Sep 19, 2011

Texas Part Duex: 9/19/11: San Antonio and Austin

San Antonio this morning.  Headed to The Alamo first thing.  Exciting stuff.  Ok, fine.  It wasn't THAT bad.  It was hot.  There were walls (which we weren't allowed to touch) and we also had to be quiet (it's a shrine, shut up!) but we did get to see the place.  There were shockingly few tourists on site, which was a blessing.  Finally a break.  We pounced over to The Riverwalk where we boarded the Riverwalk Barge Cruise for a half hour tour ($9.00 for the privilege) of the shops and restaurants.  Last time I was at The Riverwalk we actually walked.  Trust me, this was a lot more....better.  Walking sucks.  It takes a lot of calories to keep up this weight so I don't like to risk doing any excessive exercise.  Walking is especially bad when it's so hot outside you feel like all you want to do is sit in the local Irish Pub (I counted three along The Riverwalk). The Riverwalk takes on a whole new look when you aren't walking amongst the crowd and don't have sweat pouring down your shirt from the awful heat.  You can actually appreciate the beauty and history of The Riverwalk, which I certainly didn't do on my first tour years ago.  
The Riverwalk
The heat felt worse once we got off the barge so we headed out of San Antonio toward Austin.  We stopped at Chuy's for some fajitas and a margarita...yum yum.  In Austin we went to Stubb's BBQ to purchase some hats (it's a bit stalkerish, I'll skip the details).  While we waited for rush hour to pass we walked around 6th Street, which is famous for it's music.  I'm sorry, Austin, but 6th Street reminded me of Vegas.  It was dirty and kind of seedy.  We found a bar that had early live music and listened to some sweet blues for a spell.  The music made up for the seedy atmosphere.  I imagine the locale is awesome at night when the streets are full of people, the music is blaring from all the bars along the strip, and people laughing and full of energy.

I was in charge of hotels since I did nothing but complain about the Marriott and it's lack of a fridge and no free internet.  I picked a great Holiday Inn which was conveniently near my two favorite places (Rudy's and Chuy's).  I scored a room for $75.00 (fridge and internet included)...can I get a booya!  

We got to the room and "surprise" it was a king bed only.  Yeah, not gonna work.  I went back down and got a different room (two beds were a necessity).  Back up the elevator we went.  I opened the door to our new room and noticed the light on and the bathroom door open.  Someone was already in the room.  NICE.  I thought this was funny, but Jen thought it was a little something else.  I let her stay in the lobby and I went back down to the front desk.  The bartender and the front desk manager were talking and the manager asked if that room had a single bed, too. When I told her there was already someone in the room she seemed mortified.  I just laughed and said it wasn't a big deal.  For my kindness I was offered a free drink from the bartender.  He and I went over and he mixed an apple margarita for me, double shot.  We bonded while he made the drink, laughing about the mix up and talking about BBQ and tourist traps in Austin.  He mentioned he liked Rudy's and then he walked the extra drink up to Jen.  He was even so kind as to open the room door and help Jen carry some of her stuff into the room.

We hopped over to Rudy's and got some food for us and for the bartender, who was so excited he gave me a hug.  Awww, schucks.  Apparently I'm really nice.  Don't tell anyone.

So there goes another day in Austin.  Not as exciting as the first few days, but I'm going to count it as a win...if nothing else, because I laughed.

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