Caiqian's 30th Birthday at a Lake Conroe RV

For Caiqian's 30th birthday we were faced with an interesting scenario, her birthday was right on Thanksgiving but we were also in the middle of quarantine. So we decided that glamping (glamorous camping) at an Air BnB RV would be secluded enough to be safe while being more festive than just staying at home.

So we drove up to a lakeside RV. On the way, we took a detour at an outdoor restaurant (Tris) where we could have a celebratory meal while being far away from other people.

At Tris we ordered one of everything on the happy hour menu as well as a French Pear Cocktail. Little did we know that our order was massive. My favorite item was the Tris burger with English muffin bun and bacon jam. Caiqian's was a fairytale pumpkin soup. But my goodness, look how many fries we had left over at the END of our meal...

Kicking off the weekend with Tris

After our ~1 hour drive we arrived at our lake-side RV named "Georgie Boy."

The Fit meets Georgie Boy

We moved our stuff inside and after a night's sleep began our next morning with breakfast, namely a toasted everything bagel with lox, cream cheese, and capers.

Main quarters (couch, table, kitchen)

We soon got acquainted with the RV which came with couch seating, a dining table for two, a kitchen, shower, bathroom, and bedroom. 

Bedroom, shower, and passenger seat

We soon learned that Caiqian's motion sickness did not pair well with an RV where everything moves whenever people walk around (or even re-adjust where they are sitting). So we tried to minimize time in the RV which was tricky  since it rained on-and-off after Caiqian's birthday (thankfully on her birthday it was just cloudy). In the RV Caiqian and I enjoyed reading, playing boardgames (Thanks Nick for Codenames Duet!), playing videogames, and painting a "paint by numbers" sunflower Caiqian had purchased earlier.

Gaming (Codenames Duet @ top, Schotten Totten @ middle) and painting at the main table

Our favorite part about the RV experience was enjoying the outdoors and the great location. The pictures below are from the morning of Caiqian's 30th birthday where we had a zoom call with the family and opened presents (not pictured). 

Enjoying the back patio with lake view

We really enjoyed the dock, which came with an awning and seating. That morning there was a perfect cool 70 degree breeze coming from the lake, it was reminiscent of perfect Switzerland-like weather.

Reading "The Great Library" series on the dock

Speaking of outdoor birthday activities, Caiqian and I had great fun playing disc golf, although we threw our discs in the ditch more than a couple of times, and Caiqian rightfully pointed out how reckless I was while retrieving the discs.

Disc Golfing at John Burge Park

To wrap up Caiqian's B-day celebration, I started a campfire using dryer lint we accumulated, some amazon carboard boxes, and a firewood set we purchased at Home Depot.

With the campfire going, Caiqian brought out the ingredients for our deluxe smores, Biscoff cookie wafers and Amy's Mexican vanilla marshmallows. But there was a crisis... we left the chocolate at home, and now it was Thanksgiving night!? So after some thinking I made a late night run (leaving Caiqian to tend to the fire) and managed to get a couple Dove chocolate bars from the nearest gas station. Nothing was going to ruin Caiqian's 30th birthday smores!

Campfire Smores and Reading

After a delightful smores eating we sat by the fire while Caiqian read from her Kindle and protected herself from some of the heat using nearby cardboard. We decided in our next house we will get a fire pit because they are awesome.

On the last days of our stay, Caiqian and I did some unsuccessful fishing (no pics because very boring) but we did end the trip with some successful kayaking. At first Caiqian was hesistant but once I got her in the water she had a blast. We kayaked across the entire lake and made it back before one last bout of rain.

Canoeing Lake Conroe on the last day

So that was our experience staying in an RV for an extended time. Overall we loved the freedom and outdoors but we decided long term we can't live in an RV due to the wobbliness and feeling that we are in a vehicle. But thanks to all who helped make Caiqian's birthday special with gifts and celebratory calls :)

Big Anniversary, Tiny House

For our 5 year anniversary, Caiqian and I snuck off to Austin to try out tiny house living. Since we were still practicing COVID-19 safety measures, we were careful to wear our masks outside and were pleased to learn that we were the first folks to rent our AirBnB since the pandemic began.

In the spirit of tiny houses, this will be a tiny post! We had a wonderful time but didn't even realize until we were back that we took very few pictures. I did enjoy this 5 year anniversary couples selfie snapped at the Texas Farmer's Market at Mueller Lake Park.

Pandemic Portrait in Mueller Lake Park

Caiqian celebrated our anniversary in classic style, by eating out lots. But this time we did it without sitting at any restaurant, instead doing copious amounts of curbside pickup and eating in the car.

Can take our masks off to eat in the car!

For our Anniversary, in addition to the farmers market, we ate at Loro (Asian smokehouse fusion from Tyson Cole of Uchi fame and Aaron Franklin from Franklin's BBQ), Soto (sushi), and Lick (a nice ice cream place).

But my favorite place that we ate at was not a four letter restaurant, but a five letter one! While browing for unique foods I made a surprise discovery - UZeat, which featured Uzbekistan Cuisine.

Lamb Manti from UZeat

Caiqian really enjoyed the manti, I also enjoyed their savory meat crepe. But the menu item that pulled me in was the mysteriously named "sweet salami" on their dessert menu. Turns out it's a fun chocolate, walnut, and vanilla cookie dessert which tasted wonderful (we've tried to recreate it back in Houston since).

"Sweet Salami" from UZeat

We had a wonderful anniversary, being outside, seeing Matt, and playing Final Fantasy VII on the Nintendo Switch. But the real attraction this trip was living in a tiny house for the first time.

"The Cozy Tiny"

We stayed two nights in the tiny house, and to my surprise we found it surprisingly fun. This was a "dip your toes in the water" type experience, but based on our stay tiny house living could still be in our future.

Tiny Facilities

If there was any one feature Caiqian and I fell in love with, it was the loft bed. There's something magical about waking up in the high loft, surrounded by white walls and natural lighting.

The best part - sleeping and Kindle reading in a loft bed!

 For documentation purposes, Caiqian and I wanted to write down our lessons for this unique living experience.

Tiny House Lessons

• We like sleeping in a sleeping loft!
• We won't like ladders for sleeping loft, hard to carry things. Storage stairs are much cooler!
• One AC unit can cool the entire tiny house really well
• A combo washer/drier works just fine, and might even be preferable since you can walk away without leaving your clothes wet. Expect more frequent smaller loads though.
• Caiqian still wants an oven
• Prefer to have outdoor space to use as well
• Would need table area indoors for work or board games
• We'd want a bigger tiny house (maybe 24-34 feet long, enough to have another loft on the other side)
• Need to learn how to hook up electricity, water, internet, sewage, etc.
• Tiny houses need to be smart with the space, otherwise it's just a room
• Would want to have an entertainment/computer/TV area (pivot TV?)
• Less space to clean and no space for clutter means we might finally be clean!

Well that's it for this post. Who knows when we'll travel next given the pandemic. Thanks for reading.