Sunshine and the Horizon Line

My bus to Houston departed in the afternoon, and so I began the longest inter-state commute of my trip, 45 hours and counting.

As you can imagine, there isn’t much I can say about a 45-hour bus trip except that it was long. Thank goodness the great people at Greyhound provided me with WiFi and plug points on board, and thank goodness my great friend Caroline provided me with her Netflix account information or I think I would have gone crazy!

I didn’t get much sleep, and when I did, I was often woken up for middle-of-the-night type of bus changes.

One thing that can be said, however, is that on this kind of commute the People-Watching is at its prime. I saw every type of person that you can imagine, and was forced to interact with many of them. One guy I sat next to whispered to me and asked if he smelt like marijuana and another lady discussed all of her boyfriend problems with me! It’s amazing how open people can be in that kind of setting…

I, on the other hand, was polite and listened but hardly opened my mouth. All in all, it wasn’t as bad as I had prepared for, which was a really nice surprise!

I was met at the bus station by my second cousin Connie, who up until now, I had never met before. She was very nice, as I knew she would be, and in no time we were trading unheard family stories.

I learned a great deal in my few days with Connie, so much about my family before my time and I particularly loved hearing about her uncle and my grandfather whom I never had the pleasure of meeting as he passed away before I was born. She left South Africa before I was even talking but somehow, Connie had me feeling close to my family so far away from home.

On our way to her home, Connie informed me that she had no “fun food” as she put it, so we stopped at Walmart and she insisted on buying me any “fun food” I laid my eyes on! I tried to slow her down but she was so persistent and so hilarious as we moved from isle to isle, loading our cart will all the goodies we could get our hands on—I was only staying for 5 days!

We left with all of our spoils, and headed home to settle in. I had my own room with my own bed, my own bathroom, and best of all my own shower… I was set!

A new day dawned and brought with it a new activity: Connie had left her bicycle in the kitchen and a note saying “have fun!”. Well, it was clearly a day for a ride…

I grabbed a balanced and nutritious breakfast of Cap’n Crunch, Lil’ Bite Muffins, a pack of sugar cookie flavored Pop Tarts, and a banana (yes you heard me) and hopped onto my bike for the day.

Thank goodness that riding a bike is something you cannot forget how to do as it had been awhile. Off I went, armed with nothing but my water bottle and a screenshot of Connie’s house location on my phone.

I rode around the neighborhood and got a little brave with how far away I traveled from anything I recognized; you may have called me lost but I wouldn’t have admitted it! I rode with a confidence that could only have been developed from growing up under the Texan sun, and I believe that it was that fake confidence alone that got me home at the end of the day!

Speaking of the Texan sun, that was something I hadn’t accounted for on my little adventure, and as a result I had run out of water pretty fast, luckily I rode through a public golf course that weaved its way through the town and found a little water fountain—whew! It was so hot and so humid it rivaled my weekend back in Florida at the tail end of summer, I was shocked!

I made it back home, sweat rolling off of me, before Connie came home from work and with just enough time to shower before heading out to dinner. We found ourselves at a little Mexican restaurant and we stuffed our faces full of nachos and burritos and enchiladas, till we couldn’t take another bite! The food was so rich and delicious, and as hard as we may try, you cannot find Mexican like this back in South Africa. Our night was brought to a close by watching The Voice on TV with a cup of tea and ever so many laughs and jokes about our day, Connie could not believe that I had gotten lost and she was even more surprised I had made it back!

I woke with the sun the next morning and went into the heart of Houston with Connie. Now she had to go to work but was kind enough to drop me at the information center where I picked up pretty much every map and tourist flyer I could carry, and asked the people behind the counter a hundred questions before unleashing myself on the town.

I walked up one street and down the next, basically seeing what there was to see, my only objective for the day: find the underground tunnels.

It gets so hot and so humid in Texas, that in Houston they developed a series of tunnels, beneath ground, that link many major buildings together across the downtown area. It’s genius!

I found an entranceway in the lobby of a major banking building, in the form of a descending escalator, which I jumped onto excitedly, wondering what I could possibly find down there. I was expecting a semi-darkened passage way, with plain walls, a pumping AC, and maybe a person or two every so often.

Boy was I mistaken.

The tunnels were alive with the hustle and bustle of city folk, making their way to their next destination. Almost everyone was in a hurry, with the exception of a few here and there who were ambling on at their own slowed pace. The scene reminded me of an airport terminal on a week day: full of people in suits, talking on their cellphones, carrying briefcases, keeping their eyes down with their mind full of lists of goals to have achieved by the next day, traveling to some important business meeting or associate breakfast which would surely hold the key to their next promotion.

The tunnel was decorated with neat advertisements, framed of course, and the walls were broken inward to allow for shops and cafes to nestle their way into this sub-ground city. It felt as if I had discovered a sunken town where I had everything I needed for survival, however it was apparent that I was late to the party, as hundreds of people seemed to have found it first.

