Mean Green

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So I have received several pleas for more TEA. I have been hanging out in Houston with my sister and brother-in-law for the past couple of weeks and will likely stay a couple more. But I suppose that does not mean that there are no adventures to be had.

Last weekend I went to see my nephew Will Powell and niece Sinclair Watkins, who are both juniors at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. I was joined by my sister Sarah (Will's mother) and niece Kate, who was in Houston for a wedding next weekend (from Portland... remember my very first stop?). We took the CRV, freshly out of the body shop.

I am not used to having passengers! Sarah has been bugging me to be part of the blog, wanting her picture included since she knows so many of the other folks who have had their pictures posted. So here she is.

On the way to Denton (north of Dallas) we passed the Sam Houston Statue in Huntsville, Texas. It was done by the same artist that did the presidential busts at Presidents Park in Lead, South Dakota, that I visited earlier on the journey. At some 70 feet, it is supposedly the second biggest statue in the USA. Any guesses on the biggest?

On arriving on campus, we met up first with Sinclair and her roomate Angela, and then found Will. He was riding his fraternity's float in the homecoming parade. It was heartwarming to see him hop off to give his big sister a hug. Equally fun was walking back along the parade route to his frat house, and having dozens of people call out his name: "Hey Will!" Ah, to be young and popular.

I do believe Will was born to be a college student.

Here is Will's fraternity float as it moves along the paraded route. Note the "Mean Green" on the back. While the mascot is actually the Eagle, UNT goes by Mean Green. Kinda like Georgia Tech being the Yellowjackets but going by Rambling Wreck.

After visiting Will's frat house (suspiously clean, but it was homecoming) we stopped to see Sinclair and Angela's apartment. Here are Will, Kate, and Sinclair in Sinclair's room. She had virtually every inch covered with posters and music and art paraphenalia.

Then over to Will's apartment. We found two of his roomates watching Harry Potter. Each college student has a different experience! His room was littered with clothes in varying degrees of cleanliness. Reminded me how lucky we were to have laundry service at Davidson! Here are Kate and Will in his room.



Next we headed over to the football stadium to partake in the oldest of football traditions: tailgating. Will's frat had a big tent with all sorts of food and, of course, beer... well, beer only technically: Natural Lite and Coors. Sarah instantly became several boys' "mom" as technically underage drinkers can only consume in the presence of their parents.

We did not go to the game, a night affair (UNT lost to Florida Atlantic 44-40). Instead Sarah, Kate, and I headed back to Houston. Highlight of that journey was a rousing game of "Alphabet Signs" (I am easily entertained after many miles solo). J proved a challenge, as well (as always), X. Of course going many miles without any signs in northern Texas added to the challenge.