A Very HOT Day In Downtown Houston Texas -Roadside Oddities / Big President Heads & Walking The City
Houston Texas Summer 2024
Transcript
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today's adventure begins as a recording
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of this Wednesday July 31st the last day
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of July
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2024
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I have arrived in
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downtown
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Houston
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Texas City Skylight off in the distance
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a parking lot for whatever reason does
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not have anyone parked in it not sure
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why I'm going to flip this around
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welcome
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every one Adam
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the Yoo here got a decent night sleep
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which was
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enjoyable and now I'm ready to head in
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to downtown Houston Texas no real Rhyme
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or Reason or game plan today I'm just
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going to wing it going to go where the
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wind blows but I'm going to stay in the
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proximity of the skyline the
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skyscrapers the w iness the weirdness
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and hopefully the unusual that I find
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right over there I'm inviting you to
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join me it's good to be here even though
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it's hot very very warm join
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me shall
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Houston woo can you even see that the
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Sun is bright 92°
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for the series of days that I'm here I
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opted out of not renting a car just
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staying centralized to downtown don't
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have to deal with any hustle and bustle
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traffic or anything like that unless I
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hop it an Uber something of that
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nature do like that Skyline right here
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on the corner of
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trying to stay in the shade as much as
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possible take a look at this this old
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factory that's seen better days got some
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of the products they used to have in
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here grain
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salt sugar things like that and over
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here it says you name it they got
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it or they used to this wholesale
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place got Dole L Troy bordon
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Hinds old factory on all in disrepair
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now all right I take that back in fact
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it is open gates are open and there's
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workers in there so I was I stand
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corrected that Factory's open look this
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lawyer here has some interesting artwork
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out front front of their
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place take a look at the mailbox that's
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a mailbox I think that's a mailbox right
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guy by the name of Tim
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hootman who evidently there his mascot
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is an
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here interesting artwork as
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well a welding shop across the road
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right
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there kind of looks like a painted
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Rubik's Cube here and then this big head
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with its mouth shut with an X over its
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mouth
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there pretty
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interesting not not your your textbook
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typical lawyer
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facility you see how far I've walked
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from the skyline over there I'm going
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the other way across the freeway I'm
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going to head downtown though oh you
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know the Brothers Taco House has
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definitely used the
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skyline I would hope and some
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promotional material because they have a
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great framed up angle here of the
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skyline and their Taco Shop look at that
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whoa look at this the Fab 4 right here
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Skyline in the distance and you got the
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The Beatles right here massive
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sculptures of The Beatles here's Ringo
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and his drum kit right here and off to
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the side is this massive we love Houston
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SES it looks like it's been here for
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quite a while again with the skyline off
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in the distance behind it and the
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Beatles over there on that end yeah
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pretty neat looking though so if you
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kind of peek through here I'll kind of
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zoom in on The Beetles over there and
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there you have them they're probably
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about what 25 ft tall the three of
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course Ringoes a little shorter cuz he's
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behind the drum kit these are known as
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the East blocks you can kind of there we
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go east blocks blocks
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East I'm going to cross back over the
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freeway now heading into
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downtown weed eating over there oh look
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at these be
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cones nice piece of artwork here too at
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first I thought that was Ringo with the
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chains around his neck there but I don't
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believe it is cuz there's another person
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with the cowboy hat
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here evidently during event you could
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park here for $5 but beware there is an
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impostor attendant around there is an
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impostor attendant with three really
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large
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fingers there is an
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impostor
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pendant see the spaceman over there
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dancing wonder if that's the impostor
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attendant oh nice yeah out of the
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elements that sun scorching out there
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scorching
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Sun definitely a little bit different
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weather patterns
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heatwise and how it was what I just came
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from in SoCal so SoCal was nice no
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humidity no heat this is very hot not a
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lot of humidity here though which is
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nice Florida's humid not as humid here
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in Houston but scorchingly
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hot this is interesting these are like
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seesaws or Teeter totters whatever
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prefer to call them right here in
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downtown I need to find some coffee at
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some point too a local coffee place
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would be nice city of Houston
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that's the sewer down there it's
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probably where the chuds live chuds are
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more of a New York thing though they may
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have chuds here in Houston though okay
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I've seen these before I believe San
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Francisco has something like this that
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might have been the only other place
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I've seen
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one basically you can
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talk in there and you can whisper in
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there and you can
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hear right in
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here someone has scratched some stuff
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all on the wall
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hello kind of
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echoey now obviously I'm walking around
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here by myself so can't really show
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exactly how it works but if someone was
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standing over there Whispering or
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telling Secrets I would be able to hear
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what they're saying at very low volume
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okay here's what I'm going to do I'm
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going to leave the camera right here I'm
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going to leave the camera right here and
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then I'm going to
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talk I'm going to run down there oh
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let's do this
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all right I'm talking at a
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normal lower my voice talking got a
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noring I don't know if that worked also
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this is a little different look at the
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electrical units over
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here that's something you usually see in
