My Birthday Vacation to San Antonio

Happy birthday to me! Well, my birthday is not until Friday but my birthday vacation was this past weekend in San Antonio. Eric and I went while Marin had a nice bonding weekend with her Nana. We had a ton of fun but at the same time got to get a little rest and relaxation. We flew into San Antonio Saturday around noon and we were able to go ahead and check in to our hotel (even though check in wasn’t until 3:00). We stayed at the Watermark Hotel and Spa which is a really nice hotel right on the river walk. I was able to get a good deal on Sky auction.com for the room. It is normally $300 a night and I got it for about $140 a night (all fees included). Skyauction is a really good website to get some good travel bargains but you have to do your research and know how much you will be saving and also make sure you read the fees involved and any blackout dates. Their customer service is a nightmare so when you book your vacation be sure everything is correct before submitting it to them. If you try to make any changes to your information it is like pulling teeth to get in touch with customer service. Anyway, the hotel was great! We had a jetted bathtub and bathrobes to lounge in. They have nightly turndown service where they bring you ice water and slippers. We had a balcony that overlooked the river walk and it was nice to sit out there and have a few drinks while we listened to the mariachi bands play.

For lunch on Saturday we went down to one of my favorite restaurants, Casa Rio. When I was growing up and my family always vacationed in San Antonio it was a must to eat at that restaurant. This time around it was not as I remembered it. The soft tacos that I usually order were bland but the beans and rice were still very good. Eric was getting mad at me because I kept feeding the ducks my tortilla chips. He said the restaurant would not appreciate me doing that. And then 2 minutes later a bus boy came by to clear a nearby table and dumped the chips in the river for the ducks. Yep, I gave him the “you don’t know what you’re talking about look”. Saturday night we went to the Rivercenter Comedy Club. We had never heard of any of the comedians before but took a chance and went anyway. The headliner was a guy named Melvin George and Eric and I both agreed that if our friend, Darren, was a comedian he would be exactly like this guy. His mannerisms and his jokes reminded us of how Darren acts. It was a funny show, nonetheless. We then went to Waxy O’Connors Irish pub for a late dinner and drinks. I had the cheeseburger and it was one of the best cheeseburgers I have ever had. No, I wasn’t drunk and just hungry, it was really that good. The only comparison I have is when I was young and my family went to Houston for a trip. We stayed at a hotel with room service and my mom and I ordered a cheeseburger while my dad and brother went to a baseball game. My mom and I to this day still agree that was the best hamburger we had ever had…Waxy O’ Connors comes close to beating that.

Sunday we slept in late. I love my daughter but sleeping in is not possible with her since she wakes us up by 7:00 every morning. So we relished the time we got to sleep in for a couple of hours. We then walked down to the Market Square and had lunch at Mi Tierra Cafe and Bakery. When I was little we used to go there for the bakery and get mexican sweet bread. It was not as popular back then and there was usually little to no wait time to order. Now it is a madhouse in there and you actually have to take a number to get your order in. It’s crazy how popular it has become. We got a table outside for our lunch and although the service was not great (we didn’t get our chips and salsa until our meal was already delivered and we never got the water we requested) it was the best mexican food I have had in a long time. I just kept eating until I stuffed myself. We walked around El Mercado which is a bunch of shops so we could work off all the food. I ended up buying a couple of little purses for Marin since she loves to hold purses. She holds her tote bags on her arm to make it seem like its her purse because she wants to be just like Mommy.

After we left the market we visited the legendary Buckhorn Saloon where apparently Teddy Roosevelt once recruited Roughriders and Pancho Villa planned the Mexican Revolution. We just stepped in to have a couple of drinks and take a few pictures. They had a museum but we didn’t feel like paying for tickets since it seemed like it was just a room full of stuffed wild animals. Then we thought we should go ahead and just look at the Alamo since it is the biggest attraction in the city. We took a picture in front of it and then we were done. We walked across the street to the Ripley’s Haunted Adventure and I asked Eric if he wanted to go inside. We inquired about it and found out that we could also do the Tomb Raider 3D ride and tour the Guinness World Records Museum for a discounted rate. So we decided to do all three attractions. The Haunted Adventure was basically an elaborate haunted house. I have been through many haunted houses but I have to admit I was a little scared in some parts of this one. The Guinness museum was interesting but we got kind of bored about half way through. I liked the Tomb Raider 3D ride the best mostly because I kicked Eric’s butt on the scores. The ride is basically just a little roller coaster that takes you through different rooms while you are wearing your 3D glasses so things appear to move closer to you. There are guns that you use to shoot at certain targets throughout the ride and it keeps your score right there in your roller car. Even though Eric kept trying to shoot over my targets I still beat him by a good margin. We then went to Madogs Pub on the river walk and watched the Eagles and the Cardinals game…Yeah right! Everyone else there was watching the game. When some lady at the table next to us asked who was playing I told her the Eagles and Cardinals and Eric looked at me like “How do you know?” I can’t believe I married a guy that is this clueless when it comes to sports. But I guess opposites attract.

The rest of the trip we just relaxed (and had another burger at Waxy’s Pub). It was a much needed vacation. This Saturday my company is requiring me to go to some team day event to go over goals for the year. So that is why we did my birthday vacation a little early, plus I had Martin Luther King day off so that helped.

I knew my vacation was over when I got to work today and saw that I had over 130 loan applications to decision and my co-underwriter was off for the day. Ugh! Can I go back to San Antonio?!