A Busy First Two Months in SA

I took time off from keeping the blog up-to-date while we were in San Antonio so now I will try to get us caught up.  The rest of January as well as all of our time in San Antonio was full of fun, friends, golf and good times.

Steve and Sally had not had much luck finding a good pizza place.  On Wednesday (Jan 18), all the gang loaded up and we went to Big Lou's Pizza, home of the 52" pizza.  None of us ordered the 52" monster, but we all enjoyed some delicious pizza.

The next day the gang took a trip to the cowboy town of Bandera, Texas.

Bandera is an old cowboy town with a lot of the old buildings.

We started our day off with a delicious lunch at Busbee's BBQ...

...and finished the rest of the afternoon walking around the town and doing a little shopping.

We also had a little ice cream. :)

On Sunday morning, a group of us went to my favorite breakfast place in San Antonio:  The Guenther House.  This gingerbread mansion was on display inside.  It was amazing!

Two story Christmas tree inside the
gingerbread mansion.

Elf playing the piano inside.

We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table for all nine of us but the wait was not bad because they provide you their house coffee free while you wait.  Guenther House coffee is my favorite coffee of all coffees so this was a treat!  As we decided what we wanted to eat, I talked Joslyn into trying their delicious cream waffles.  I decided to try something different and save the cream waffle for another trip.  Breakfast was delicious and we were all very full!

I think Joslyn enjoyed her cream waffle.  :)

What a great morning with such great friends!

Gary, Terry
June, Sally, Steve, Chuck
Gloria, me and Joslyn

That afternoon a group of us went to the nearby honky-tonk, Mr. T's Ice House, to watch the chicken poop bingo -- a highlight not to be missed in San Antonio.  :)

On the next Tuesday bike ride, we rode to San Jose Mission and the Stinson Airport.

Cindy and John (Bonnie's sister and brother-in-law) were in San Antonio for a few days and we met them at The Alamo on Sunday, January 29.  We walked around the Alamo and found out they had removed the state flags inside the Alamo while restoration was going on.  These flags represented the volunteers that fought and died in the battle of the Alamo.  We found out that there was talk that they might not put the flags back.  Well, as a Tennessee volunteer (the state that lost more men than any at the battle of the Alamo), I told them (on a comment card) that I felt that many visitors would be disappointed if they removed the state flags permanently.

We walked around the grounds and watched the National Park movie about the Alamo which was very good.  We also watched a live demonstration of a couple of "volunteers" using their muzzle loader guns like what would happen in a real battle.

After we left the Alamo, we walked across the street to the Menger Hotel which is another one of our favorite historic spots in San Antonio.  We went in the "toy soldier" shop where they sold miniatures of soldiers from various battles across time including the battle of The Alamo.

We finished up our visit with a lupper at the Republic of Texas restaurant down on the Riverwalk.  It was very delicious.  A great afternoon with great friends!

On the last day of January, Terry & Gloria, Rich & Kathy, and Chuck and I rode downtown on the bus and enjoyed an afternoon of walking around the Riverwalk.

River Theatre

Seating for the River Theater
(across the river)

Looking up at the hotel that was
literally constructed room by room.

Dear friends:  Gloria and Kathy

Silly Bros:  Chuck and Rich

Silly men:  Terry & Chuck

Beautiful night on the Riverwalk

January was filled with lots of fun and new friends too.  We enjoyed spending time with Steve & Sally and Gary & June and look forward to seeing them next year too!

February started out funky with Chuck and I both coming down with the flu.  Chuck's flu turned into bronchitis also.  We were pretty much out of commission for the first couple of week of February.  We missed the park Valentine dinner but got to see Terry & Gloria before they headed downtown for their Valentine date.

Aren't they cute?

We finally began playing golf again about the middle of February.  One of the golf scrambles was on Joslyn's birthday and the golf club restaurant treated her to a free dessert.  Yummy!

Over the third weekend in February, there was a lot of rain which caused some flooding in part of the park.  Fortunately, none of the rigs were damaged.  Just made life a little wet and inconvenient.

We finished up the month with a Mardi Gras parade.  Our friends decorated their golf carts, bikes, cars and themselves as we walked, biked, rode or skated through the campground.  Chuck and I rode on Nancy's golf cart.

Terry and Gloria rode with Joslyn.

Kathy on her roller skates.

Rich on his bike.

LuAnn, Judy and BetteAnn

A big thanks to BettyAnn Minthorn who took (and I borrowed) all these great pictures.

Beautiful BettyAnn from whom I "borrowed" many of
the fantastic pictures for our blog.  Thank you, BettyAnn!

Despite the rain and our illness at the first of the month, February was a fun month too.