San Antonio Trip

As I had mentioned earlier, Amy had gone to San Antonio before me and I caught up on Tuesday.   While it was a super quick trip, we had a real nice time.  I worked all day Monday, came home and did some laundry, did  a little cleaning up around the house.  Oh yes, I also had to pack (good thing I’m a guy and don’t need that much stuff for a 60 hour trip) .  By the time I was done with these tasks it was around 1am, set the alarm for 5:30 and crashed out.  Woke up late when my dad, who gave me a ride to airport, rang the doorbell!  Jumped out of bed, got dressed, fed and medicated the cats, grabbed the bag and out the door I went.  Fortunately the entire rest of the trip was much more relaxing…

Slept most of the flight (best way to travel) and  Amy and her Mom picked me up.  After that we went to a really cool, super hole in the wall Mexican restaurant.  The place was packed with a wide mix of people, from business men to construction workers to families.  It was the kind of place where you have to ask for a menu, I think most people have been coming there for years and years.  Tacos seemed like the choice and the Puffy Tacos were awesome, a light airy tortilla with shredded beef and a spicy salsa. I added a little of the guacamole to it as well, made for a nice lunch.  Amy and her parents know of a bunch of these places in San Antonio, it makes for great eats whenever we go there!  We ate really well at quite a diverse selection of restaurants while we were there.

After that it was nap time, while sleeping on the plane makes the trip go faster the sleep is not that great.  Slept for over 2 hours, much longer than planned, to help get going again Amy, her dad and I took their dog for a nice stroll to get the blood flowing.  There is a nice green belt area being developed in San Antonio right now. Phil Hardberger park is an open space area with nice running/walking trails, it’s being developed at about 20% per year and they’ve got a nice thing going there.  We went on about a mile and a half walk, saw probably 20 deer and 20 or 30 people running.  When cities make the major commitments to open space projects that are needed to make them happen it’s great to see the public take advantage of them!

After that it was off to dinner. We went to what seemed to be another San Antonio staple, Josephine Street Cafe  , this place oozed Texas and was packed on a random Tuesday night.  The place has a tree growing in the middle of it and the floor is wavy because of the roots growing underneath.  While the steaks were not the best I’ve ever had the atmosphere combined with the “Austin Hoffbrau” Style Lemon butter each steak was topped with and the mashed potatoes with gravy made for a really enjoyable experience.  You can tell Amy’s parent really love San Antonio, after dinner they took us on a cool driving tour of the downtown area. We saw the riverwalk all lit up for the holiday’s, the hotel and theater we’d be at the next night and of course, The Alamo (they wouldn’t let me get out and look for my bike in the basement).

The next day we chilled out until it was time to check in to our hotel for the night, Hotel Valencia.  We really didn’t have enough time to fully appreciate this place, but it had really cool rooms and a neat vibe.   We went for a little stroll along the riverwalk, always a good time!  We cruised around for about 1/2 and hour and wandered to Crazy Sam’s for a drink, Amy had a Sangria Margarita that was super good!  The funny thing about this place was the servers out on the edge of their patio enticing people to step up to the bar and grab a drink. While we sat at the outdoor bar I noticed that their “grab a margarita to drink while you walk around the riverwalk” sales pitch worked quite well!

Back to the hotel to get ready for the show…

Took a shower, got dressed and headed to The Palm to meet Amy’s parents, Ashley (Amy’s best friend and Maid of Honor in our wedding) and her husband .  This place was also pretty cool, while it is a chain they do good work here.  The restaurant was started in Manhattan and the walls are covered with the caricatures of the many famous people that have dined in the different restaurants. We enjoyed a Woodford Reserve at the bar while we waited for everyone else to arrive, that 2 minute walk from our hotel was an easy commute. I had a great, rare filet and the creamed spinach was awesome.  They definitely have established a culture of service there, as the entire staff was excellent.  I finished things off with a little port, my favorite end to a nice meal!  It was a very nice experience, but their mark up on bottled wine was ridiculous.  I completely understand wanting to achieve a good  wine cost and want them to make money on it, but I am also familiar with the cost of many of the bottles on their list and it seemed excessive (Regular Caymus Cab was well over $200 and Flora Springs “Trilogy” was $139).  Overall very nice nice meal with the new in-laws and friends though!

After dinner it was off to the Majestic Theater for my first time seeing Les Miserables.  This theater is awesome, and the performance was unbelievable!  The pics to the left are of the sides of the theater, it is a really cool place!  Some of the special effects they used really added to the realism, my favorite was the way they projected the city streets and sewers on to the back wall and moved it  to give the appearance of them walking through the city.  The front row seats we had didn’t hurt at all either…

After the play we found an Irish bar on the riverwalk where I enjoyed a couple Guinness and then headed back to the room.  The next day we chilled out with Amy’s  family, visited with her grandfather for a while (he had a bunch of cool stories about  his many adventures), and then headed to the airport.  It was a really fun trip but it’s always nice to get back home!