Texas

Last week was spent in the land of everything big.  I had a trade show in Dallas that began on Saturday and then met up with Lisa, Todd and Jill in San Antonio on Thursday for a little extended weekend trip to celebrate both Lisa and my 15th wedding anniversary as well as her big birthday coming up in June. 

I had been to San Antonio a few years ago but Lisa had not.  I really like the downtown area.  We stayed in a hotel right on the Riverwalk which is were most of the downtown activity occurs.  Riverwalk is basically a man-made waterway that connects to an actually river.  The river is lined with bars, restaurants and shops as well as a trunk that ends at the convention center an another that ends at a mall.  New since I was there a few years ago is a new area of the Riverwalk that hasn't really been developed much as of yet and it ends at an old Pearl brewery they are converting to shops.   The walk from our hotel to the brewery is approximately 3 miles and yes we did walk it both ways one afternoon in 90 heat! 

Other than the Riverwalk, there's a Mexican marketplace that included restaurants and shops loaded with Mexican art, trinkets and souvenirs.  The best part of the marketplace is they had a food court in which every vendor sold margaritas and beer.  Now that's what I call a shopping experience....a mall with beer.  Todd and Jill have been to Mexico and said the marketplace really was typical of the markets in Mexico.  We ended up eating at one of the restaurants. La Margarita at the market and it was pretty good!

My best find was Rita's on the River.  Rita's is pretty much a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant and bar on the Riverwalk but have one hell of a happy hour from 3pm to 6pm during the week.  They have appetizer specials like $3 poppers or Queso and $3 16 ounce Margaritas.  Yes you read that correctly, $3 house Margaritas!  Lisa had never had a Margarita before but by the end of happy hour she was as big fan.  Needless to say, we ended up there every day.  Our bartender's name was Oscar and he treated us right.  I would go back just to hang out with Oscar at Rita's during happy hour.

We pretty much did all the touristy things like visiting the Alamo (yes, you could easily forget the Alamo--probably why the saying says "Remember the Alamo"), stopped by Pat Obrien's, hit the souvenir stores and went on the Riverwalk boat tour.  One night we went on a dinner cruise that was hosted by a restaurant called Boudros and the food was outstanding.  The meal included homemade guacamole and salsa, nice Caesar salad, and a 5 oz beef tenderloin and a seafood enchilada.  The beef and the tamale were probably the best I've ever had or at least the best I've had in a while.  We also went on a carriage ride (a first for all of us) and ate at two other places that were just average:  Lone Star Cafe, Wax O'Connor's Irish Pub (avoid at all costs) and another Mexican joint that I think got me a bit sick.  All in all, it was a nice long weekend away!

Update on the "project"

Well, the tile work is completely finished, the toilet and sink are in the bathroom as well as the bathroom door is hung and the surround sound speakers are mounted.  Next week on Tuesday the carpet is being installed and on Thursday the bar cabinet will be delivered.  My goal for this weekend will be to spread mulch in the yard, cut the grass and other various yard activities like weeding and planting as well as hanging shelving in the bathroom closet, hanging the closet door and installing the trim in the bathroom.  I also need to paint part of the stairway before the carpet arrives.  Looks like a busy work weekend for me!  I will post progress pictures either later this weekend or next week.  Since I have to be at the house during the carpet install, my 3 day weekend turned into a 4 day weekend!