Friday, August 31, 2007
Why Didn't I Take a Picture?
This morning at about 11am I left Scott upstairs perusing some books in his room and went downstairs. After quite awhile I realized it was quiet, too quiet. I asked Claire if she knew what Scott was up to so she ran upstairs to "check on him." She came back down and whispered something inaudible to me. I asked her what and got very close. I realized she was telling me that there were wipes all over Scott's room. I sprung into action and ran upstairs, calling a reminder to Scott that we're not supposed to play with the baby wipes. When I opened the door to his room, I found about 40 wipes strewn all over the floor, and Scott fast asleep in the corner on the floor. So, I did what any sensible parent would do. I wadded and shoved all the wipes back into the container (hey, wipes do cost money and a little carpet doesn't hurt considering their end use) and then shut the door behind me and let Scott sleep. Claire and I had a very relaxing lunch but now I'm paying the price because Scott just woke up. I'm realizing that was probably Scott's one nap for the day, so I have a very long afternoon stretching out before me...
San Antonio III
Day 3: We spent the day walking around and enjoying the San Antonio Riverwalk. We could walk down some steps just outside our hotel, and then never resurface if we felt like it!
This is a view of part of the Riverwalk that goes into the mall. We shopped there and watched The Bourne Ultimatum. We really enjoyed it, but we feel like it didn't live up to it's potential. Nonetheless, great movie. (I'm not sure why my evaluation of the movie is a caption for this photo, but I guess we'll blame it on the mallness of it all.)
This is a railing from along the Riverwalk. I just thought it was cool.
There was a little cottage garden there too that we walked through. Lots of butterflies.
Obviously interspersed with all this was much gluttonous eating. Would it be vacation if we hadn't eaten lots of good food? I even took the liberty of doing ridiculous things like getting dessert even though I was already full and ordering entire meals even though I knew I would only eat 1/2 and I had no way to take the rest home in a doggy bag!
The crowning glory of it all was the last night when we went on a dinner river cruise. They served us appetizers (exquisite guacamole) and beverages while they took our orders (we technically only had 2 entree choices, very wedding-esque, but it was okay because the food was delicious). Then they took us on a short cruise while we ate our salads. Then we returned to "dock" at the restaurant for our entrees. Then while we ate we went on a long cruise which included commentary by a tour guide who drove the boat. They even took us past a dance performance where the river is between the stage and the audience. We finished off with dessert while we were docked, which was doubly good. No really, doubly good because I got mine and most of M's since he doesn't eat sugary foods. We got to sit on the end of the boat, so it felt sorta secluded, which made up for the fact that I'm totally hard of hearing and couldn't understand most of what the tour guide said. I didn't care. It was so romantic and so fun and so tasty. Here you can see the boat all ready for departure:
Then we went home on Saturday. In short (too late), the whole trip was great. And the San Antonio Riverwalk may be the most romantic place I've ever been (granted I've never been to Europe...) M and I enjoyed our trip so much. Yay for blowing money on a cool trip because we've been married for five years and we were too poor and too in love to bother back on our honeymoon. I think it was a great plan. Back then, we didn't have kids we needed to escape just to be able to speak three words to each other uninterrupted...
This is a view of part of the Riverwalk that goes into the mall. We shopped there and watched The Bourne Ultimatum. We really enjoyed it, but we feel like it didn't live up to it's potential. Nonetheless, great movie. (I'm not sure why my evaluation of the movie is a caption for this photo, but I guess we'll blame it on the mallness of it all.)
This is a railing from along the Riverwalk. I just thought it was cool.We also went over the Hemisfair Park where they held the 1968 World's Fair. There were some really cool fountains:
There was a little cottage garden there too that we walked through. Lots of butterflies.Obviously interspersed with all this was much gluttonous eating. Would it be vacation if we hadn't eaten lots of good food? I even took the liberty of doing ridiculous things like getting dessert even though I was already full and ordering entire meals even though I knew I would only eat 1/2 and I had no way to take the rest home in a doggy bag!
