Happy New Year! 1/2/23

Hello and Good Morning and Happy New Year!! 

How are you and how were your celebrations?  Our weekend, of course, was quiet.  Fletch and I are both on the mend and will finish up our Paxlovid prescriptions tomorrow morning.  Our symptoms vary day-to-day.  I experienced more coughing than Fletch; he experienced a worse runny nose than I did.  We both thought our sense of taste was diminishing Saturday night, but Sunday morning that was fine.  I'm still a bit on the tired side (there was one night I slept 11 hours, got up and did a few things and then had a 2 hour nap!!), but overall am pleased with how we fared our first (and hopefully only) bout of Covid.  Thank you all for your well wishes and all the healing juju you sent our way.

I'll wrap up talking about our Texas trip in this post.  Kind of picture heavy, so be warned!

Saturday morning (still a bit on the chilly side) we all had a late breakfast at a restaurant in Austin.  After that the men went off to see Avatar (which they all enjoyed - all 3+ hours of it!).  Mailing, Bonnie and I took off on our own adventures:  first we drove to Franklin's to pick up all the BBQ Mailing had ordered for Christmas day.  Luckily she had ordered and we were able to pick up.  Others who had not ordered were waiting in line - folks get in line hours before the place opens...almost tailgating - chairs, coolers with beer, etc.  After that we went to the Blue Genie Art Bazaar

This was just your typical neighborhood bazaar:  soaps, candles, jewelry, tee shirts, etc.  Some of the stuff was interesting, some not so much.  After that we drove to a park Mailing had heard about and walked a 3-4 mile loop.  I was exhausted by the time that was done!  But, it was time to meet the guys and take in the Bullock Texas State History Museum (and I will say the history of TX is extremely violent!).

Christmas Day dawned sunny and bright.  We had a lazy morning at the AirBnB and then walked over to C&M's (about a 15 minute walk) late morning.  We had some gifts and then some of us took a walk along the River Walk.  What a pretty trail.  There were lots of people out and about walking, running, biking, etc.  Early on our walk we spotted a beautiful hawk sitting on a low branch alongside the trail.

Up near the dam and Lady Bird Lake we spotted a lot of turtles.

Colin & Mailing often spot green parakeets along this trail, but none were to be seen on Christmas Day.  There are a lot of pretty and interesting murals along the trail.

The BBQ for dinner was delicious.  There was turkey, pulled pork, sausage, brisket and ribs.  And, of course, sides:  potato salad, cole slaw, pickles, etc.

We watched a movie and called it an early evening - Monday we headed to San Antonio!

First up was Tower of the Americas which was pretty impressive.

You can see from the sky what a gorgeous day we had!  And, San Antonio was mobbed - so many people.  Compared to it, Austin felt like a ghost town!  We ended up having lunch at a place along the River Walk in San Antonio.  Though the air was a little chilly, we opted to sit outside to eat.

Next up was the Alamo.

Next up we took in the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.  So many of the plants were covered due to the severe weather of a few days before, but there are several greenhouses and the displays were gorgeous.  I liked this little structure:

Our last stop before an early dinner was the San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden which was so, so beautiful.  We didn't have much time there as it was closing by 5, but we walked a bit.  This structure was so gorgeous

We had an early dinner and headed back to Austin.  Bonnie, Zhongren, Fletch and I had an early flight back to PHL Tuesday morning.  Our flight was delayed, but only by half an hour.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip with a whole lot of walking!  Thanks for coming along on my trip!

Hoping today finds everyone stepping into the New Year with joy and optimism.