Where shall we eat?

It started with an innocent-enough question: "WHERE SHALL WE EAT?"

Nick said, "Well, how about the Rainforest Cafe? Rachel and I checked it out, it looks like a fun place for little kids, and it's just right down the road from here -- we could practically walk to it."

It was Wednesday, March 7, 2007. Grandpa and I had left Grand Rapids the Friday before and traveled to Austin, arriving late Saturday night. It's a long drive from Grand Rapids to Austin, with very repetitive scenery (you know -- corn and rice fields, farms, more fields, and lots and lots of trucks) -- I did see deer on two separate occasions (the highlight of the 1200 or so miles). As usual, Grandpa was pointing out every single train track (whether I could see them or not), old "right-of-ways", train bridges, and telling train lore with every single tick of the clock. Nick, Rachel and Nathan had moved to Houston (actually, Webster) only three weeks prior, and they asked if we could bring some of their extra stuff with us; so the back of our van was loaded.

We rested up from our traveling Sunday through Tuesday, and about mid-morning Wednesday, we headed down to Webster to see Nick and Rachel. Grandpa, Andrew and Olivia were in our vehicle. Sabrina, Jackson, Karis and I were in the Rauch van. We had a nice set of walkie-talkie's (with a six-mile radius -- Olivia's Christmas gift from us!) that we were using to communicate with each other; and of course, Sabrina and Andrew each had their cell phones. We originally thought the trip from Austin to Houston would be about 3-4 hours, stopping for lunch.

Karis waiting for her lunch at Whataburger
Is Whataburger kind of like McDonald's or Burger King's?
OH . . . it's the Texas version of McDonald's

Jackson and Andrew enjoying a break from the road

@ Whataburger

But we ran into a bit of traffic (no, no, no! there is no such thing as a "bit" of traffic in either Austin OR Houston), and so didn't arrive at Webster until close to four o'clock in the afternoon. Just as we pulled into Nick and Rachel's apartment complex, it began to rain. We unloaded Grandpa's van in the rain, and since we had beach-front hotel reservations on Galveston Island, we all decided it would be fun to have dinner on the island some place and just kind of "hang out."

By the time we left their apartment for Galveston Island, it really began to rain. It rained harder than I have ever seen it rain! We were now in three separate vehicles, and the destination was the Best Western on Galveston Island. Sabrina is an excellent driver -- good thing! The wind and rain, lightning and thunder, hail and water over the road was terrifying! And the traffic! IT WAS NUTS!

Oh, and did I mention that Jackson and Karis were crying quite loudly the entire way? What happened was, Jackson was innocently swinging puppy and his tail hit Karis in the face, actually right in the eye -- so she begain wailing and Jackson began screaming -- and why on earth were they still in the car strapped into carseats? They were exhausted and would not be consoled! Travel time from Webster to the island was supposed to be about 30-40 minutes . . . but finally, an hour-and-a-half after leaving the apartment, we pulled into the parking lot at Best Western. We were all really hungry, especially the little kids.

The Rainforest Cafe * 5310 Seawall Blvd * Galveston Island

(all of the following pictures were taken the morning after)

This is "Cha-Cha", the red-eyed tree frog

and the menu that is posted outside of the restaurant

Olivia doing a fine pose with "Bamba" the Gorilla

A close-up of the front door

In small print beneath the Rainforest Cafe sign it says

"A wild place to shop and eat"

The Rainforest Cafe sounded like an excellent choice -- dinner with a theme! Their web site boasts "a dramatic display of sounds, lights, fire and lava as its active volcano erupts at dusk and continues every half hour". It makes use of "the most advanced entertainment technology with aquatic life to create an immersive life-like environment that delights guests." WOW. Doesn't that sound like fun? I saw the sign about shopping, and I was gung ho!

One small thing I failed to mention -- it was Spring Break, and every single human being on the continent of North America (and beyond) had decided to vacation on Galveston Island AND dine at the Rainforest Cafe!

Sabrina was very smart and called ahead to the Cafe. She asked if she could make reservations for 10, which she was denied. When asked how long we would wait, the person assured her it would be no more than 30-45 minutes. We were only 5 minutes away from the restaurant, so away we went!

The outside plaza decked out with crocodiles and swamp . . .

We had difficulty finding parking, but Andrew has a way of finding unusual places to park. It was terribly crowded inside the Cafe, but the entryway leads to a gift shop with all kind of rainforestry-type shirts, toys, dinnerware, games, etc. to amuse the hungry guests. "While waiting for a table, hungry diners prowl the retail village, where cash-register ka-chings compete with chirping birds, roaring lions and chest-thumping gorillas." (an internet review) However, in order to shop, one must have a tiny bit of space to walk around and examine the merchandise! No way. It was so crowded, I could hardly breathe! It was raining outside, or we could have just hung around out there with the crocs!