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small towns and on the outskirts you
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don't really see like a
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exposed little power conductor and like
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that right in the amongst the city
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skyline if if so it's usually disguise a
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little better than that right on the
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corner of Crawford there don't even
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think about it do not even consider
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bringing a scooter down here there's an
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HPD officer on duty per city ordinances
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you will be ticketed if you have a
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scooter so beware of fake parking
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attendance and no scooters what if the
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fake parking attendant is on a scooter
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will he be double ticketed I I got to
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know
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staying in the
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shade a lot of trees down here which is
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nice oh this has my name all over it
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well it hasn't my name all over it but I
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know how to spell my name I know how to
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read remember how easy it was to learn
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your ABCs also there's an official tour
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going by right there you can thank the
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Phoenician spaceship earth taught me
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that and they have coffee so I'm going
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to get some coffee and not going to be
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able to thank the Phoenicians for the
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caffeine it was a grocery store more of
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a grocery store than it was like a walk
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up thing and they were doing some
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construction so you had to go through a
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restaurant to get there it was like a
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whole thing so no go on the Phoenician
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coffee it wasn't just like your
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traditional walk up and get
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a get a coffee so get a coffee elsewhere
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I'll than the Phoenicians and another
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time well I mean I think them every day
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because I remember how learn easy it was
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to learn my ABCs artwork up here says
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why she's saying why do we fear what we
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don't understand look like there's some
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books being burned there says this story
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no longer
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available side of the wall
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there the
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Metro there
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goes the Metro r
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building this is the Houston Public
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Library right here the Julia Idis
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building out in the sun probably a
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little
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toasty at the
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moment got some empty seats for anyone
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that wants to sit and probably burn
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their
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heiney right there those are probably
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not the cool let me just
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warm Barbara Bush
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here first lady
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with the presidential dog can't recall
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the name of the
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dog nothing in the book there's nothing
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written
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out dedicated to the loving memory of
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their Visionary the first lady of
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literacy Barbara Bush from the ladies of
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literacy Guild that is really
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nice hey the flags are at half Mass
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now only halfway
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up nice little breeze
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which is nice cuz it is little toasty
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but the breeze helps a little
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bit I was waiting to get an impressive
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driving shot didn't work
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out had it all planned thought the Metro
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was going to come by again but it didn't
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it stopped let people
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off it should be obvious but in case
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it's not oh look at
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that top of that building has some very
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spiky objects look at
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that
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wow also an insect of some sort or a
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bird making some interesting noises up
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there but again it should be obvious
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this is going to be Slippery When Wet
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because this is a fountain full of water
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but they do have the Slippery When Wet
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signage right
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there and this appears to be the same
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artist that did the beetle sculptures at
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least that's my assumption you have have
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a person over here St uh playing a
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musical instrument from an orchestra of
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some sort almost look like a standup
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base but believe it's a violin you
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wouldn't play a stand up base with a
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violin mechanism going across there the
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GU got the sweet stash going on there
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too this is interesting corner of
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Louisiana also Smith Street and Franklin
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Franklin Bridge Franklin Street Bridge
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right here now you can go down a little
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bit lower you can see where they carved
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out the of the rock work there to make a
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walking bike trail even though no one's
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walking or biking down there you got the
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river underneath Franklin Street
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according to the
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interwebs this used to be a crypt down
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here and you can kind of see where the
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Crypt used to be it is now open many
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years ago the family that was in here
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was moved they were buried here back in
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the 1850s they're now over at Glennwood
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property of Glennwood
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Cemetery that's pretty fascinating it's
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just kind of wedged down in there and
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you can see where when they ended up
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building when they moving them they
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ended up taking them out of the cryp
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there just wedged in
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there very interesting see if I can get
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a little bit better angle over here
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probably not that might be the
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closest family's name was the delli
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family I don't know if I'm pronouncing
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that right but yeah you can't really see
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it from over here you got to get you got
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to get right up on it like this and then
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kind of moderately moderately zoom in on
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where it was right down there isn't that
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fascinating you can see it's like
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imagine your final resting place being
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under this bridge and then you're moved
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over to the regular
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Cemetery yeah right here next to this
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it's like maybe a former bank or
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something Platinum Bank Platinum Parking
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I am now going to walk across the way to
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the
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post see what that is across the way
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it's called the post downtown
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Houston says it right there across the
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emblem the river is very muddy very
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muddy Dirty River here look at that it
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looks like the chocolate River from
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Willy Wonka but it's not it's not made
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of chocolate Augustus glof would not
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want to be consuming
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any of
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that I hear a
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train all right it looks like it's a
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music hall I got some concerts coming
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up Mega Death hello me it's me again oh
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here we go Jackson's Brew right here in
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the the Z Atrium has specialty coffee
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just a few feet away look at this oh
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it's not I would have never guessed this
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was all in here and the AC is kicking I
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love it yeah look like a repurposed old
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building possibly the