One thing I didn’t expect in the slightest, was just how confusing it was to try and navigate these tunnels. I admit, I didn’t have a destination in mind, however, if I did, I can promise you there is almost no way I would have gotten there. It felt similar to the Subway in New York City or the Underground in London in the sense that the maps looked like spilled spaghetti to an outsider, and clear as day to an insider. The maps were displayed all over the tunnels in a very unique way; the aboveground road map was essentially superimposed on top of the image of the tunnels to give the reader a sense of direction. Helpful to some I’m sure, but even more confusing to this spaghetti viewing foreigner.

Map of the Downtown Underground Tunnel System

I immerged from the tunnels about 7 blocks down from where I thought I would pop out, and giggled to myself at just how hopeless my below-ground navigation was; hopefully I would be a little more successful now that I had the sunshine and the horizon line to help guide me again.

Connie and I had agreed that she would pick me up at the end of the day in the park known as “The Discovery Green” at the bottom end of Downtown, and so I decided to get my bearings and slowly make my way in that direction.

As I meandered through the city, a familiar image caught my eye: a Springbok. Are you surprised? So was I.

For anyone reading this who is unsure of the significance of this image, the Springbok is a little antelope found in Southern and Southwestern Africa. It is particularly significant in South Africa as it is seen in many nature reserves, is a large town in the Northern Cape Provence, and perhaps most importantly, is the image and name associated with the National Rugby team!

To see this Green and Gold beauty in one of the more unexpected environments was so exciting I could have cried! I had to investigate. The Springbokkie was actually the body of a sign for a new South African restaurant that had only recently opened on the street, and below the sign stood a sheepish young waitress with a menu in-hand, and a list of the opening specials. Naturally, I went to speak to her and ask about the place. She noticed my accent, and when I informed her that I was from SA, her eyes lit up and she asked half excitedly, half panicked “Could you help me pronounce some of the meal names?!”

We both laughed, and began to dig though all of the strange words on the menu such as Bobotie, Koeksister, Rooibos Tea, Slap Chips, Biltong, Boerewors, Braai Broodjie and so on, all the while silently giggling at her confused expressions, yet infinitely impressed by her will to learn and her respect for SA culture. She called the owner over for a chat, and we reminisced about Home for a few minutes, before he sent me on my way with a “totsiens” (goodbye in Afrikaans) and a friendly wave.

http://www.springbokhouston.com/#eat-together

I then made my way to the Chase Tower which boasts a Sky Lobby on its 60^th floor which was open to the public. I took a never ending elevator ride up to this magnificent observation deck, and was greeted by the tip top of most of the skyscrapers that resided downtown. The view was gorgeous and somewhat humbling. There is nothing quite like any vast image to make one feel small, in the best way. I sat on the floor for a while, surrounded by glass walls and clouds, then slowly and reluctantly made my way back to ground level.

After my day both below and above ground, I found myself in the Discovery Green where I walked around looking at the many sculptures before Cousin Connie found me. I drove home with an entirely different opinion of Houston, and feeling like quite the little explorer.

The following day, I felt as if I had a rather firm grip on the ins and outs of Earth and that is way time to move onto bigger and better things. Where better to take in something better than at the NASA Johnson Space Centre?

I arrived before the Centre had even opened in pure anticipation to see some cool space-stuffs! My mother affectionately calls me “the coolest nerd” she knows, and in this moment, I could not deny my geeky side! When opening time finally came, I rushed inside quicker than all the small children surrounding me, something I’m only moderately proud of, and entered the building.

The entranceway opened up into the Space Centre Plaza which was filled with many different exhibits, of which I looked at every single one. After acquiring every available piece of knowledge about space suits and space rocks and space orbits and just space in general, I made my way to the Tram Tour, which I had heard nothing but god things about.

The tour too us by tram from the main building of what was essentially a museum, onto what was more accurately describes as NASA property, and toward Building 9 for our first stop. It was on top of this building that an American Flag flew high, which our tour guide informed us meant that there was currently one or more American astronaut in space. Cool!

In the building were more detailed displays of different parts of multiple spaceships, as well as the historic mission control, the actual facility used when NASA monitored 9 of the Gemini and all of the Apollo space missions. Mission Control looked like something out of a retro movie, with all of the technology seeming box-like and oversized. Rows of computers were arranged is concentric semi-circles, all facing a wall-sized monitor on the far side. We sat behind a large opening covered by a sheet of glass, and in the seats which the VIP guests would have used to observe the missions in the past. I felt pretty important, although I supposed so too did the other 20 people sitting beside me, including a toddler and a teenager who never took out his headphones, and I suppose so too did the hundreds if not thousands of other tour-takes before me. Still, it felt nice.

