Corpus Christi Day 1

I think I said in an earlier post that I wasn't sure how much I would blog. Yesterday we traveled down to Corpus Christi and had a good trip. We checked into our hotel and then prowled around Corpus. We went to TAMUCC where the conference was going to be held and got the layout of the place and parking situation. From there we tootled around and I was amazed at the changes that had taken place. It has only been 20 years since I was here last. We ate dinner at Pizza Hut and then went back to the hotel. We were in bed with the lights out by 930pm.
Today, I attended the first part of my conference. The meal they served today was Cuban. We had pork roast, yellow rice, black beans, fried plantains, salad, and peach cobbler. It was all good. The conference was really informative and I was able to meet some new people. I felt completely out of my league for most of the day. I was one of about 10 people who didn't have my PhD or Master's. Several comments were made about classroom teachers and I just sat there and kept quiet. Most of the people there were from out of state. It was quite interesting.
My hubby picked me up and we ventured over to Portland (my hometown). We stopped by and saw my second mom and visited with her for a bit. Then I took my hubby on a tour of my old homes. It was sad to see the houses in disarray and bad shape. The one house I spend the most years in, was in the worst shape. It was sad, sad, sad. I was amazed that there was a Walmart, Chili's, etc. that had now been added to the town. There are so many houses now that there is no real distinction between Gregory and Portland.
From there we went to the Texas State Aquarium. It was a nice surprise from my hubby. We were there until it closed. We meandered back into Corpus and eventually got to Catfish Charlie's. It is the one place that still looks the same inside and out down to the tablecloths. It was like really coming home. The food tasted as good as I remembered. We stuffed our faces full of shrimp, oysters, catfish, and hush puppies.
From there we went back to the hotel and vegetated the rest of the evening. It was an amazingly good day.