The crowning glory of it all was the last night when we went on a dinner river cruise. They served us appetizers (exquisite guacamole) and beverages while they took our orders (we technically only had 2 entree choices, very wedding-esque, but it was okay because the food was delicious). Then they took us on a short cruise while we ate our salads. Then we returned to "dock" at the restaurant for our entrees. Then while we ate we went on a long cruise which included commentary by a tour guide who drove the boat. They even took us past a dance performance where the river is between the stage and the audience. We finished off with dessert while we were docked, which was doubly good. No really, doubly good because I got mine and most of M's since he doesn't eat sugary foods. We got to sit on the end of the boat, so it felt sorta secluded, which made up for the fact that I'm totally hard of hearing and couldn't understand most of what the tour guide said. I didn't care. It was so romantic and so fun and so tasty. Here you can see the boat all ready for departure:
Thursday, August 30, 2007
San Antonio II
Day 2: We went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas - lots o' roller coasters and no one tagging along who is too short to ride them! Fanta-bulous!!!
But I have two tips for y'all:
Tip #1: Don't assume that a massive 200 acre amusement park with roller coasters 16 stories (168 ft) tall will be easy to find. You may know which exit you're supposed to get off the freeway, like we did, but if you expect signage to take over from there, think again. No sign from the freeway, no sign from the freeway exit, just one little tiny almost invisible sign about 5 ft from the intersection telling you where to turn. If you're coming from the other side of the freeway (like we were at first), good luck! We had the pleasure of missing the turn because we were in total disbelief that it wasn't more obvious and therefore felt insecure making the turn. We kept going hoping to see a sign and when it never presented itself, we stopped in for beverages at a grocery store where I casually asked for directions as though I was merely curious about how close Six Flags was (you'd think I was a man or something I was so embarrassed to ask directions, but it was pretty humiliating to not be able to find something that big). My in-laws would be proud, they always say no date is complete without a trip to the grocery store and we managed TWO over the course of our trip!!! But anyway, the delay was okay because it was pouring rain until we got out of the grocery store.
Tip #2: Apparently when you go to at least this Six Flags on a Thursday in late August, NO ONE is there. Maybe it was the Thursday part, or maybe the fact that school had almost started up again, or maybe it was the fact that it rained that morning at their opening time, but it was GREAT! We got there an hour after they opened and the weather had changed to sunny but not quite the usual "surface of the sun" hot I expect from Texas in August. We went on all the roller coasters, the bumper cars, and the log and white water raft rides and ate a leisurely lunch in 4 hours!!! We even neglected to "game plan" properly at the beginning, so we back tracked several times, and still only 4 hours! I think the only times we had to wait were when we wanted to wait an extra round or two to get on the front seats, and then maybe 20 minutes for their newest coaster that just opened this year. Actually, we may have waited something like 10 minutes to get on the white water raft ride because we decided to go on it at the hottest part of the day. So, we played free Wii inside for a little while (we were Wii virgins) then went on our 2 favorite roller coasters a 2nd time and rounded out the day to 5 1/2 hours total.
Now before I praise these two coasters we deemed worthy of a repeat, remember that I am only comparing them to other rides at this particular park. I must begin any discussion of thrill rides with the statement that for me will probably always (or at least until there is a significant advancement in roller coaster technology) precede any discussion of this type. These 2 coasters can really only be honorable mentions at best because the greatest roller coaster EVER is X at Six Flags Magic Mountain in southern California. Nothing will ever compare to that. M and I waited in line 4.5 hours to ride it the first season it opened back when we were dating and it was worth every second!!! I wish I had DVR for my brain on that one :) And after that, there are a myriad of awesomer (that's a word, right?) rides also at that and other theme parks. But for the purposes of this discussion on M & G's Fiesta Texas experience, Superman Krypton Coaster and Tony Hawk's Big Spin win the prize. I don't know what the prize is, but they win it.
Superman for sheer can't-keep-my-eyes-open-because-the-wind-
blows-my-eyelashes-shut speed and sweeping expanses of track. Big Spin for laugh-out-loud fun. Somehow this one actually did capture the sensation of boarding (at least based on my snowboarding days -- I never was much of a skater back in high school because my dad didn't approve *cough*HYPOCRITE* cough*cough* and I was way too obsessed with school work to ever make any real progress breaking my bones and getting asphalt face). After extensive examination of other riders, we determined that the little 4 person cars spun around a whole lot more if they were unbalanced (with say three people or say a fat lady and three small kids) but both times we ended up riding with 2 teenage boys to round out our party of four. Oh well, even if our relatively comparable weights reduced our spinning, we still had lots of fun.
