Great Bonspiel in Houston

Went in a Bonspiel in Houston this weekend.  They have much better ice than Austin so it was great to be curling again.  I drove down by myself and Jim stayed at home to take care of Sparky.  It was my first time driving since the EOS broke down so I was pretty nervous driving.  I left at 6 am to avoid driving in Houston traffic much so got to the arena for 9;30.  Hardly any traffic since the highway going into Houston is the biggest freeway in the US.  At one point it is 26 lanes wide and yes I drove on that section.  You just have to anticipate where to go ahead of time and stay out of the toll lanes and the HOV lanes.  I made it Yeah.
Got to the rink - yes they play on arena ice.  The first game was 11:30 so I figured I could watch hockey or figure skating while I waited... no I read a book because it was EMPTY.  Curling booked the arena for all day Sat and Sun.  AMAZING...
These guys keep their rocks in 4 freezers when they are not using them so that they stay cold... helps to make them run normally fast down the sheet.  They pebble it normal and then drag the rocks over the sheets to smooth the pebble.  There was one rut from a zambonie that we had to deal with but I didn't have to throw as hard as possible not to hog it which was nice.  There was a team there from Oklahoma City, one team from Dallas, one girl from Denver, one from Boston, one guy from Hollywood and the rest were all from the Houston Club.  There are 45 members in their club.  In Canada, wouldn't even fill a league.  There were 8 teams and they have 4 sheets so we were broke into 2 groups and played round robin and then play offs on Sunday.  Yes I played 3 games on Sat.  Boy am I sore.  Our team won 2 and lost 2 so not too bad.  On Sunday for the playoffs it was cool... They had bagpipes playing on the intercom and we all walked in with our teams to the blue line and across.  They then gave us all shot glasses full of water or whisky and we toasted the spiel.  Really neat.... just something fun to do.  Hopefully someone sends be pictures of it.  There were the normal prizes that you bought tickets on.  I did my normal thing and put all my tickets on two items and... won both of them.  I won 3 stuffed squeaky toys for Sparky.  Base ball hat, deck of cards, key chains Houston Astro drink covers to keep drink cool, 6 pack of weird beer, huge bottle of Galveston brewed beer, 1.7L of Texas Vodka, Jar opener, light for key chain, flower vase, Not too shabby for coming 7th out of 8 teams.
The meals were great too.  The big meal Sat night was of course Brisket and Sausage with all of the trimmings.  When they say that you are going to have a BBQ in Texas... be ready for a treat.  Had Kolaches for Breakfast there at the rink which apparently is really common here.  I am learning lots.

On the way home I stopped at a restaurant in Katy and got some real Brazilian Food.  The restaurant is owned by a friend of Lu's so she told me what to order...Fejoada, Dudim de leite and mousse do Maracuja... two desserts... it was take out so I got both.  It was really good.  Unfortunately her friend wasn't there for me to say hi for her.  It was really good.

Note the caption on the wall of the arena Adult then Youth

Curling then Figure Skating - not bad order

Looks Normal Just on arena ice

Lots of good fun

Met lots of great people

Big disadvantage not having the centre line to figure out if itis curling when you are sweeping.

lines everywhere on the ice so you have to figure out which ones are for Curling

Empty Arena 9:30 on a Sat morning

Nobody on the ice that early in the morning

Nobody in the stands either waiting for action.

Kolaches - Ham or sausage with or without cheese wrapped in dough.. Really good.

Brazilian drink so they told me which tasted great.

This is the food that I ordered.  The main was a lot of pork with beans in a stew like texture.

Alegria Brazilian Grill in Katy Texas - really different food but very good.