It’s never a bad feeling to have something in common with others, so if we all felt important as a group, so be it. I bet another thing we all had in common was the inherent need to say the famed words “Houston, we have a problem,” however it felt impossible to say just meters away from where those words were first heard.

There were a few other stops on the tour, however the most notable has to be the visit to Rocket Park where many different spaceships were kept in massive warehouses. We were allowed into the home of the Saturn V which had been displayed to show how different parts of the ship would break away during its launch. I was blown away by the size and complexities of The Saturn V, and I know I could never possess the vocabulary to describe what I saw that day.

We returned to the Space Centre where I was just in time to attend a talk by an astronaut who has spent some time on the International Space Station (ISS). I thoroughly enjoyed his speech which was accompanied by some of the most amazing pictures I had seen of the planets beyond our atmosphere. There was something special about the amateur nature of the photographs he had taken that made them so real and unique to see.

One of my favorite things he mentioned was the multiple sunrises and sunsets he would see within a 24-hour period on the ISS, and how it obviously differed from those we would see on Earth as our day and night periods are entirely unique to our own planet. Genuinely, I was blown away. This was something so obvious once it had been said out loud, yet something that truly would never have crossed my mind if I hadn’t crossed paths with this gentleman. Lesson officially learned; life is subjective and based on perspective.

I left with a cool new sweater and an opened mind, ready for anything coming my way next on this grand adventure I got to call mine.

Golden Gates, Golden Days - Hello San Fransisco!

I arrived in beautiful San Francisco at 7am and after many wrong turns up very steep hills, I found my hostel. I was informed that I could leave my bags, but I could only check in at 3pm, much to my dismay as I really wanted to take a shower and maybe even go back to sleep for an hour or two. Instead, I found myself watching an episode of Bones in the Starbucks up the road, loading up on coffee and the most expensive panini I had bought in a long time.

After I had some food in my system, and more importantly, some coffee, I pulled up a map, decided on a general direction, and headed off in pursuit of something wonderful. I walked through union square and debated about going into the huge Macy's on the corner, but deciding to save myself some trouble - and money - I took a sharp left and walked up the next hill of the day, which ended at the gates to China Town.  I walked down one side of the street, and back up the other, going into practically every store, which as with most China Towns, became very repetitive very quickly. The same basic stock littered ever shop I walked into, aside from the few defining items that allowed each one to somewhat stand out from the others. I reached the gates once more and left, killing time at this point in any way that I could. I didn't want to drift to far away, or climb to many hills, as check in time was looming and for some reason I was rather eager to get settled. The clock finally struck 3pm and I spent the rest of the day getting organized, only leaving to get something to eat later that night.

The next day I was feeling rather adventurous after my subdued day previously, and walked down to the main road that runs the entire width of the city, called Market Steret. This is the street on which many of the Street Cars operate from, but it decided to walk that day, my only goal being to find the ocean at the end of the street. I walked for Kilometers, taking in the city, checking out the stores, and absorbing the atmosphere. I walked straight for ages until the road bent to the right, but I defiantly crossed over it, and into a courtyard in front of the Pier 1 building. I had reached the sea, and walked along the dock, happy as can be. A wonderful surprise was not only the market place situated inside the building, but also the Bay Bridge that ran across the body of water, connecting one land mass to another. It was quite beautiful, so I decided to turn right and walk toward the bridge. San Francisco has many huge art pieces, almost randomly scattered across the land, and I discovered many beautiful ones on the journey that day.

The next day, I hopped onto a Street Car, going in the opposite direction to the one the day before, and hopped off at Golden Gate National Park. It was huge, as most American parks are, and I lost track of time and location, only partially on purpose, but caught myself again quickly as I had plans that night. A day spent in a park is hard to describe as you see and hear so many different things in every single moment, but my evening was a little easier to explain. 

I took the subway and met up with a friend of a family friend who was going to take me to dinner and help me make sure I got the most out of my time in the city. We walked around a bit and she showed me some beautiful murals that decorated the walls, then lead me to a Mexican restaurant which claimed to have the best Burrito in the Country; they were not wrong. It was certainly the best one I had had, and would have for the rest of my trip! We had a wonderful time, chatting the night away, and I ended up at her house, where I met her daughter, who was only a year or so younger than me. Eventually, she called me a cab and I thanked her and her family for such a nice night. 

I woke up the next day super excited, and a little earlier than normal as I was headed down to pier 32 to catch my ferry to Alcatraz!

Yes, that’s right, the notorious prison out at sea the is known to be inescapable! I was so beyond excited to finally see "The Rock” with my own two eyes- something I had dreamed about since watching “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” as in my little mind, the prisons were one in the same.

