my little life: Livia, The Eskimo Hut and Other Panhandle Goodies

Hi friends! Sorry it's taken me forever to post the stories about my Amarillo trip. There is a reason for it and it's mixed into this posting. So here goes...

Friday
On Friday, June 23, I voluntarily got into a car with my sister and her family. Why I agreed to ride for five hours with my 2 nephews, ages 7 and 9, is beyond me. The trip consisted of beef jerky smells, little boy snoring and the soundtrack of High School Musical. But it actually was fun because my nephews are now old enough for me to joke around with. It was a good time. I got to Amarillo and immediately went to Livia Woodburn's house. You gotta love Livia and her sweet family. They always let me crash at their Casa de Woodburn.

That night we met up with some old high school friends at a restaurant called Basil Doc's Pizza. Belinda, Micheal, Livia and I ate tons of food and drank tons of adult beverages. I drank a whole carafe of sangria. Well, Belinda did have a glass of it... but I pretty much polished off the whole thing. And it was only $10 for the whole carafe!! Can you believe that? Drinks in Amarillo are so cheap! After stuffing our faces, we went to Burberry's and met up with Chris, Chad, Betty and several other friends. We talked and drank and laughed about old times. Chris was getting fidgety and we knew he wanted to go to The Golden Light Cantina. So we packed up and hit the Golden Light - which is Chris' second home. There was a great band playing there and they even had a fiddle player! Livia busted out her Polaroid Camera... it's an old school Polaroid that actually works. She is famous for that camera and the interesting photos that she takes with it. So the band finished up their set and suddenly 2:00 a.m. was approaching. As we were finishing our beers, we noticed that Belinda had walked away. She had gone to the backstage area where the band was chilling out. When we found her, she was wearing a cowboy hat and playing the fiddle. After several photos, we left The Golden Light and went home.

Saturday
On Saturday, I had to meet up with my family at La Fiesta. It's a restaurant in Amarillo where my grandparents were celebrating their 60th Anniversary. My family planned a short and sweet lunch for them. I got to the restaurant with Livia and I had a sinking suspicion that my cousins would assume we were lesbians. That side of my family has not met my super hot fireman boyfriend, so I kinda think they got the wrong impression. Oh well, who cares? Livia is hot so even if I was a lesbian I would totally date her!

Anyway, I talked with my family; many of whom I had not seen in years. It was fun to catch up with them but I couldn't help but turn my gaze into the bar area of the restaurant where the TV was located. Mexico was playing Argentina that day and I really do enjoy a good dose of the World Cup. So I got in trouble for focusing more on the game than on my family. (Sorry, mom.) Luckily, the food arrived and distracted me. I ordered chicken flautas because I kinda wanted to stay on the safe side. However, I quickly realized I was nowhere near the safe side. I bit into my flauta and a puddle of grease came spurting out of the bottom end. Yuck! I didn't eat the rest of my food and left the restaurant hungry. Bummer.

We regrouped at Livia's house then made our way to Hereford. My family planned a little "after party" for my grandparents. Livia suggested that we stop by the Eskimo Hut and get a frosty beverage on the way. The Eskimo Hut is this little drive up joint that sells alcoholic snow cones. They put it in a styrofoam cup with a lid. Then they put the cup in a heat-sealed plastic bag. The side of the bag says some crap about Texas laws against driving with an open alcoholic container. Evidently, the heat-sealed plastic bag passes for a closed container. As we approached the Hut, I was confused at what to order as they have widely increased their flavor options since my days at WTAMU. Then, Livia reached into her car's console and pulled out a menu! She frequents the Hut and has a whole menu in her car. Gotta love Liv! I chose a Hot Mama which was a mixture of cherry, pineapple, cream and some sort of liquor. It was like biting into those Cherry Sour candies. Yummy. Livia got the Orange Dreamsicle and I almost fought her for it.

We got to Hereford and basically just sat around my grandparents' backyard while loud Spanish music was blaring. My grandfather came out of the house holding a CD as though it were gold. He handed it over to the guy by the CD player and said, "This song is for my sweetheart." He walked over to ask my grandmother to dance. She heard the song and said, "Oh, I hate this song. Pick another one!" We all laughed hysterically; even grandpa laughed. He finally found another song and they sweetly danced in the back yard under the apricot tree.

We left Hereford and went back to Amarillo. We met up with some friends at a piano bar which was a lot of fun. But I was so tired and I really wanted to curl up and sleep. We made it an early night and I was in bed by midnight.

Sunday
My mom called me on Saturday and said, "We'll stop by Livia's house to pick you up at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday" But in my mom's lingo, that means 8:30 a.m. So I got up early, showered and was packed by 8:15 when mom called and said, "Are you ready?" Like clockwork.

We rolled out of Amarillo by 8:45 a.m. and made it safely back home. But when I walked into my house it felt like a sauna. My house was 99 degrees and there was hot air blowing from the vents. The unit outside was sitting quietly - not moving a single blade. I spent the next 2 nights away from my house because I was arguing with my A/C repair company because the unit is under warranty and they didn't want to fix it. Long story short, I didn't have to pay for repairs and I now have time to write blogs at a comfy 79 degrees.

Micheal, Belinda, me, Betty and Chris hanging out