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newspaper the Post newspaper and now
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they have a whole area of food and all
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kind of stuff in here
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restaurants shops yeah this is pretty
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dang cool check out all the neon it's
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all illuminated through here there's a
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Boba place there's lots of neon all
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scattered through here I love it this is
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kind of reminds me that downtown LA next
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to Angel's flight that has all the
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restaurants yeah it is a real real
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beehive of commercial activity when it
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comes to Neon signage through here
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there's Houston skateboards right there
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there's Mr sandwich got some dim Su
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there also have rolling
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fatties right there hot
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dogs all kind of stuff all right up on
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the roof now ended up getting some of
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that Jackson's Brew Coffee it was okay
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okay wasn't the best coffee wasn't the
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worst coffee but look at
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this what a
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Skyline of Fe on the
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roof so up here I'm noticing this says
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do not climb on the landscape beds but
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I'm just noticing right over here the
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little little cartoonish character is
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really putting out the vibe there
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sitting on the
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landscape
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beds you don't want to do that I don't
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want to Hoist the leg up there here's
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another sculpture here someone
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reading as well looks like Barbara
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Jordan right down here US
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Representative 18th congressional
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district of
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Texas so this book does have riding on
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it unlike the other one they didn't have
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anything inscribed on
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it all right I kind of a familiar place
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even though these were originally
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located somewhere else in the US if I
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remember correct years ago probably over
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a decade ago I remember these
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presidential heads used to be part of
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like an abandoned desolate theme park of
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some sort or a Park area and to be
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honest it's been so long I don't even
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recall where that was but now they're
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here in Houston Houston looks like you
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got a Abe head right
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there you got a George Bush head right
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here at Charlie Chaplain
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there he got another version of the
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concert violin there and then you got
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Reagan right
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here President
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Reagan some of them don't even have
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heads on
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check out this sidewalk here that's not
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used for anything anymore
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all right out of downtown now I never
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know where the day is going to lead but
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now I made it over to a place called the
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magic cauldron magic spelled m a i c k
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live in the
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present the magic magic cauldron spelled
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a little bit differently the front of it
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over
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here to be there's a A Little Gnome or
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some kind of a creature here with a
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watering pale you got a dragon right
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down
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cauldron I guess they're open maybe they
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not open this right here is like a
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shrunk wrapped with 20% off this shrunk
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shrunk wrapped skeleton right here they
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have a little bookstore as well like
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these little books what what is inside
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these is like notepads
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or what those are I really like the I
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got the little lock on them right there
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that one's got like a little skull of
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cross bones little Satchel like
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something like Indie would
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wear we got a little skulls there and
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this is little broomstick $130 for this
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broomstick but it's a double sided
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broomstick for
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$130 look at this know if I've ever seen
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a
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double a double broom like that and got
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some little cauldrons these are kind of
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nice little paper weights you'd have for
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like a shelf you could get like yourself
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a little miniature cauldron here sandal
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wood smudge cauldron for $9 or a bigger
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cauldron for 29 obviously I don't think
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I'm going to buy anything because I
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don't want to be taking this back on an
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airplane but yeah these are kind of kind
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of neat they be look good on a good on a
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shelf you really create quite the uh the
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potion with some of the stuff you got
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honeysuckle wh Hound horny goatweed
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Irish moss you have jobs te ear juniper
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berries winter remedy tea joint support
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tea jasmine tea Oregon Sage St John's
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Sandalwood UA
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Ursa yeah this is all stuff you can
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create a create a spell of some sort
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white willow witch
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hazel Rosary rose petals rose hips rose
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red clover peppermint and this is not
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Chicago Chicago Chicago has a
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beanes well it's called The Bean but
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they have one here it's similar to The
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Bean except it's not in
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Chicago it's right here the Montrose dis
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District look at this
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thing it's called the cloud column made
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of stainless
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steel looks like it's the same uh same
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stuff made out of the Bean or the bean
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is made out
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of
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wow it's a lot smaller than the
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bean that Sun is
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bright the sun in the cloud column
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there pretty cool looking though some
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artwork that would be the outside of the
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house from
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Beetlejuice oh yeah look at all this
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artwork over
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here wow a lot of sculptures through
27:43
here a lot of artwork through
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here also on the other side
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of the cloud column they call it so that
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we got an art museum there it's very
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interesting how the roof of the kind of
28:03
angled down has like little has grass or
28:07
flowers on
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it Cloud C all right this Fountain here
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is right in the
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middle of a
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roadway that goes around
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it called the meum fountain kind of
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reminds be the fountain in
28:24
Chicago right on the Lake Shore in
28:26
Chicago it's been seen in lots of
28:28
production very windy right here too so
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it might be an issue with the
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sound two fountains actually Three
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Fountains big Fountain and then three
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separate fountains in the
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middle traffic circle that's the word I
28:40
was looking
28:47
for this tree is interesting it looks
28:47
like it's been struck by lightning and
28:48
split down the middle except when you
28:51
split it down the middle you'll notice
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so you got the regular bark there
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then you go farther up and you notice
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it's laced with gold it's a golden
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tree see look at that the sun glistening
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off the gold inside the
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tree maybe the most valuable tree
29:14
ever never seen a gold tree
29:18
before
29:20
see you got the regular
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bark you go up and you got the gold
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all right that's going to do it for
29:58
today from Houston