So anyway, that was our day. But sorry, no pics for you...
But I have two tips for y'all:
Tip #1: Don't assume that a massive 200 acre amusement park with roller coasters 16 stories (168 ft) tall will be easy to find. You may know which exit you're supposed to get off the freeway, like we did, but if you expect signage to take over from there, think again. No sign from the freeway, no sign from the freeway exit, just one little tiny almost invisible sign about 5 ft from the intersection telling you where to turn. If you're coming from the other side of the freeway (like we were at first), good luck! We had the pleasure of missing the turn because we were in total disbelief that it wasn't more obvious and therefore felt insecure making the turn. We kept going hoping to see a sign and when it never presented itself, we stopped in for beverages at a grocery store where I casually asked for directions as though I was merely curious about how close Six Flags was (you'd think I was a man or something I was so embarrassed to ask directions, but it was pretty humiliating to not be able to find something that big). My in-laws would be proud, they always say no date is complete without a trip to the grocery store and we managed TWO over the course of our trip!!! But anyway, the delay was okay because it was pouring rain until we got out of the grocery store.
Tip #2: Apparently when you go to at least this Six Flags on a Thursday in late August, NO ONE is there. Maybe it was the Thursday part, or maybe the fact that school had almost started up again, or maybe it was the fact that it rained that morning at their opening time, but it was GREAT! We got there an hour after they opened and the weather had changed to sunny but not quite the usual "surface of the sun" hot I expect from Texas in August. We went on all the roller coasters, the bumper cars, and the log and white water raft rides and ate a leisurely lunch in 4 hours!!! We even neglected to "game plan" properly at the beginning, so we back tracked several times, and still only 4 hours! I think the only times we had to wait were when we wanted to wait an extra round or two to get on the front seats, and then maybe 20 minutes for their newest coaster that just opened this year. Actually, we may have waited something like 10 minutes to get on the white water raft ride because we decided to go on it at the hottest part of the day. So, we played free Wii inside for a little while (we were Wii virgins) then went on our 2 favorite roller coasters a 2nd time and rounded out the day to 5 1/2 hours total.
Now before I praise these two coasters we deemed worthy of a repeat, remember that I am only comparing them to other rides at this particular park. I must begin any discussion of thrill rides with the statement that for me will probably always (or at least until there is a significant advancement in roller coaster technology) precede any discussion of this type. These 2 coasters can really only be honorable mentions at best because the greatest roller coaster EVER is X at Six Flags Magic Mountain in southern California. Nothing will ever compare to that. M and I waited in line 4.5 hours to ride it the first season it opened back when we were dating and it was worth every second!!! I wish I had DVR for my brain on that one :) And after that, there are a myriad of awesomer (that's a word, right?) rides also at that and other theme parks. But for the purposes of this discussion on M & G's Fiesta Texas experience, Superman Krypton Coaster and Tony Hawk's Big Spin win the prize. I don't know what the prize is, but they win it.
Superman for sheer can't-keep-my-eyes-open-because-the-wind-
blows-my-eyelashes-shut speed and sweeping expanses of track. Big Spin for laugh-out-loud fun. Somehow this one actually did capture the sensation of boarding (at least based on my snowboarding days -- I never was much of a skater back in high school because my dad didn't approve *cough*HYPOCRITE* cough*cough* and I was way too obsessed with school work to ever make any real progress breaking my bones and getting asphalt face). After extensive examination of other riders, we determined that the little 4 person cars spun around a whole lot more if they were unbalanced (with say three people or say a fat lady and three small kids) but both times we ended up riding with 2 teenage boys to round out our party of four. Oh well, even if our relatively comparable weights reduced our spinning, we still had lots of fun.
So anyway, that was our day. But sorry, no pics for you...
To be continued...
Monday, August 27, 2007
Our Trip to San Antonio
Day 1: We left in the late morning and stopped for BBQ at The Salt Lick. Such a quaint old place that was the epitome of a relaxed atmosphere. Great way to set the tone for the trip and some really good BBQ. In fact, best mustard-based BBQ I've ever had. Here are a couple photos of the restaurant and it's environs.
