Recovering still....

It's sad, seeing Galveston and its neighboring towns in total ruin. It's been 4 days since Ike hit us. There's a lot of mess in a lot of places, still. Power was restored at my parents' house just 22 hours after it went out. I consider that very lucky. The power came back on at my apartment the next day (on Sunday), but I didn't have the internet until this morning (Tuesday). Even so, I consider myself lucky.

There are lots of people that I know that are still without power right now. I feel for them. I don't consider myself a survivor of Ike - more like a spectator. My home wasn't destroyed, and I only lost power for two days. I didn't have to "tough it out" like the millions that had to evacuate and come back to nothing. If I had to, I could live without power for a while. Just gather around a lot of reading material, friends, games, food, and water and I'd be set.

Even though I think I could handle going without power for a few days, I certainly didn't look like it on Saturday night. A friend came over to my parents' to hang out and on the spur of the moment, my sister, friend and I took off to College Station for dinner. Yes, we traveled an hour and 1/2 one way just to get some dinner. The power was out and the night was still young - so why not? We ate at one of the best mexican places that a friend introduced me to - Rosa's Cafe. You haven't lived until you've had their fresh tortillas. There aren't any locations in Houston - which sucks - but College Station isn't too far away. My mouth is already watering and looking forward to the next time I'll eat there - in just a few weeks.

It's still a mess around here. Grocery stores are still closed. If they're open, they're only selling canned items. I imagine they took a bit of a loss with all the dairy, meat and frozen foods. They probably had to toss them all out.

It's sad to see Galveston on the news. My sister heard on the radio that 1500 historical buildings were destroyed. Although I wasn't around in 1900, it seems like this was as dangerous as the one back then. Everything in Ike's direct path over on the coast is gone. The only difference now is that the seawall was constructed and that people were evacuated. At last count, only 21 people died in this storm in the whole area. I'm sure the number will climb, but I don't think it'll go up too much.

I guess I'd have to say that this an interesting way to end an interesting summer...