I went to the Skybar last night to meet Sandra, her husband Henry, Jay and Tom. It was a blast. The club was jumping, the music rocked, the view is fabulous. We danced, we sang, and we took pictures. More of those to come later today… but for now I wanted to share my story!
As Tom & I were leaving the Skybar I asked him if he knew how to get up to our side of town from there or if he wanted to follow me. Except there was a hitch if he followed me – I wanted to stop in downtown and take a picture of one of the cows. I had seen a few as I drove past the park on the way to the club, so I wanted to go back and get a photo. I knew there were several outside of the Houston Chronicle Building so I figured I could stop, jump out of the car, shoot a photo, and head home. He decided to take a different route since he was pretty tired and wanted to get home. So we headed off in our separate directions.
I drove into downtown and spotted the cows at the Chronicle just like I expected. I pulled over in a no parking zone just long enough to open my door and take a photo. (I figure it isn’t parking if you are in the car and the car is running!) The female police officer – genuine HPD – that was working security there, directing traffic if a big truck needs to pull in, walked over & asked if I had taken pictures of all of the cows. I said that I had not and she told me I should. I asked to leave my car parked there for a minute and promised I would be fast. I went around the building and took pictures of all of them. (I will post those later too.)
I thanked her for letting me park there and headed off towards the highway to leave downtown. About 2 blocks away is Market Square and there is a small 1 block park there. I spotted another illegal parking spot and, feeling brave, decided to pull over just to go take a few more fast shots. I park, get the camera back out, and head up the sidewalk towards the cows. The very first one I walked up to was Sherry’s Cow of Lilies! I was so excited I almost screamed! I couldn’t remember where her cow was on display at, so I was happily surprised when it was right there in front of me! I took several pictures of it, along with a few of the nearby cows. I was so thrilled!
I called Tom when I got home to let him know I made it home ok and he asked me if I was worried being in downtown by myself. I told him no, I was on the end of town where the clubs, bars & restaurants are now, lots of people were walking around because there were so many cars parked right there, there were a lot of police cars going past, and in general I normally feel pretty safe in downtown. I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone having problems there. Houston is a strange city though, our downtown used to be silent at night – it is only in the past few years where they have really had a push for redevelopment when the Rice Hotel (where JFK stayed the night before he was shot and Former President Bush’s “residence” address through out his VP and President terms in office) became the renovated high-dollar “Rice Lofts”. You can see them sort of in the background of one of my cow pictures. So I had no fear regarding my safety, although like every smart girl I did keep my eyes open just in case.
So, all in all it was a GREAT night. Had a nice manicure & pedicure, got to wear my spunky new outfit with the fun black pants with sequins on the bottom, was able to visit with old friends, dance, listen to good music in a great atmosphere, AND visit Sherry’s cow! What an awesome way to kick off birthday week! More photos to come later today!