So we went to Houston last weekend. Brad and I haven’t had a
vacation together in –Jesus- years and we figured a nice little weekend trip down
south would be fun and cheap. Plus we’d get to see Shelley , who we haven’t
seen in probably just as long as our last vacation.

I’ve actually never been to Houston before. I always figured
I already live in a soulless, sprawling, metropolis so why bother driving 4.5
hours to the next one? Plus, as anyone who is from Texas will tell you, Houston
tends to be one of those places that most people always refer to with a grunt
and a sneer- like “Ugh, I have to go to Houston to visit my family.” It has
kind of a reputation for being a hot, sticky dump.

Personally though, I was rather pleasantly surprised. It was
definitely big and dirty but it also seemed to have an ease and charm about it
that Dallas never really seems capable of. And the weather was fabulous to
boot.

  Anyways, first full day there we decided to
visit the Menil Collection which is basically a small museum-along with the
famous Rothko Chapel and Byzantine Fresco chapel- that sits in a nice little
park in the middle of some older yuppy neighborhood. Best thing is that not
only does it have excellent works of art from the Ancient to the modern, but it’s
also completely free.

Of course, the real reason I visited the City came on Sunday
which is when I had bought all of us tickets to go see “Spring Awakening” at the
Hobby Center downtown. It was so awesome! Not quite as awesome as when I saw it
on Broadway, but that should be a given. I did however score us some kick ass
seats up close so we could see all the action perfectly. BTW if you haven’t
seen “Spring Awakening” and it comes through your town, GO! Its so much fun and
the music is fabulous. Plus you get to see boobies and butts! I made sure to
get a nice right orchestra seat so we could get a head-on view of Melchior’s (Kyle
Riabko) ass. YUM! Luckily, Brad and Shelley enjoyed their selves a lot-it was
their first ever Broadway Musical- and now we’re discussing possibly meeting up
in Austin to see Spamalot, Avenue Q, and Wicked which are coming through the UT
Bass Hall later this year. And surprise! Spring Awakening will be coming through
in late October so I’ll definitely be there 

Spring Awakening Tony Performance-Mama, BoL, Totally!