So now we're in Houston, and Hannah in her Chevron way managed to pick up free tickets to the baseball. The team here are the Astros (going back to that Houston-first-word-from-the-moon thing) and they play in Minute Maid Park. Pete seems to be very into baseball at the moment - I'm hoping it's a gateway sport for cricket - so a Saturday afternoon game was perfect.
It's hard to be a fan when you lack any outward signs of your dedication but a quick trip to our local T.K.Maxx remedied that for bargain-basement prices. "The family that Astros together stays together," commented a lady we passed on our way to the stadium. We felt good.
Given it's always too hot to play sport around here, the Park is completely enclosed and fully air conditioned. They pay for their extortionate energy bill by charging even more for beer than other baseball venues; when you're in the free seats you don't mind splashing out a little.
The Astros are the winningest team in the league this year, and duly crushed the visiting Angels of Anaheim 3-1. We left before the end because we may be superfans but we didn't want to have to queue for the bus home. On the way we stopped to try our local Mexican restaurant where we discovered they serve avocado stuffed with cheese and barbecued meat...which is then breaded and deep fried. It's called "el canonball". Will wonders never cease?
We will now be wearing our Astros gear proudly around Houston and cheering for all local teams and, indeed, Team USA, until we move to the next city when we will flexibly shift our lifelong allegiance to them. Unless we move to Australia, because when it comes to real sport there's only one team that should ever win The Ashes.
Look! Look! We're dressed like you! We are friends!
On the ball.
Go out to the game, stay inside!
Fully representative.
Let's go Astros!
Dinner on the way home. It was a lot more appetizing than I managed to photograph, honest!
