Easter in San Antonio

Remember when it was Easter weekend?  Like three weeks ago?  So I'm a little behind.  April is a busy month at work for me - what can I say!?

Here's the quick(ish) version of our long weekend in San Antonio:

We left work early on Thursday and got a ride to the airport with Matt's brother.

The store outside the terminals didn't have my strawberry licorice (it's now a requirement before I fly, haha) and I was NOT happy about it.  I opted for pomegranate blueberry, which was "edible" at best.  Once we got inside, of course we found strawberry.  $4 wasted.  And I am tight with my money!  Needless to say, Matt bought the rest of the snacks. :)

       

PASS                                                    Now, that's what I'm talking about!

After a quick stop in Dallas for some not-so-healthy nachos and tacos, we landed in warm San Antonio around 9:30pm.  Hopped the shuttle bus to the car rental place, and to our surprise, they were out of "economy" cars - I always get the cheapest/smallest one - so we got to pick any car we wanted!  Ended up with a sweet little ...I don't even remember, but it was a lot like a Hyundai Sonata.

Asleep on the plane...of course.                                                              Airport dinner!

Before going to Aunt Mimi's, we stopped at the local HEB (grocery store) to get some stuff for smoothies in the morning.  I've been on a fruit smoothie kick every morning, and didn't want to go without this weekend.

Our sweet ride...in front of the HEB grocery store.

Of course Mimi was up waiting for us - watching Walking Dead, I believe.  First things first...she warned us to watch out for the kitty food smorgasbord she had laid out for her cat, Kelly, on the mat in front of the kitchen sink.  Talk about one spoiled cat.  (And for the record, Matt and I each stepped on it no less than three times each.)

Seriously? 

We stayed up chatting for an hour or two, and when we got ready for bed, Mimi gave us the "I know you are adults..." speech and actually let us sleep in the same bed!  That was nice, because neither one of us wanted the not-so-comfy couch this trip. (Matt got stuck on it last time.)

(Mimi watches Netflix on her iPad in the kitchen.  Who needs cable??)

We slept great and slept IN.  Didn't get up until after 9 and went for a little run in the San Antonio humidity.  Made our breakfast shakes, Matt had his coffee, showered, and we were off for the days adventures...which were yet to be determined, haha.  (Oh, and sweet Mimi had a basket full of snacks set out for us to take with us.  Of course.  She's just the best!)

We set out with a couple of options.  First stop was the underground caverns.  By the time we got there, the line was out the door and the tours were sold out for the next couple of hours.  Not happening.  (That's what we get for trying to do something on Good Friday without reservations I guess.) 

So we walked around the area for a little bit, and had the brilliant idea of sneaking in to the cavern behind one of the tours.  Ha.  Yea, right.  We actually thought it was going to work, but when we got down to the gate just after the tour guide went in...it was locked.  Of course.  Dang it!  No free caves for us... So we left.

The tour we thought we would just "tag along with"

Why did they have to lock that gate behind them?? ;)

Next stop was Gruene, Texas.  But before we made it to the tiny little country music town, we stopped on the side of the little country  road to feed some donkeys. :)

Back to Gruene...  It's a cute little (I mean LITTLE) town on the river.  It's known for it's town hall, where George Strait got his start, the dancing scene in Hope Floats was filmed, etc.  Besides that, there were a couple of restaurants and shops along Main Street, and that was about it.  There was live music going on in the town hall that we had just missed.  What if it was the next George Strait??

Per Mimi's recommendation, we ate lunch at The Gristmill and asked for a table outside along the water.  It was one of the cooler restaurants I've been to.  The set up was just awesome, with little wooden tables built right in to the trees outside.  I loved it...AND the food.  We ordered the "2nd best chicken friend steak in the state of Texas."  I would die if I tried the #1, because this one was DELICIOUS.  Seriously. 

After lunch, we walked around the tiny town, went in some shops, and somehow managed to drop $160 in two stores.  T-shirts, headbands, gifts for the kids...  It goes fast!

(Another ornament for our Christmas tree!)                                                                   

We continued our Texas road trip, driving farther north to the outlet malls between San Antonio and Austin.  Neither one of us were looking for anything in particular, but we thought it would be fun.  Surprisingly, Matt was the one who dropped some money this time!  Board shorts from Hurley and a not-so-cheap Spurs jacket at a sports store. 

**Random story about shopping for the jacket:  When we first walked in, Matt spotted a Spurs jacket and walked over to it.  "Ooh, I like this one!"  It had a giant "WOMEN'S" sign above the rack, so I thought he was maybe talking about for me.  He reached for a medium (also my size) ... and then tried to fit in to it.  I was DYING as he said, "Hmmm, it's a little tight!"  and couldn't get it over his shoulders.  When I said it was a womens, he got SO MAD.  Like, really mad and super embarrassed.  I just thought it was hilarious.  Apparently it was completely humiliating to him, haha.

    

We had kind of lost track of time by that point, and realized we were over an hour away from San Antonio...and it was 5 o'clock.  Rush hour traffic between Austin and San Antonio sucks, let me tell you. 

It took us a little longer to get back home than we had planned for.  Mimi had pb&j stuff out for us, so we quickly ate that, changed in to our Spurs gear, and headed down to the AT&T Center for the Spurs vs Clippers game!

Our seats were decent, I think.  Not the best, but I'm sure they would have been fine...if we ever actually went to them.   We got to the arena early and wanted to sneak down closer to the court to see the players warm up.  After a little bit of smooth-talking with the ticket gal, she agreed to let us go down for a couple of pictures, but told us to come back up.  HA!  Yea, right, lady. 

Right next to his favorite player, Tony Parker!!

We stood in the very front row until got kicked out.  But that didn't stop us.  We only moved back 5 rows to sit next to an older man and his son we had made friends with during the pre-game action.  The plan was to just to enjoy it while we could and stay until the people came. 

After nervously looking at every person who walked down the stairs in that section (right behind the Spurs bench)...by half-time, the two seats we were in were the ONLY two seats left open in that section.  No joke.  How we pulled that one off, I'll never know.  But it was SO much more exciting to be that close to the players.  Who are all complete giants, by the way.  I don't think you can really appreciate who huge and athletic they are until you're that close. 

And to top it all off, the game was awesome.  Close the whole time, and Spurs won on a last second shot by Tim Duncan (my favorite player).  I actually recorded the whole thing.  (YouTube link here.)  Oh it was all just SO exciting, but more than anything, I was just beyond happy that Matt got to sit that close and see such an awesome game.  He was on clound 9...  :)

After the game, we went back to Mimi's and hung out and talked until after midnight again.  She's just so fun to hang out with!  We both agreed we would rather spend time with her than go out on the RiverWalk or anything else.  So that's just what we did...

(Saturday and Sunday in next post...)