Monday I spent the day at home with the boys who were both sick overnight. Daddy went to school, so Grandma played nanny again. Another day at home with Logan on Wednesday. He was coughing aggressively last night, but he was just a little ball of energy for me at home today. I taught him how to make raspberries and how to lay peek-a-boo, which he will do sporadically. I think he has finally accepted me. In the afternoon, Daddy put on Disney World 2011 vacation movies, and we talked about going back there with DJ and Logan in about 8 years.
I started looking for a campground in Pigeon Forge near the Smoky Mountains National Park. Think I found one. I watched a National Park Service movie about the Great Smoky Mountains. The Appalachian Trail runs the entire length of the park from north to south. I am going to try to take on a 7.7 mile stretch of it when I go there in April. Did some research on their shuttle service.
Tuesday was the third of gray, dreary skies during the day and overnight rain. This is my first stop that has NOT been in the high desert. I had gotten used to the sun. When DJ came home he was a little whiney, so Daddy lounged on the couch with DJ and two of his Ninja turtles.
Thursday was Grandparents' Day at DJ's preschool. They were having a program for Black History Month that started at 9:30 am. His class was not present. The program was clever and cute. They did an homage to Black music thru the decades: Chubbie Checker, James Brown, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Beyonce - ending with the Whip and Nae-Nae which was a real crowd favorite. I bought a lunch ticket and headed to DJ's classroom. I walked with him to his music class. He took my hand so he could show me the way. It was so cute. After music class, we went to lunch. We had fried chicken legs, cornbread, rice and gravy, boiled cabbage, and an orange. Because I did not have a car seat with me, I left to go shopping. When I got back home, I walked with Daddy to where the bus drops DJ off. He is always so excited to see Daddy. The bus driver once told Brent that he makes DJ's day every day when he comes to pick him up from the bus. Later that evening, the kids were in high spirits; seems like they are over their colds. DJ caught his cloth football 10 times. We took a photo and sent it to Daddy who, of course, was very proud. Autumn and I had goat-cheese stuffed peppers and Panera bread crustini for dinner. Really nummy.
Heavy shopping week this week: Tuesday, Thursday, and then on Friday we went to the Bossier Boardwalk Mall to do some shoe shopping. Brent needs some new shoes, and our little fat foot baby needs some wide shoes. I bought shoes for the whole family - except Brent. And we got some white chocolate/raspberry cheesecake to go. DJ was so captivated by the water fountain and the related water fall. The water fountain was timed to jump and splash to the music playing over loudspeakers at the Mall. Later we went to Superior Grill for margaritas and crawfish quesadilla appetizers. Brent grilled dinner at home.
Saturday, I put the camper up to do some repairs (remember that fender I ran over on the way to Carlsbad?). I glued and nailed the cabinet side back in place. It had been stapled on - and not with good carpenter staples either. Laundered the towels and pillow shams, and stored a couple of clothes hangers in the camper. I took a photo of the missing panel on the side (still have no idea how that happened) and found a Palomino dealer in Shreveport. That evening, I followed the South Carolina primary (I'm with Her; she won with 75% of the vote) and babysat for the kids since Daddy was working and Mommy went to a birthday party.
This has been a mostly uneventful week in Shreveport. The kids have been sick, more so on Monday and getting better as the week progressed. I did some nanny duties on Monday and Tuesday. Gave Brent, Autumn, DJ, and Logan most of the gifts I brought with me. T-shirts for all four of them, dried red chiles from Hatch, New Mexico for Autumn, 5 shot glasses for Brent (he has a collection), a Panda bear for Logan, a pop-up picture book for DJ, turquoise earrings from Santa Fe for Autumn.
I filed a claim with my insurance company for the hit and run damage to my car that happened Sunday night in the parking lot here at Brent's apartment complex. Think I will wait with repairs until I return to Saint Paul. Brent agrees.
