Texas, Part 1: San Antonio!

Howdy! I’m in San Antonio, Texas, staying with my lovely cousin, Melanie. She lives in a beautiful apartment complex off of La Cantera Parkway, just beside the Westin Resort where she works one of her three jobs. She has a fantastic pool where we spent some time yesterday afternoon, and like Rhode Island we’ve had some great meals, so I’m living the life!

Day One: Monday:
I flew very very early from Providence: 6:05 to Charlotte, and then an hour’s layover before flying on a very tiny airplane to San Antonio. When Melanie picked me up from the terminal just after noon and we were joyously reunited (hurrah!) we dashed off to her local mall for Sonic Limeade from the food court. It’s a beautiful mall; outdoors, with awnings, rocky water features and paved walkways. Melanie had to go to work for a few hours, so I amused myself in her apartment by taking a wonderfully long shower (I’d been pretty disgusting when she rescued me from the airport) and posting my Rhode Island blogs until she got back. When she did, we ran a few errands and then went back to the mall for dinner. She had a $50 gift card to PF Chang’s, so we were able to order two Asian pear mojitos, an appetizer of four spring rolls, two chicken entrees and two mini chocolate cake desserts and only ended up paying about $10 for the tip! It was fabulous. We walked off some of that meal around the mall for a while, and then went back to her apartment and pretty much crashed.
Day Two: Tuesday:
Unfortunately we slept in a bit the next day, so our plans for getting to the Riverwalk early, having lunch and then going off to Austin did not quite work out. We finally rolled out of (her very comfy) bed at about 11:30 but didn’t reach downtown San Antonio until about 1. We parked in a flat-rate lot and made our way to the Rivercenter, yet another mall, to access the Riverwalk. It is beautiful down there! The water flows through a stonewalled bed surrounded by sidewalks, with restaurants and shops lining each side. There are a lot of graceful bridges and stairways, and actually, I’m having a hard time figuring out how to do the place justice. How about we just look at some pictures? We also walked for a while through La Villita, an “authentic” Mexican village. However, the sun was beating down on us, we were choking on the humidity, and we were very hungry, so we didn’t appreciate La Villita as much as we should have. Instead, we got tired of looking for a restaurant there and booked it back down the Riverwalk, stopping at the picturesque Casa Rio for lunch.
“Inside or outside?” asked the hostess pleasantly, picking up menus.
“Inside,” we pleaded, and once seated immediately began to mop ourselves off with our napkins. Air conditioning has never felt better, I swear to God! We were brought complimentary chips and salsa for an appetizer (sustenance, thank God!) and then began the meal with margaritas (on the rocks of course, not frozen) and tall classes of cold water. We toasted to something I don’t remember and proceeded to converse in the way that close cousins who haven’t seen each other in a month usually do. We chatted so much that it felt like no time at all before our meal showed up: a shared platter of three green-chicken (salsa verde)-stuffed enchiladas, rice, refried beans and extra tortillas. Yum yum yum! We were so pleased with ourselves that we left our very nice waiter a 40-percent tip and were on our way.
We made our way back along the river, the sound of our flip-flops pat patting in echo as we made our way under the city streets, and went back into the mall for some more cool air. I did some shopping at a place called Papaya, which we don’t have at home but is very affordable! I bought a sweater, two tops for work and an owl necklace for $35! Can’t beat it! Then I stopped at the Piercing Pagoda and got some much-needed sterling studs for my second holes, so that was one mission accomplished!
Once we were leaving the mall and downtown, we debated whether or not we should go to Austin. Aside from the fact that we were hot as hell, it was nearly 4:00 and traffic was starting to get bad. We opted to do Austin in the morning, and spent a couple of hours by Melanie’s gorgeous pool, sunning ourselves, dipping when we got hot, and chatting until the sun went down below the building. Then we munched on our PF Chang’s leftovers and tried to decide what to do next. I don’t remember the thought process, but we wound up going bowling! Our first round was embarrassing. Luckily we did better the second time around (I broke 100, yay!) but we were still less than pleased with ourselves. At home, we put the incident out of our minds by watching “Rachel Getting Married;” the first half at least, since we decided at about midnight that we needed fast food.
Our fast food of choice: Whataburger. There’s one on roughly every other block in San Antonio, so I decided to try it. Well. You don’t get a choice of size at Whataburger—each meal is already a specific size. So, by ordering a number one, a regular Whataburger, I also subjected myself to the largest soda imaginable and a large order of fries. Meanwhile Melanie, who had discreetly ordered the junior burger, had a happy-meal size portion of fries and a tiny soda. Sue, Melanie’s roommate, ordered something known to them as “the bob.” Apparently this stands for “breakfast on a bun.” So, it’s essentially a breakfast sandwich that comes served on a griddle-warmed hamburger bun instead of a biscuit or an English muffin. I kindly beg, so? Apparently it’s a bit of a novelty, although I didn’t see why it was such a big deal. Anyway, my burger was juicy and tender and smothered with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion, none of which cost extra! The fries were tasty too, but there was no way I was finishing that reservoir-sized soda.
After that, it was time to finish “Rachel Getting Married” and go to bed. Melanie and I really enjoyed the movie for its unique camera stylings, wonderful soundtrack, and of course, Anne Hathaway’s Oscar-nominated performance. Would definitely watch again!

Keep an eye out for the conclusion, coming soon!