Trip out West - San Antonio, TX


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Date and Location Description

Day 1; Friday, June 29th
Flaying from Albany, NY to San Antonio, TX

We arrived at the Albany Airport at around 4:00am to catch our 6:10am flight to Newark, NJ where we got a connection to Austin Texas.

The only thing of note was that our seat-mate from Newark to Austin was an Evangelical Baptist minister.  This made for an interesting 5 – 6 hour flight!

We were met at the Austin Airport by Matt Knobel (the “k” is pronounced) – one of Rick’s roommates from college – along with his wife, Barb and their three year old son, James.  As Rick and I were coming down the escalator to baggage claim, I saw the trio on a bench, waiting for us.  Though I’d never seen any of them before, I just knew it was them.  I restrained myself from waving just in case it wasn’t our welcoming party, but by the time we got off the escalators I just walked right up to them. 

Of course Rick and Matt knew each other, so it was quick and easy to determine whether or not it was indeed them.

James was very excited by these new guests and was eager to learn our names.  He was also fascinated by my cowboy hat and the Hanuman pendant I always wear.  I showed him both – which thrilled him to no end.

After collecting our bags, we made the hour and a half drive to their home in San Antonio.  This actually wasn’t that bad.  There was plenty to talk about with everyone getting know each other and Rick and Matt catching up since they’d seen each other last.

Texas wasn’t quite what I had imagined – sure it was hot (which made my day, I loves dry heat!), but it was muggy and green too – very weird.  Of course keep in mind this was right when they’d gotten all that rain and had serious flooding further north in the state.

San Antonio is quite the bustling “little town”.  There’s highways and houses springing up everywhere!

Matt and Barb live in a housing community that’s grown by leaps and bounds since they moved in three years ago.

We got to meet their little Jack Russell Terrier and hung out for a couple hours to settle in and rest.

Matt and Barb are avid table-top RPG’ers and invited us to go to a D&D game they were going to that evening.  I was whipped (having been up 3:15 eastern daylight time and this was one time zone back), but it sounded like fun so we went.

Oddly enough I’ve managed to go my whole life without ever playing a table-top role-playing game.  It was a fun experience, but when we got in at around 10:00 that night (11:00-ish our time), I was ready for bed!
Day 2; Saturday, June 30th
Hanging out with Matt and Barb in San Antonio, TX
This was a blessedly quieter day.  Matt and Barb showed us around the area – including the local fireworks stands (fireworks are legal in the great state of Texas).  We purchased the groceries we’d be traveling with and – more-or-less – just kicked back and took it easy.

Day 3; Sunday, July 1st
The Alamo & River Walk in Downtown San Antonio, TX

Sunday was our big site-seeing day of downtown San Antonio.  We went to the Alamo – pretty cool. We also checked out the River Walk – something I hadn’t heard of before this trip, but is apparently a historical thing or – at the very least – something of local interest.  A series of interconnecting canals winding and weaving around the city.  We actually didn’t walk the River Walk, we rode in a boat – which was great fun until the skies opened up and it rained buckets upon us!  Still, it made for a memorable experience.

After we dried off a little bit we headed back to the fireworks warehouse and made our explosive purchases for the evening’s entertainment.  It was close to the 4th of July after all and you’ve gotta have fireworks for Independence Day!  We shot them all off that night.  Poor James and the dog didn’t like them all that much but me and Rick were enthralled – reliving fond childhood memories of running around on the lawn with sparklers in hand.

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