Messin' with Texas, Day 5

My plane was scheduled to leave early in the afternoon of my last day, so Ms. PB and I had a lazy morning (poor Mr. PB had to work), spent mostly with the real reason for my trip:  the poodles!

Hershey is definitely the queen of all she surveys.  At the grand old age of 13, while she has some heath issues, she is still a feisty, happy, imperious old gal.   

Kyra is next in line.  A sweet-natured girl, but I do have to say - while she tolerates the presence of humans, she really only wants your  food.  Silly chowhound!  I think she and Katy would get along just fine...

Next comes the beautiful Boo.   A complete sweetheart, even if he is a mamma's boy! 

And last, but sooooo not least, is Hemi.  Regal, dignified.... oh, wait.  Right.

This is the real Hemi.  One big goofball of energy, wrapped in gorgeous silver fur!

After snuggling with the poodles for the last time, Ms. PB and I headed to pick up Mr. PB and have lunch at a near-by Hard Eight BBQ.

And wow, what a lunch!  This was BBQ - real BBQ.  Two huge grills, covered with meat.  Pork, chicken, beef - plus things like grilled shrimp, potatoes and corn-on-the-cob.  The smell alone was incredible, never mind the taste of the actual food!  You choose what you want off the grill, and then pay by the pound, plus extra for any sides you want - things like mac 'n' cheese, potato salad, etc.  The beans are free :)

Of course, I ate WAY too much, but it was soooo tasty.  We just do not have food like this around here!  After rolling back to the car and dropping Mr. PB back at work, we drove to the airport.  And past the airport.  And back past the airport.  Hey look kids, there's Big Ben and there's Parliment!  Okay, it wasn't quite that bad, but I still say there was NO sign for the gate we were looking for!  Even with the drive-bys, I still made it with time to spare, so I hunted down the closest coffee place, grabbed a huge latte, and sat and waited for my plane.

Which was basically what I did for the next 12 hours.  Argh!  The plane was slightly late taking off from Dallas, making the connection in Detroit REALLY tight.  Which ended up not being an issue, as the fight from Detroit to Buffalo was delayed.  By 3 3.5 4.5 hours!  Now, it was blamed on bad weather on the east coast, and I really don't expect anyone to risk life and limb by flying in a storm.  But - there was NO communication from the airline.  None.  Postponements, gate changes, further postponements, more gate changes, more postponements... nothing.  Thankfully, the people waiting all ended up looking out for each other, and sharing what information they had - but I still expect a professionally run company to be able to effectively communicate with their customers.  Big fat fail, Delta!

After a phone call to Dad, to tell him about the delay (which ended up costing a whopping $13!!!!!!!!!!!, but was money well spent, since the web site still had my flight arriving before it actually took off), there wasn't much to do but sit and wait.  And wait.  And wait.

However, all good things (!) come to an end, though, and I got home in the wee hours of the morning.  To this:

 "Where were you, and why do you smell of poodle?"

All in all, it was a fantastic trip - filled with good food, great times, and even better friends.  Who could ask for more?  Thanks a million, Mr. & Ms. PB, and all the poodles, for putting me up, feeding me, and driving me all over!

And that's how I messed with Texas :)