I got all caught up on my blog - finally. Even with all the photos. I also took advantage of the opportunity Autumn provided to have a desktop computer to download a lot of video footage from my camera. I made movies in Photo Gallery and then uploaded them all to YouTube. I finally downloaded the movie of the New Ulm Glockenspiel from last September's camping trip with "the girls." That was a trip because I kept messing it up in Photo Gallery and had to start over 5 times. Once I had the audio set at double time in one of the three segments and we sounded like chipmunks. How does that even happen? However, all this work allowed me to delete the original videos from my camera, freeing up almost 1,000 MB of memory. I have been noticing for a while that not all my photos are "taking" in the camera. I suspect that I am running short on memory. So, this is a big help. I also deleted excess photos this week.
Only went shopping twice this week. Aren't you proud of me? I had to make a trip to Lowe's to get supplies to fix the cabinet in the camper that got damaged when I ran over something on the highway on the way to Carlsbad. Also got some paint supplies to help Brent paint an addition he made to their living room shelves, and a plumbing snake. They needed a plumbing snake.
Autumn and I took the kids to Buffalo Wild Wings (where Daddy works) for family night on Tuesday. DJ was excited because they had a balloon artist making balloon toys for the kids. DJ got Blue from Blue's Clues.
Brent, Autumn and I celebrated National Wine Day on Thursday by staying home, watching movies, and having some wine. Brent and Autumn did a staycation night on Saturday to celebrate Valentine's Day and - of course - Chinese New Year. They had dinner at Copeland's and stayed at a hotel. So, I played nanny again for the boys. They were both very good. After dinner, which DJ did not eat - again - we watched Monsters Inc and Kung Fu Panda over and over and over again. Then we all had a battle with plastic coat hangers. Logan decided that Mommy needed him to wash the carpet with a dry wash cloth, but face planted and dropped off to sleep in the middle of it at 7 pm. DJ also decided to put on his PJ's and watch Monsters Inc in my bedroom. He drifted off the sleep about 9:30 and was snoring like a truck driver. Photo below is of my funny little Valentines.
Sunday evening we all went out to the newly opened Grub Burger on East 70th Street. The burgers were juicy and delicious, and I loved the adult milk shake. They also had my favorite local beer - Reasonably Corrupt - so I had a glass of that too. Logan ate everything that wasn't nailed down. His appetite is back! And we took lots of adorable family photos, one of which is provided here for your viewing pleasure.
First full day (Monday)in Shreveport and I didn't do anything. Nothing at all. Well, nothing but have fun with a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old. Now that I have arrived at my son's house, I will just be posting up once a week rather than every day. Because in this paradise of domestic tranquility, every day is pretty much the same, and I am loving every minute of it.
Leaving San Antonio today (Sunday). Packed up the car, and then took the camper down. I thought it went pretty well and I got out of there by 10 minutes to 10 am. However, I forgot to put the roof vent down, drove away without my wood blocks, and left my money pouch inside. At the gas station, I lifted the camper just enough to get my arm inside and retrieve the money pouch. But then I forgot to take the wench took out or to lock the side door.
I did not notice this until I was 5 miles away from Wildlife Ranch, and I had promised Dejah a zebra T-shirt. So, I went to Wildlife Ranch, took the wench tool out (it was hanging by a thread), put it in the side door and locked it. Then I bought Dejah a zebra T-shirt, a zebra fedora for me, and a zebra shot glass for Brent. Also stopped to get a peak at the new giraffes.
THEN was on the road to Shreveport. I did notice somewhere north of Waco that the roof vent was still up, so pulled over at a travel center and got into the camper just far enough to dial the roof vent down. When I stop at a travel center or a rest stop, I have to go where the truckers go. I am sure this causes some amusement among the truckers, but I can't fit me and the camper into the little spaces they give for cars to park at those places, and besides the managements insist that campers and RVs have to park with the trucks.
I ran into a traffic jam in Austin on I-35 - at 2 pm - on Sunday. I-35 from San Antonio to about 30 miles north of Austin is one giant suburban strip mall. And then that starts back up again between Waco and Dallas. Stopped at this giant strip mall somewhere in Texas to have a steak and baked sweet potato at Logan's Roadhouse (a family joke). Only took I-35 to I-20, so missed most of the Dallas traffic (they have one 24-hour traffic jam every day). Got lost again where I-20 meets Bert Kouns, but made it to Brent's house just after 9 pm. We put the camper in the back lot after Brent gave me a piece of wood just the perfect size to rest the tongue pole on. Then they fed me fiery apple pork tenderloin and green beans. Nummm. Someone hit my car overnight in the parking lot (hit and run), just when I felt that I had made it safely to a familiar place. It caused some damage to my practically new car.