We sat out on the screened in porch. The tables were fabulous. They made me feel like you could read in their worn surface about all the good meals they'd served.
Out back where we parked there was old ranch equipment with this flowering vine growing on it.
This is a fountain on the grounds of the museum.
On the building across from our hotel window was this door. The building was an old theater at the bottom. I zoomed in on the door because I thought it was SO awesome. I guess I'm kinda weird.
To be continued...
We sat out on the screened in porch. The tables were fabulous. They made me feel like you could read in their worn surface about all the good meals they'd served.
Out back where we parked there was old ranch equipment with this flowering vine growing on it.We drove the rest of the way to San Antonio and stopped at the McNay art museum. Modern art museum that focuses primarily on 19th and 20th century European and American art. That's what I'm talkin' about! Really, a fairly impressive collection considering.
This is a fountain on the grounds of the museum.We checked into our hotel in downtown. Swanky. Only adjective that seems to do it justice. Not in the gilded chandeliers way, but more in the "sleeping in a night club" sort of way. Our room was on the 11th floor.
This was the fountain in the hotel lobby. It was so dark in there I couldn't get a very decent photo.
View out our hotel window.
View down to the street out our hotel window.
This was the fountain in the hotel lobby. It was so dark in there I couldn't get a very decent photo.
View out our hotel window.
View down to the street out our hotel window.
On the building across from our hotel window was this door. The building was an old theater at the bottom. I zoomed in on the door because I thought it was SO awesome. I guess I'm kinda weird.To be continued...
Blissful Suburbia
I'm in such a great mood! (It's amazing what a little vacation can do.) I feel like I've had a great start to the week. I love that clean slate feeling of Monday. M is uber busy at work, so while he'll spend the next couple weeks working a lot, I'm viewing it as an "opportunity." I'm going to finally start waking up when I ought to be. While M gets ready to get into work earlier, I'll work out. I'll get tons done - I just know it!
So far so good. This morning was perfection. Well, I suppose there's room for improvement, but it was pretty good. I didn't get up quite as early as I wanted to, but I did go for a run. I can't even remember the last time I ran not on a treadmill. I headed out on the hike and bike trail in my neighborhood. I've lived here for a whole month and this was the first time I went on it, crazy eh? It's beautiful. I jogged along and for a change, I actually ENJOYED my run. Is that legal?!?!? As a rule, I hate jogging. It always seems like such a contrived way to exercise. But it was okay today. Today I got to watch the sunrise as I crunched along the path. Today is the first day of school in our area so I got to watch moms and dads walk with their little kids bedecked in disproportionately large backpacks and overly-white tennis shoes. Somehow, it all worked together. I enjoyed the sun, instead of cursing it, as I usually do when it reaches its zenith, as the source of all my sweaty misery. My smile broadened with each picturesque family walking to school. And then I had the kids ready for their day BEFORE 10am!!! We leisurely loaded into our minivan and took a quick jaunt over to the store to buy milk. How sickeningly suburbia is all that!?!?!? I couldn't help but feel like my life is darn near perfect.
Soon I'll bore you all to death with all the details of our anniversary trip...
So far so good. This morning was perfection. Well, I suppose there's room for improvement, but it was pretty good. I didn't get up quite as early as I wanted to, but I did go for a run. I can't even remember the last time I ran not on a treadmill. I headed out on the hike and bike trail in my neighborhood. I've lived here for a whole month and this was the first time I went on it, crazy eh? It's beautiful. I jogged along and for a change, I actually ENJOYED my run. Is that legal?!?!? As a rule, I hate jogging. It always seems like such a contrived way to exercise. But it was okay today. Today I got to watch the sunrise as I crunched along the path. Today is the first day of school in our area so I got to watch moms and dads walk with their little kids bedecked in disproportionately large backpacks and overly-white tennis shoes. Somehow, it all worked together. I enjoyed the sun, instead of cursing it, as I usually do when it reaches its zenith, as the source of all my sweaty misery. My smile broadened with each picturesque family walking to school. And then I had the kids ready for their day BEFORE 10am!!! We leisurely loaded into our minivan and took a quick jaunt over to the store to buy milk. How sickeningly suburbia is all that!?!?!? I couldn't help but feel like my life is darn near perfect.
Soon I'll bore you all to death with all the details of our anniversary trip...
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