A trip to the past... Part 2.

Darkness comes early this time of the year, and before we knew it, it was dark enough to head out. It'd been so cold up in Dallas, but get down to San Antonio and its almost balmy! Driving through the residential neighborhoods and I was still seeing roses in bloom. Bastards... my roses got froze off last week.

I've only been to the Riverwalk once before, and then I was very very sick, so I was really looking forward to it. I'm a sucker for christmas lights and love wandering around going "OOOOH!" at folks displays. We get closer into downtown and traffic stops. Apparently everybody thinks this is a wonderful idea for a Saturday night. No matter though. I'm in the car with my loves. Nobody needs to pee, and we're chattering away... oh, and I'm looking at downtown and going OOOH! at all the pretty little twinkling lights. Jacob is commenting that there must be a game going on for it to be this thick, but I really don't care. After living for many years in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex, you kinda get used to this kind of thing. Twenty minutes later, and we're finally off the exit ramp... and looking for a parking spot. Full... full.... 20$ parking???? Holy crap! Finally, Lady Luck smiles on us, and we find 12$ parking, AND an empty spot real close to the entrance / exit of the lot :) Yay us! *Happy dance*. I'm officially bouncy, and enjoying being in a fairly new to me city, lovely buildings, loads of history, fairly friendly people. OOOOh lookie! Horse drawn carriages! And holy crap they're decked out. They've got to have a couple car batteries under that thing for all the lights. Geez louise. I'm wandering around with my camera phone, taking pictures of everything, and being duly impressed.... til we come to the Alamo. As I said before, I've only been here once, and then I was very very very sick (as in hadn't eaten in almost two weeks) massive live oaks all around us, draped in teensy tiny lights, hanging down. The smell of the river, the hustle and bustle of the crowd, and the general history. A christmas tree there in the plaza that must have been three stories tall, all decked out.. and then the Alamo itself. I adore that place.. must go back sometime when we have more time to just wander around.

Down on the Riverwalk itself, its utterly divine. Little stands set up all up and down it, singing on the boats, not too terribly cold, just cool enough to make it comfortable to wear a light jacket. Poor Jacob, he should have known... you bring two women shopping / wandering with you, you WILL be stopped at every jewelery and sparkly shop we pass. I'd never seen Luminaries in real life, only on tv and magazines, and they're just too neat... but then again, I'm also exceptionally bouncy and everything is just too neat. The tiny little lights hanging from the trees over the river, the various bands playing through the cool night air, the laughter ringing through the crowd. ... and speaking of the crowd.. it was packed! Remember how I said there had been little stands set up all up and down the riverwalk? Well, also, being an exceptionally busy night, (we found out later that there was four major events going on that evening alone) and you could barely walk the riverwalk at all! There were times of me standing on the stones next to the river, hoping to god that nobody bumps into me or else I'd be soaked! Angela had the idea earlier in the evening for us to have dinner on the riverwalk, but after passing quite a few places with a 1 hour wait, two hour wait, and more, we opted to just eat at home. Its cheaper and much better than anything they could give us anyway :)

We head on back to the parents' place after getting slightly drizzled on, and wandering for a few more hours... and checking out every shop we come to, and there is a wonderful meal waiting for us, with card games later, and some wonderful fudge for a late night dessert. Climbing into bed, the glow from the christmas lights softly filtering through the curtains, we plan our adventures for the next day and reflect on the day's journeys. Tomorrow will be even better.