Nicolas, being the enterprising individual that he is, decided to purchase a $15 membership to the Cafe, since he and Rachel only live up the road 30-40 minutes -- they could use it repeatedly whenever they wanted an unusual dining experience. The $15 membership was supposed to assure "priority seating", but they failed to tell him it was for parties of six or less. Anyway, he purchased the membership and gave our name, party of 10.

I decided it was much too crowded to just stand and wait -- there really was no line as such to wait in. Above the din of rainforest sound-effects you could hear other parties being called to be seated. "Williams, party of 8." "Smith, party of 25." "Johnson, party of 6." And so on. We figured we could stand it for 45 minutes. I told Sabrina that Olivia and I were going to stick together and try to do some shopping. I was looking for a cute toy to share with the little kids to make waiting for dinner more tolerable.

But the little kids were REALLY hungry. What could they eat while they were waiting? I'm not sure who, but either Sabrina or Rachel had a nice large bag of Sunmaid raisins. Whew! Raisins are healthy! Raisins aren't messy! Raisins are fun to eat! So Karis, Jackson and Nathan ate raisins, happily!

Our 45 minutes were up, but we were not hearing those long-awaited words, "Jones, party of 10." Nick decided to investigate matters and found a lot of confusion among the staff. Did they tell us 45 minutes? Did we know it was Spring Break? We would just have to be patient! But perhaps we would like to take the Rainforest River Adventure Ride? They would let us do that at no cost! OK. We all headed to the ride, but would there be room for all 10 of us? No! Not on one raft -- Andrew was just about at his last nerve by then, so I believe he and baby Karis took a walk instead. The rest of us boarded the raft and went down the river through the jungle, complete with pretty good sound-effects, alligators, crocodiles, and at the end a very huge spider that came running right at me from the ceiling!

It was now after 8:00 and it had thankfully stopped raining. We went outside to the "plaza" to get some air. We got talking to some folk outside and found that they had been waiting more than two hours and had yet to be seated. Olivia and I were exploring the plaza when I slipped and fell in a puddle, and got more than a little wet (something to do with stress incontinence) and bruised!

Livie with "Cha-Cha"

While we were outside, Grandpa took a short walk across the street where I-HOP was located, and it almost empty! It was nearly 8:30 and when he told us this news, we decided to leave the jungle of swinging monkeys, waterfalls and snakes to the rest of the population and go eat!

We got seated right away at I-HOP

See the bag of raisins?

No? Well, here is a close-up of those

famous, Sunmaid raisins!

Here is Grandpa. He didn't remember to tell us

what happens when kids eat too many raisins!

Nathan, reaching for a Coke!

This picture was taken by the waitress

She had just participated in a family prayer with us

Andrew had said, "Let's pray"

and Jackson grabbed her hand as she was standing next to him!

So she joined in our circle of prayer

(and was very polite about it)

Nathan enjoying a Coke

He had been playing a little game of

"Knock it off the table"

If something was given to him, he would look at it

and then deliberately knock it off the table,

turn his head and watch it land on the floor;

look up at all of us with a very serious face

and then in the funniest voice, with his mouth to one side

he would say, "Oops!"

And we would respond neurotically by laughing hysterically!

Nathan showing Nick "Tuki" the baby elephant

Karis playing with "Ozzie" and "Rio"

Oops! There's those raisins again!

"Bamba" and "Iggy" having a boxing fight

We had an enjoyable meal at I-HOP. The little kids ate well and we enjoyed the company of all. It was getting late, but all-in-all, it had been a fun time together. We were looking forward to a good night's rest and a beach day on the morrow . . . but those raisins! We weren't even to the van before Jackson's digestive system went into action . . . and then Karis . . . and Nathan for the next two days! It's times like this when it's good to be a grandparent!

And who are these two silly girls?

This is actually the next morning . . .

something about raisins and diapers and young mothers --

they totally flipped out!

My prize purchase at the Rainforest Cafe

From top to bottom:
"Rio", the Scarlet Macaw
"Ozzie", the Orangutan

"Bamba", the Gorilla

"Nile", the Crocodile
"Maya", the Jaguar
"Cha-Cha", the red-eyed Tree Frog

"Iggy", the Iguana
and "Tuki", the baby elephant

All eight animals came in a package together for under $10! What a bargain! We split these up between the three little kids, and then I went back the next day and bought another bunch to take home with me! I do love toys. When we got home and were telling this story to Adam and Emily, they said they had eaten at a Rainforest Cafe on their honeymoon @ Walt Disney World and had bought these animals too! I don't know about the Rainforest Cafe. They boast that it is "A wild place to shop and eat". I would say that it is a crazy place to wait and wait . . .

P.S. Did you know that in a four-square mile of rainforest there are over 1500 species of flowering plants, 750 kinds of trees, 125 different mammal species, 400 kinds of birds, 100 different types of reptiles, 60 types of amphibians and over 150 kinds of butterflies? Just thought you'd want to know fact #652 from the Rainforest Cafe web site . . .