Texas

After staying up late posting all my last blogs, I was exhausted. I have now hit the muggy portion of the U.S so the air was a bit uncomfortable. I stayed in a ghetto campground with a nasty bathhouse. One toilet didn't even have a stall around it and the other two made funny noises. The shower had no shelf to put your stuff on and only one side had a light so this was where all the bugs were. I shower every chance I get though so I moved quickly. I then headed out to drive across West Texas. I stopped once but other than that I barreled on through and made it to San Antonio by 4pm. Melissa, my friend from the ranch, met me there and told me she got a campsite closer to downtown. I didn't realize it was a KOA and I was pretty upset when I found out. You see, I hate it when people take liberties with the English language. There's no need to spell campground with a "K"! For goodness sakes, kids go there. That's also why I don't support Krispy Kreme.
Anyway it was a raging inferno so I jumped in the pool, grateful to finally be submerged in water and not just dangling my feet. We headed out to downtown San Antonio to do the Riverwalk.

It was gorgeous. The town had an old west feel but also very tropical with the palm trees and ferns and flowers. The construction made doing the whole thing a bit challenging so we went on and off it. We found this AMAZING old playground that was all built out of wood. It reminded me exactly of my old elementary school's and I was devastated when they tore it down. I ran all over that thing in my skimpy skirt (it did have shorts underneath).
We also saw the Alamo but we were saving that for tomorrow. We decided to go to dinner at a place called Pico de Gallo based on the recommendation of a cashier. We couldn't find it based on her directions so Melissa found their number and called and the girl that worked at the restaurant was not at all helpful. I don't think she knew where they were. So we know we're at least in the right area and Melissa spends another 10 minutes trying to find a parking spot because she refuses to pay for parking. We found one and got out and wandered all over looking for it. we finally asked a street vendor and he said it was on the other side of the interstate. We walked around one building and there it was in big flashing neon lights. This is not the first time a situation like this has happened to me and I was cracking up. We walked in and they told us forty minutes to wait and we started second guessing eating there but then they called our name and we got in. Quite the journey.


I actually slept very well despite the heat because there was a lovely breeze. We had a lovely breakfast of cereal and milk thanks to Melissa's planning. Back we went downtown to tour the Alamo. It is smaller than I thought it would be. There were no pictures allowed inside but they did have some nice exhibits on the Bowie knife. We watched an amazing video detailing the history which really made me remember the Alamo. Off we went again to tour the Missions. San Antonio has four missions all within 10 miles of each other and they all vary in style and size. I loved them. It's amazing how they've stood the test of time. One had a wedding in it, two were open for viewing and one had a wedding but had no warning sign so I busted in apparently right before the bride was due and the whole church turned around and looked at me. After I turned around and scurried back out, we saw the bride coming around the corner. It was getting disgustingly hot by this point (I scalded my butt sitting down for a picture on the NPS sign) so we basically ran through the last mission and headed up to Austin.
The picture is of me scaling a window because I didn't want to go around. A family of Mormon's did not appreciate it.




After a lovely meal of cherries and cold tortillas with cheese and avocado (Delicious!) we went and jumped in the community pool. It was free! I couldn't believe it. Everywhere else I know charges you for stuff like that. That night we went to a Flashmob Austin mission. Melissa is in charge of this mob and the concept was to go to Barton Springs (a natural spring) and have a water fight between pirates and ninjas. I was a ninja of course because I wear a lot of black. It was so much fun. I've heard about flash mobs and it was so cool to participate in one and hear and see people's reactions to the craziness. Usually I'm just a flash mob of one. We went and got changed and we went downtown with a few of Melissa's friends to go dancing. Usually I don't enjoy dancing in public but I had a blast! I had one dress and the only shoes I had besides flip flops were my cowboy boots so I looked like a hooker I thought. We bounced around to a few different clubs. It was such a great atmosphere because they close the streets down so people just mill around in drunken abandon. My favorite part was at this one place when we were dancing around and I feel someone grab me from behind and this guy says "I like your outfit" and it turns out he was the DJ! It was quite flattering since the past few weeks the only attention I get from people is wide eyed disbelief. I had a blast having a night on the town and her friends are so much fun. The next day we went to Melissa's church where she gave an awesome speech about her recent trip to El Salvador. We went shopping around at SoCo (yeah I talk like a local now) and visited her sister, Vanessa. Then we went to the Alamo Draft House which is a movie theater that serves you dinner while you watch. We saw 500 days of Summer and it was a great movie. Not what you'd expect and kind of an odd way to tell a story but it was fantastic. As was my BLT. We went back to Barton Springs again to swim. It's always 68 degrees and it feels so good. It's an awesome place to relax. I felt like I spent a lot more time there than I did. Melissa sure can pack a lot in and I don't think I've ever eaten that much in my life. It's good though because it stored up my reserves for the next two weeks.