Well to rate Houston in one word, that word would be 'shit'. We got off the bus after an early ride in from Austin and got on the light rail, to our hostel. The light rail made the whole place look futuristic. Granted the city looked safe and clean, but it also looked dull. But anyway, we get to the hostel and outside it was hot. Inside was even hotter, as they decided to have the heating pumped up. The hostel itself was odd, it was unmanned until 5pm and was basically just someones house with a bunch of beds in the rooms. We decide to lock our valuables and catch the bus to the Kennedy space center. After much discussion with various transit people we catch a different bus to what was suggested, saving ourselves a few hours and getting to the complex in about an hour. Nobodies really sure how long it took as we all fell asleep at different points.

The space center was pretty ok, it was all sciencey and stuff, but to see where such history had happened was quite amazing, we saw the control room that ran the Apollo missions and the factory where astronauts trained with fake space shuttles, ones that are just modules of the real thing.

The impressive bit of the tour was the rocket that wasn't used as one of the Apollo missions was scrapped. This thing was huge, it had to be over a rugby field long and just blew me away at how awesome it was.

We left the space station and got there early for the bus. the bus that would never come. After waiting 30 minutes we rang the bus company and were told that the bus driver didn't feel like driving out there or something like that. It was a scheduled stop and it was the last scheduled stop, leaving us rather screwed. It took us 2 hours to get a taxi to come in and cost $50 to get back in, thankfully divide by 4. After that we just crashed into bed. This whole bus thing really cost us any sight seeing in downtown Houston we could of done.

The next day it was an early start as we had an early train. We call a cab and have our stuff ready in the cool early morning air. The cab is late. It turns out he's been ringing the hostel, a phone behind a locked door that we wouldn't of answered anyway, instead of the contact number we gave, we re-ring and get jerked around, being told 5 mins apart that it is within a mile. Just as we nearly catch a ride with a stranger it arrives. The dude is useless, he has no idea where the train station is. He gets in the right area, but stops and gets directions, while leaving the meter running. Guess who gets no tip.

We arrive at the train station in disgust with the cabbie and waiting for the 6:15 train. It's late, real late, we get on and it doesn't move, I wake up as it starts to move at 8:15. At this point I'm just happy to be out of Houston and not on Greyhound.

Austin has been great. Yesterday we checked out the University of Texas campus and I have to say it isn't bad. The Main tower is a lot bigger than I could of pictured and is the site where Charles Whitman used as a nest for his sniper attacks that took many lives back in the 60's. We then walked uptown a bit and took a tour of the capital building. It's a really impressive capital building which is kind of similar to almost every capital building I've seen here.

We came back to the hostel and found that the Girl Guides were here and had cooked dinner. They then asked us a bit of questions about were we're from and wondered if we were in a band. Shortly after that we were back out and seeing 6th street in all its glory. The bar scene here would probably be the best in the world. I mean if it's the live music capital of the world then what more do you need. We went to about 8 bars last night and each of them offered glorious amounts of cheap drinks. One of them might as well have been called $2 every-things as everything was well indeed $2. All in all it was a great cheap night out.

Today however was less exciting. I spent a bit of it doing school work (yes, I'm not totally evading my obligations) we had a walk around again, went to the must do that is Amy's Ice cream and that was simply amazing. After that we made plans to go to the Alamo movie theater and watch "No place for old men". The great thing about this place is that you turn up early and you order dinner and they serve it to you in the movie. Every second row of seats is gone and there's a sort of table in front of you where you can put your pizza or whatever and drink your beer etc. Such things are really innovative.

Next stop, tomorrow morning we're off to Houston

Well we spent one last look around Dallas, we started off with a diner for breakfast which provided a hefty burger for minimal prices. We checked out a huge series of cattle statues and some iconic department store. We then moved on to check out the place where JFK died. We didn't bother with the book depository exhibition, but rather spent more time just wandering around the grassy knoll and looking at the X painted on the road where the shots where. It was really quite a sight to see really, knowing that such an important event happened right there.

We took the bus from Dallas to Austin and so far we've checked into the Hostel, taken a cab to a Mexican restaurant and that's about it for the evening. And even though I've seen not much, I think I've fallen in love with the place. I'm really glad we have two days here. It feels like a place I could really enjoy if I lived here.

Well every preconceived stereotype I had of Texas has been changed. The people in Dallas aren't especially fat, they're really polite and go out of their way to help. Dallas is a nice place, it really is one of the nicer cities I've been too.

We got in about 10:30CT without Jim after we left Philadelphia after a quick night out and a sleep on the airport floor. Jim was relegated on a later flight that was delayed, so we left out the touristy stuff such as examining the JFK stuff, but we should do that today.

We went to a place called Gators for lunch and then dinner to watch the Cowboys play. We sat on the roof both times and it made an amazing backdrop at night. (Photos will come) It was awesome to look at the skyline while seeing the same skyline on TV during the game. Lunch was pretty good. I had a sandwich which had fried Alligator, I liked it.

Any way we better get going.

Well Thanks Giving has been and gone and I'm back in State College and getting ready to leave for another part of the country. But before I get into that Thanksgiving was great. It's like Christmas but without shitty music and the gift swapping ritual. Other than that it's really similar to Christmas. No idea why it has to be so close to Christmas though, that's kind of odd.

The bus trip home was hell. NYC Port Authority sitting on the ground for a few hours, did my econ homework. Had some people get have sex in the seat right in front of me on the way to Philadelphia, real awkward. Suffice to say I was just happy to be home after all was said and done.

So back to what I was saying earlier. We set off for Texas tomorrow so I still have to do washing, pack and get everything else done. I wish I didn't have a tendency to leave it to the last minute as my room mate likes sleeping at regular hours. I guess I'll try and get it all done tomorrow.