incredibly excited about the seafood gumbo. She was headed to Orlando and was apparently seeing the inside of the third airport for the day -- and it was evident that none of the others had the big bold yellow and red sign that had proudly announced that Pappadeux was a viable lunch option in an airport terminal. I ordered the Shrimp Cocktail -- the one with avocado and pico -- and a dinner salad with Cajun Roumalade dressing -- by the way, roumalade is apparently just a very fancy name for 1000 island. I got mine to go, so that I could sit in the food court area and absorb the experience of seeing people from all over the world sit and enjoy fast food... There was some sort of team...All young men, all dressed in black Adidas sweat suits. I never got a clear look at what the logo on the left breast of their jackets said...But at least part of it said TEAM Dynamic...I also sat one table over from a large group that I am guessing was from Norway or Sweden...And to my right sat a tourist-y gentleman wearing plaid shorts, black socks and sandals. His family deposited him there after asking him what food and soda (soda, not Coke, but soda...so, clearly these folks weren’t from Texas either) he wanted. Although I’m still not quite sure why they asked because they left long before he finished his answer. Leaving him to finish discussing with anyone that was listening the fact that he didn’t like diet Pepsi or really Pepsi products but would drink diet Coke.

After I finished my lunch, I walked over to one of the numerous places selling books and magazines and grabbed the Texas Monthly with everybody’s favorite pirate/lawyer/brilliant coach, Mike Leach on the cover. I then sauntered over to the chocolate shop and bought a couple of Godiva raspberry filled dark chocolate squares and a diet Dr. Pepper -- which is apparently a rare find (the bottled Diet DP not the chocolates) because the woman that worked in the Swatch store wanted to know where I’d found that and was pleased to know that this traveler from West Texas had let her in on the little terminal secret of where she could get her daily fix of diet DP just steps from where she worked.

Yes, I went to the Swatch watch store, too. Swatch stores make me nostalgic -- odd, I know -- But Swatch watches were terribly popular when I was in high school. The coolest thing was to have more than one and to wear them simultaneously. I only had three Swatch watches in my entire high school career, but I still love the watches, even now...And I have to admit that since they are fashionable and water resistant to 30 meters (no watch is water PROOF according to the sales lady at the Swatch shop) I am actually considering stopping back by the Swatch shop on my next outing to the Houston airport, terminal D and buying myself another Swatch (or three -- maybe I can re-introduce that trend ;)

It was time to go to my gate and wait...But I didn’t have to wait for long...Apparently at large airports when you are flying on a large plane and not a ‘commuter’ jet, boarding starts at least 45 minutes before departure.

Departure...hmmmm...I was excited about getting to Cleveland, but I sort of hated to depart the Houston airport...Pappadeux, duty free shops, incredible people watching, tons of places selling a nice variety of reading materials, and even specialty shops...what’s not to love???

The flight to Cleveland was nice. The young lady beside me was headed to Connecticut. She is in a long distance relationship with a guy that lives in Houston. She normally reads on the plane and did have a copy of The Time Traveler’s Wife with her. She also wanted to know what I was reading ...Chang & Eng ... and wrote down the name of my book as well as the names of the three others I was carrying in my computer bag. The couple in front of me was playing a game on their iPhone called Worder...I downloaded the app...The interesting thing here is that yes, I, I who do not talk to or even generally make eye contact with, strangers talked to no fewer than half a dozen new people on this trip -- and that was on the first day before I ever arrived at my destination...And yes, I may even consider calling people I don’t know ‘new people’ and not psycho strangers... Travel changes a person ;)

My plane landed in Cleveland on time...and it was a lovely 72 degrees when I landed. Jason, Cody and Clara picked me up from the airport (Jessie was working and couldn’t come get me) and we drove to LaGrange, had Subway and headed to the Grimmett household.

It’s a lovely house in a nice neighborhood. When Jessie got home, we went for a long walk through the neighborhood and sat in the white rocking chairs on the front porch talking. Thus far the Queen’s Travel Tour is a glorious success...

This afternoon we head to the county fair... It will probably be about 75 degrees...And it will probably be a collection of sites, sounds and souls much like any county fair across the country, but I’m excited about it...

Day one done, Day two has begun...What’s not to love????