The car is registering 5,300 miles so far on this trip, and turned over to 30,000 miles total lifetime mileage somewhere just this side of Dallas. You may have noticed that I did not take the route thru Houston and Lafayette that is shown on the map, but rather the route thru Austin and Dallas, which is also shown on the map. Day 31 was long and tiring, but I arrived safe and sound - my car not so much.
Saturday I got a slow start, wrote in my journal, did some laundry, packed up my suitcase, and worked on the blog. My mission today is to visit El Concepcion Mission. But I can't find it. So I went to the San Jose Mission which is right on Roosevelt Avenue - the same street as the RV resort. The rangers helped me find it. It is super easy when you know where to look. I bought some post cards, two National Parks stamps for the Missions, and a T-shirt for Logan.
Then headed out for El Concepcion Mission, which is located on (where else) Mission Road. It is actually really close to my RV Park, but behind it on Mission - and NOT on Roosevelt as the sign on Roosevelt says. And that big open space on the other side of the fence behind my camper is a golf course. The parking lot at Concepcion is really small; just sit and wait for someone to leave. It won't take long. Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion de Acuna was built over a period of 15 years and dedicated in 1755. It is the oldest unrestored stone church in America. The limestone used to build the church was quarried on the site, and forms 45 inch thick walls. I did notice that even on the 80 degree day of my visit, it was cool inside the church. It was not just a church, but the center of a mission community that was built to protect and convert an agrarian group of Native Coahuiltecans who were facing twin challenges from marauding nomadic Native American tribes and the western movement of Whites. The friars taught them farming skills so they could sustain their lives within the mission walls. This mission (not the church) was founded in 1716 by Franciscan Brothers from Spain. The Coahuiltecans eventually assimilated into either White or Mexican cultures around San Antonio, and are not presently an active tribe. Today, El Concepcion is an active church with its own congregation. I remembered to take my big tripod this time so I got some good photos of me; in front of the National Park sign and in front of the twin bell towers of the church.
The architectural style is called Spanish Colonial, but it incorporates a lot of Moorish design elements - especially inside. The National Park brochure says, "Colorful Moorish designs mix with images showing both Native American and Spanish Catholic influences." It is quite unique among old Spanish mission churches in the Southwest because of the Moorish influence. They have worn off over the last 200+ years, but the twin towers used to be painted head to toe with colorful Moorish geometic designs.
History was well-presented on large white boards. The interior of the church itself was amazing with its perfect melding of Spanish Christian and Moorish design elements. I took a lot of photos of the interior and baptistry. The baptistry was not identified as such, but the park ranger verified that is what indeed one left over from the days when European Catholics would not allow women inside churches, so baptisms took place in a separate chapel, or a separate building. I think the photos below give a good idea of the Arabic influence present inside, especially the dome and the door.
At about 4 pm, I headed downtown to River Walk. It was much easier to find a parking space this time of day. Walked to River Walk and looked for a steak place (I was getting a little tired of Mexican food every day). Should have walked further south, but near the Alamo the only steakhouse is Saltgrass and they had an hour wait for a table - not even on the patio. Went to Rio Rio. I had to sit inside, but was able to get a beef guisado. Not bad. They had a mariachi trio that traveled thru twice singing Mexican songs. Enjoyed them.
After dinner, I bought a ticket for the River Barge tour and then tried to find where they load. Not an easy task. Got on board after waiting in a long line. Sat across from a friendly couple from North Carolina. The barge tour seemed longer today than 8 years ago. I think the section by the convention center has grown longer. The "river" isn't a real river. It is a dredged catch basin for flooding, but they have damned it up to keep water in it now for the tourists. The San Antonio River near my RV resort has no where near this much water in it. You would not even be able to ride a canoe in that stretch of river, much less a barge. The photos give you some idea of the design aesthetic of River Walk.
