Day One in Texas – San Antonio

Our first day here in Texas was a bit disjointed. By the time India and I arrived in San Antonio Friday night around 7:00 p.m., got our bags, rental car and waited the additional hour for Amanda’s flight to arrive, drove into town and checked into our hotel, we were all pretty exhausted. We got room service and fell into bed.

Our sleep was disrupted by 3 loud drunks partying to loud music in the room directly next to us. Finally in desperation I called the front desk and they promptly sent somebody up to put an end to the partying. It didn’t completely stop, but it did get much quieter.

I awoke to housekeeping knocking on the door at what I felt certain must have been 7 a.m. but turned out to be 10 a.m. to an empty hotel room. I quickly showered, dressed & located Amanda and India, who were off on a brief walk in search of coffee and sniffing out the city. Apparently several weeks of excessive amounts of lack of sleep and incredible stress levels had caught up with me.

We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Yummmmm.

It was a beautiful day as we set off to go to the San Antonio Zoo, but by the time we actually arrived there the parking lots were so full and the entrance line was so long we decided to abandon that plan and come back again earlier the next day.

This is where things fell apart – just a little bit – but this is a pretty typical first day of a vacation for me and the kids.

First we went out in search of the Cavender’s Super Western World, or at least that’s what I thought we were in search of, as I had researched it before I left. It turned out to be a Shepler’s Western World, but hey, it was late when I was looking this stuff up. Unfortunately their boot selection wasn’t what I was hoping for, but India did manage to get some new western shirts for camp this summer and I got myself a new belt and India and I both got a new dress, which is, well, just really odd because we both don’t ever wear dresses. These were just too perfect for both of us, so we’re stepping out of our comfort zone on these.

We also discovered that San Antonio is one big city that is really spread out. There are highways and byways leading everywhere and you cannot even be having a conversation with your kids or you just might miss one little GPS direction and get shot off into some wrong direction. Trust me on this one. It happened many times on Saturday. Needless to say there’s not a lot of loud singing to country music going on in the car like there is at home (where I know where I’m going).

Next Amanda wanted to get some “fishing” shirts at the Bass Pro Shops – who would have thought ever that this Darien-raised-Lily Pulitzer-wearing girl of mine would ever be wearing T-shirts with fish on them or sporting attire of any kind, but I’m not complaining. This was like no other Bass Pro Shops I’ve ever been to – it was their “Outdoor World” and may have been bigger than the biggest Cabela’s I’ve ever been in. Unfortunately, by that point India had pretty much had her fill of wandering the highways of San Antonio in search of peculiar shopping items so Amanda and I had to cut our fun short. There was a shooting range in there that I wanted to try. Alas, another time.

We drove back to our hotel where we deposited India to relax and do whatever it is she does on her computer. Amanda and I went out for a walk along the Riverwalk and along the streets of San Antonio for a little while.

I’d planned ahead and made massage appointments for all 3 of us at a day spa. My back has been in excruciating pain for the past few weeks and Amanda gets terrible debilitating shoulder pain from stress. With finals just over I knew that she would be really appreciate this.

As we stepped out of the car in the (amazing) mall where this spa was located — again another terrifying journey on the highways and byways of San Antonio freeways — India quickly noticed that the grass was actually green and lush there. We haven’t seen lush green grass in a long time in Connecticut.

I tried to get something simple for India like a pedicure, but they don’t allow minors to have any treatments without a parent present, so she had to get a massage in the same room with me. She’s incredible ticklish, so I anticipated her giggling throughout the entire session, but I didn’t hear a peep from her and she loved it. Mine was delightful but also somewhat painful as he worked all of the knots our of my back, neck and shoulders. We left feeling a whole lot better than we did going into the place.

Our dinner was at a restaurant literally next-door to the hotel, which was convenient. The appetizers were delicious but the chicken enchiladas in Salsa Verde were pretty mediocre. But it was convenient and we’d had a long day, so were happy to be back in our hotel room within minutes of paying for our meal.

The last few days have been extremely busy. Our next day in San Antonio was much more productive. This morning we left early and drove to Austin for the afternoon and then continued on to Fredericksburg, Texas in the Hill Country. Tomorrow we will spend here in Fredericksburg until early afternoon and then head back to the Hotel Valencia in San Antonio again for our last night in town. Wednesday we’ll have part of the day to finish doing and seeing things we ran out of time to see or do in the first two days before heading back home to Connecticut on a late afternoon flights.

I’ll try to post more tomorrow night.