I jumped onto and off of the ferry, wide eyes and bushy tailed, ready for the adventure ahead: I was mentally prepared for all the incredible things I was to see, but I was not ready for all the walking! That place was huge, but at the same time so tiny when considering that some individuals spent their entire lives there. You may be surprised to know, as I was, that Alcatraz served as a home not only to the inmates, but to entire families! these families were those of the prison guards, administrative staff, medical personal, and just about anyone else who was needed to keep the prison running as the commute from the mainland was ever so far and far to expensive to contemplate. It’s rather strange to think that children grew up right next to the prison, and happily I might add.

Something else that struck me was the physical beauty of the entire island, the gardens, the rocks - not only that but the magnificent views of the city, the ocean, and the Golden Gate Bridge.

On the island, you could pretty much wonder far and wide, as the signs slowly directed you up the the highest point of the Rock: the cell blocks. When you entered the cells, you were handed a self guided and award winning audio tour handset that led you through the ins and outs of the prison blocks themselves. As you moved from room to room, cell to cell, actual past prison guards and prisoners told you their stories- and I promise you, every one gave you chills. 

Some were sad, some were scary, some were action packed, and some were even happy; none of which I will tell you, and all of which you should go and hear for yourself.

It was a truly incredible experience, and one that I will never forget.

Again, I got lucky as just by chance while I was on the island, there was an art exhibit based on freedom and the wrongly accused or oppressed- many of whom became heroes in their own right. 

It was absolutely gorgeous.

One section of it was made completely of Lego, which made up portraits of famous faces and was laid on the floor to span the length and breadth of an entire hall! As I walked around, I even found our very own Nelson Mandela’s face so far away from home. you were lead through the exhibit to fist view it from the ground where you could get up close to everything and truly see the detail put into each work, and as you left, you were lead through an upper part of the building where you could look down on the art work through barred windows: an incredible symbol to be left with.

I didn’t want to leave, but sadly the time came as the sun set over the ocean, and I hopped onto the last ferry back to the city.

By the time the next day came around, I was in desperate need of doing some laundry and of course my hostel did not house such facilities so off I went, walking up the roads and hills with my laundry bag on my back (looking a little too similar to an exhausted Santa Clause than I will ever admit) I went to the closest Laundromat I could find!

When I arrived, I was not disappointed and realized that it was all worth it, not only did this place wash your clothes, but it offered free uncapped WiFi and boasted an entire café and ice cream bar! It was safe to say that I was a happy camper.

Now, as much fun as I was having, real life was starting to creep into this picture, and fast. My bank had decided to freeze my account all the way back in Buffalo and I still hadn’t managed to fully figure it all out. They were very insistent on me “visiting my closest branch at my closest convenience,” hmmmm…..

Regardless, I needed to make a plan fast, and with the next place on my agenda being Alaska, my plan needed to be a good one. I was flat out of ideas and the next leg of my trip was slipping further and further out of my grip, so I did what any self respecting almost-adult would have done: I called my parents.

I kicked up my heels, grabbed an ice cream and milked that WiFi for all it was worth, talking through potential plans with my parents while my washing tumbled and turned one room over.

I fondly recall my mother laughing loudly at me when she heard that I was doing my own laundry, and absolutely howling when she hard that I was struggling with it. “Welcome to the real world, Poppet” – thanks mom.

My mother, father, and I were googling up a storm, trying to find either a way to get me to Alaska or, failing that, another place to stay. Eventually, in a moment of clarity, we remembered that my father had a cousin who lived in Houston who would be happy to have me, more like happy to save me, or so it felt!

Sorted!

Dad was going to get hold of cousin Connie and I had to figure out how to get to her, piece of cake. It just goes to show, no mater where you are or how much trouble you think you are in, good old mom and dad will have your back.

* Soppy moment to say thank you to my incredible parents for being so great! *

I hung up, grabbed my clothes, and headed back to the hostel with a new plan and a new attitude. Sleep came easy that night.

I jumped out of bed and decided to make the most of my last full day in this amazing place before heading onto the next one. I walked down to the cable car station and decided to take it to the end of the line to Pier 39 - Fisherman’s Warf!

I don’t quite know how to describe Fisherman’s Warf other than a hub of shops, food, people, and entertainment, where you just cannot help but be happy. It is fun and vibrant, where every kind of person meets to do every kind of thing.

I walked up and down every pier and saw everything there was to see from huge candy stores to interactive zombie slaying experiences, football memorabilia stores to real military ship displays from World War 2, there was never a dull moment!

I was exhausted from the morning but I somehow got it into my head that I was going to try to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge, which I later found out was about 4 miles (6.5km) in the hilliest place I have ever been.

Needless to say, I didn’t make it, but I had fun trying! I phoned my best friend Caroline to keep me company on my walk, and she laughed at me as I could hardly speak I was so out of breath!

Eventually, the sun was beating me home, so I decided to turn around and make my way back to my hostel to take a long shower and pack my bags. I was off to Texas tomorrow!!