The woman manning the parking lot booth gave me wrong directions to St. Mary's Street, sending me exploring quite a few downtown streets. On my travels on the streets of downtown, ran into these two Mexican army historic re-enactors standing in front of the CVS Pharmacy. I finally did manage to get out of downtown and made it "home." Had some wine and talked to my D-I-L Autumn and some friends on the phone. It was a great last day in San Antonio. It would have been better to have someone to share the experiences with, but all in all my trip to San Antonio was a good one, and I would come back again.
Today (Friday) I had a chance to attend the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. These rodeos only occur once a year during a two-week period in any one given city, so it is very difficult to plan to be in that particular city at the right time. Luckily, I did not plan it. It was just pure luck!
Headed out for the AT&T Stadium (home of the San Antonio Spurs) where the rodeo is held about 4 pm. I thought I would be able to find some fair food there to eat - all they had was corn dogs, kettle corn, and weak beer. Texans have some strange ideas about fair food. I did eat a corn dog with a bottle of water I brought with me. Then went into the Coliseum, where the rodeo shops were set up. I bought 2 rodeo T-shirts for myself since I had only brought one short sleeved shirt with me and the temps were in the 80s the past two days. There was a LOT of stuff in there! I found an unoccupied bench outside the Coliseum, so sat down and called Brendyn. We talked about Valentine's Day for a while.
By this time, it was a little after 6 pm, and time to go inside AT&T Stadium to find my seat. Stopped at the Rock and Brew tavern inside the stadium for a local porter beer - pretty good - and did some writing in my journal. I found my seat up in the nose-bleed section - Section 220, Row 4, Seat 10 and settled in. Their opening ceremonies were just as ridiculous as I thought they would be. Hokey and overly patriotic, with pounding music. I did buy a program which explained how the scoring system works, so I read that. It is not just all about time. Time accounts for half the score, 25% is based on style points for the cowboy, and 25% is based on style points for the horse or bull.
Then the rodeo started! The bare-backed bucking broncos competition was up first on my side of the arena. The clock starts at 8 seconds and runs down to 0; the goal is to survive for 8 seconds. But the rider is also given points for his style and the horse is also given points to being "spirited." They add the points for how long he stayed on the horse (50 points possible for 8 seconds), and all the style points to give a final score. Most of the scores were in the 70 to high 80s range. Some cowboys barely made it past the shoot and some stayed on for 8 seconds - or more. A couple of wranglers on horseback flank the bronco on both sides at the end of the ride. This calms him down. The cowboy slides off the bronco and onto one of the other horses, while the 2nd wrangler pulls off the bucking belt. This really calms him down. And the bronco trots back to the pen. They are well trained!
I really had to admire the skill of the wranglers who have to ride up on an angry horse, calm him down, and lead him back to the pen. A couple of horses just did not want to go back. The "Iowa cowboy" mentioned in the first segment won 1st place with a score or 87 on the night I was there.
Next up was the steer wrestling competition at the opposite end of the arena. The set-ups are different for the bucking competitions and the roping competitions. The rodeo alternates sides of the arena so that the next event can be set up. The steer wrestling competition is solely a timed event. The steer is let loose out of the pen, and the cowboy on horse rides out of his enclosure, rides up on the steer, jumps off his horse, grabs the steer by the horns and wrestles him to the ground. The winner did it all in 4.1 seconds. I should mention that if the cowboy breaks thru the rope at the front of his enclosure before the steer gets out of his pen, he is penalized. There was one cowboy from Minnesota doing the steer wrestling - J.D. Struxness from Appleton, Minnesota. He tied for second place with 4.5 seconds.
Next up was the calf roping team activity on the same end of the arena. Again, the two-person team had to wait for the calf to get out of his pen first. The one cowboy would rope the calf around his neck, and then next the other cowboy had to rope both hind legs and pull the calf down. This is also a timed activity, but points are deducted if the calf doesn't go down or if the 2nd cowboy only ropes on leg. Sometimes the calf just slipped away and neither cowboy got his rope around him. When this happened the calf just sauntered over to the pen on the other side of the arena. Again, well-trained!
