Texas

Monday...."Back to Life, Back to reality." OY!!! I was getting used to the idea of a permanent vacation....dreamy, isn't it? However, it's good to be back in New York. Here's a recap of my trip to Austin/San Antonio.....

4/25: Brooke and I met at the airport around 7pm for our flight on JetBlue, headed direct to Austin. I suppose Tuesday doesn't really count as a day in Texas seeing we arrived at 11:30/pm, but after spending the night at the Holiday Inn Reject, you would remember the horror....I don't want to talk about it. :-) Brooke and I definitely had a good laugh about it.

4/26: Rushing out of the hotel, we stopped at Taco Cabano for breakfast, which Brooke explained is a step up from fast food, but a must have in Texas. Ummm, if my breakfast experience includes a salsa bar, you know I'm one happy camper. It took us over an hour to get to Brooke's parents house in San Antonio. We were greeted with hugs/kisses from Brooks mom and immediately became reunited with Beanie & Sylvester (Our cats from NY which have been in San Antonio for the past 7 years...long story). Beanie is now a little fatty, plump as can be & Sylvester lost weight from the last time I saw him. With that said, they're as cute as ever. :) I received the tour of the house (which was very nice) and the well taken care of garden....beautiful. We then went to lunch at a restaurant called Saritas (A must for Brooke). OMG...the chips & salsa was amazing along with the Jalepenio enchiladas (YUM!!). With a very full stomach we went back to the house, chilled by the pool, waited for Brooke's Dad to return and then went to dinner at China Palace (right next to a shop called "Christ the King") Remember, this is the bible belt...Oy!!! Overall we had a relatively relaxing day. I went to bed reading 2 chapters of the 1st Harry Potter book. :-)

4/27: Brooke and I woke up early, had a little breakfast and headed toward the Fredericksburg area to hike Enchanted Rock. This is one of Brooke's favorite places in the world, which quickly became a place of peace for me. We thought we'd be hiking alone since it was midweek, but it turned out we were not alone...to our surprise, there were 8 school buses carrying over 200 teenagers...what a way to kill the silence! We avoided them by hiking blindly without the use of the mapped trails, Brooke leading the way. I enjoyed the challenge. Thank God it was cloudy, otherwise I guarantee the sun would've burned our very flesh. After the hike, we walked around The Fredericksburg area. It was there I found extreme happiness....a store with over 200 dips (mainly salsa) which all could be sampled...I was feeling hungry before and afterwards I was content. We headed back to San Antonio and ate at one of Brooke's favorite places to get salsa (The Alamo Cafe). I personally LOVED their tortillas...and the tortilla soup....AMAZING!!! After that we took a nap, recuperated, and went to dinner @ La Fogata. WOW!!!!!! YES, if you havent figured out this vacation was all about the food....mainly salsa. :-) After a few margaritas and many smiles we headed back home and went to bed by 10pm.

4/28: Brooke and I ventured downtown to the infamous San Antonio Riverwalk during Fiesta week. I'm not sure if you're aware that Fiesta is a huge event with large parades and lots of good eatin' (Oh Yeah....we had a HUGE turkey leg). Brooke purchased a rainbow flower-like hat and I purchased a CD of some of the local music in the area. We took a Riverwalk boat tour and ate at The Naked Iguana/Rio Rio Cantina for lunch. And I couldn't leave San Antonio without seeing The Alamo...which was very disappointing. No disrespect, but I though it looked like the biggest Taco Bell I'd ever seen...LOL! We had a great time.....we finished off the day at an amazing BBQ restaurant called County Line where brooke ordered the Big Daddy Plate with A Smity Beer...OMG...it was HUGE!!!

4/29: Early to rise, we headed to the King William Fair where (once again) we enjoyed another Fiesta spectacle, another elaborate parade and my favorite, fair food. Brooke referred to it as the ghetto parade...definitely a great day for people watching. I found Texas folk are little more carefree about their eating habits. In other words, the majority of the people are overweight. I found that the people of San Antonio depend more on their cars than walking from place to place. Here in NYC, New Yorkers are on the go all the time, walking, running, etc. It's just a different world. After the parade we spent the rest of the day enjoying the sun, reading by the pool and took in what relaxation we had left. We ended the night with Brooke's parents, having a home cooked meal (T-bone steaks and left over ribs).

4/30: All I have to say is we were up at 3AM, drove to Austin, returned the car at the airport and boarded around 6:30am. Enohg said...

We arrived in NYC around 11am and before I was unpacked, I was off to meet Shawn. I was invited to attend his Mother's birthday in Westwood, NJ @ The Melting Pot. OMG....this place was AMAZING. I have a new appreciation for Fondue. I spent time with Shawn's family, enjoyed them VERY much and before I knew it we were headed into the city because Shawn was playing football. I headed home to straighten up & surprise him with a romantic setting. The place was surrounded with scented candles with David Brickman playing in the backround. Happily Shawn scored two touchdowns and won the game. His team went to Posh to celebrate their victory...makes sense! Sadly...he was delayed and I waited for him in anticiaption...a little anxious because I had planned to surprise him. He arrived around 11:30pm and yes, he was surprised, happy and held me in his arms....The night ended beautifully.

More Later....