It was now time for some entertainment. Little kids (like between the ages of 3 and 7) ride a sheep bare backed. This is called Mutton Bustin'. Most of the kids fell off within a couple of feet of the open pen gates. But one little 4-year-old girl (whose proud Grandpa was sitting next to me) made it about 3/4 of the way across the arena, and a 7-year-old boy whose father is one of the competitors at the rodeo also did well enough to win the event. The announcer made him kiss the Rodeo Queen, which he did very sweetly. The kids were all adorable and the whole event brought a lot of smiles to the crowd.
Next up was what I traditionally think of a calf roping. One cowboy, two ropes; he ropes the calf, and is off his horse and throwing the calf on its back before the rope tightens. Then with one hand he twirls the 2nd rope around 3 of the calf's legs. This is also a timed event, with time being added on if one of the legs slips out. What I didn't know is that the calf must stay down for 6 seconds; if he doesn't that also results in having time added the cowboy's score.
At this point, the cowgirls got to have one event - the barrel race. This was timed with an additional 5 minutes added for each overturned barrell. All the racers were very close in time with only about 1 minute separating all of them. Except for one who knocked over 2 barrels and got an extra 10 minutes added to her time. I believe the cowgirl on the left was the winner with the best time - 13.78 seconds - to race around 3 barrels and back to the pen. The barrels were provided by Whataburger with heavy advertising.
Next up was the saddled bucking bronc ride. Same rules as the barebacked bucking broncos. From the color commentary, it seemed like this event was one of the more popular ones and the horses themselves were pretty big stars. The horses got intros just like the cowboys. This was more lively than I expected. One cowboy got his spur caught in the horse's rope and was being dragged for probably about 40 feet. Scary. A cowboy who had come all the way from New Zealand won. Unfortunately, none of my saddled bronc photos turned out.
More entertainment followed as about 30 tweeners were let loose with ropes and about 15 calves in the arena. They had to chase the calves around, get a rope around its neck, and lead it to the judges. Hilarity ensued. Only about 8 of the calves were actually rounded up. One young girl sat on her calf for more than 5 minutes, but could never get the rope around its neck. Most of the time, the animals just slipped thru the kids' fingers (or ropes as it were). Everyone in the place was belly laughing the whole time.
The grand finale! The event we were all waiting for. The bucking bull riding contest. Same rules as bucking broncs - again no saddle. They brought in 3 or 4 "clowns" whose very dangerous job was to calm down the bull, take the bucking belt off, the lead him back to the pen -- all on foot -- no horses this time. What a dangerous job! Those "clowns" are real professionals though! I filmed a few of the bull rides. Those cowboys were all really good at it, but this is dangerous work.
The total cash payout for all cowboy performers over the whole 2 week event was $1.675 million. There were 5 tranches with the top three winners getting some money in each tranch, so a lot of cowboys went away with at least a little money. But some went home with nothing. All in all, it was great entertainment. I did not stay for the Martina McBride concert because it was after 10 pm, and I was tired.
Refreshed and ready for a new day of sight seeing today (Thursday). Had breakfast across the street at the Guadalajara Taqueria, which seems like a nice, family cafe that serves Jalisco-style Mexican food. A little different than the Mexican food we have in Saint Paul, which must be from a different region of Mexico. I had a chile relleno, which was very good.
First adventure was trying to find a parking space downtown. All the ramps were full. Finally found an open (barely) ramp above the River Walk Shops (a completely new building since we were there last in 2008). In fact, that whole Alamo section of downtown has changed dramatically since 2008. Back then there were a lot of rundown and vacant buildings. No more!!! A lot of new hotels and condos have been built in that section of town in the last 8 years. We went in a dilapidated old Five and Dime store in 2008; that store is still there, but in a newly remodeled building and it is now decidedly upscale. In fact, that whole corner is remarkably upscale now. I learned that Schilo's Delicatessen is THE place to eat in the Alamo district. I did not eat there, but there was a long line outside of it all day long. I passed it on my way to the BB&T bank to restock on $1 bills and a roll of quarters. BTW, the BB&T bank had teller windows that look just like the ones in the Northfield Bank when Jesse James robbed it. I mentioned it to the teller who helped me, and she was very proud of their old-time teller windows. Nice!
I walked to the Alamo and took a photo in front just about in the same place all the Lindgrens took a photo in 2008. Now there is a rectangle of grass in front that would make the Edina Country Club jealous. I picked up an audio tour tape wand and walked around to the numbers at the site. Even though this was my second time there, I learned a lot more than last time. The tour took me thru the church and explained how the church has been re-purposed many times in its existence. Then the tour went thru the courtyard and into the Long Barracks. The "Alamo's last stand" was in the "early morning hours" - i.e. dark - rather than daytime as all the movies show. And it took place in the Long Barracks - and not the church. The women and children were in the church while the fighting took place. Once the Mexican army finally scaled the wall on the third attempt, the whole battle was over in 18 or 19 minutes (numbers are different at different exhibits in the Alamo). And the DRT no longer has 2 rifles both purporting to have belonged to Davy Crockett on display in different buildings.
I heard a tour guide give a talk about the battle in the courtyard. He mentioned that the final battle lasted only 19 minutes. He was really good and entertaining. But he claimed it was Sam Houston's plan to fight at San Jacinto River. Andrew Jackson's biographer claimed that the U.S. cavalry was stationed at Natchadoches River in East Texas and Jackson and Houston had a joint plan to lure the Mexican army there and then defeat them once and for all, since the President of the Republic of Mexico was also the General in charge of the mission - Santa Ana.
I was able to spend a lot more time in the Long Barracks this time. Saw a 15-minute movie about the battle and events leading up to it. The whole Texas revolution really started when the Tejano men of Gonzales, Texas refused to surrender their cannon to the Mexican army. They had a flag made that said "Come and Take It" and then fought off the Mexican army detachment successfully. The men of Gonzales were also the only ones to come to the aid of the men in the Alamo - and died there too.
I bought some souvenirs and post cards in the gift shop, and then walked over to the Buckhorn Museum and Texas Ranger Museum -- all the same museum. Buckhorn was weird, but I liked the Texas Ranger Museum. There was a family - the Hamars - who were famous Texas Rangers for generations. One of them located and killed Bonnie & Clyde - the FBI did nothing more than take credit. The Museum in San Antonio has Bonnie and Clyde's bullet riddled car. That was worth the admission.
I walked down into the Riverwalk, and decided to have a drink at Big Ole's. I got a Margarita (made with lime juice and not real limes as the maitre-de promised), and a "Big Dip" - sort of like my sister Vickie's bean dip. It had a flavor that I never did identify that I'm still not sure I liked. Their home-made chips were good - very thin and light. The rest
was so-so, but I did get to sit on the patio and watch the boats, the ducks, and the people go by. It was worth it; not sure I would go back though. I took a few photos, including a couple of selfies. Left my sunglasses behind in the restroom - not intentionally.
On the way back to the car, I bought DJ a Mexican-style cowboy hat in a child's size that I had seen earlier in the day, and bought Autumn a blue bonnets T-shirt at the River Walk Shops. I was asleep by 8:30 pm and needed to catch up on my sleep.
Pat retired at the end of December 2015 and set out on her National Retirement Tour that took her all across the USA from San Diego, California to Raleigh, North Carolina and back to Minnesota. She will be knocking things off her bucket list left and right as long as her health allows. Follow her adventures (or misadventures) here, inluding ones in later years
Heavy shopping week this week: Tuesday, Thursday, and then on Friday we went to the Bossier Boardwalk Mall to do some shoe shopping. Brent needs some new shoes, and our little fat foot baby needs some wide shoes. I bought shoes for the whole family - except Brent. And we got some white chocolate/raspberry cheesecake to go. DJ was so captivated by the water fountain and the related water fall. The water fountain was timed to jump and splash to the music playing over loudspeakers at the Mall. Later we went to Superior Grill for margaritas and crawfish quesadilla appetizers. Brent grilled dinner at home.
