Zach and I are in San Antonio right now, taking a little break/anniversary trip. Donovan is with my parents in Austin, no doubt being treated like a king by them and my sisters and dad and in-laws. Apparently he doesn't seem to miss us at all, and has been in great spirits since we left yesterday. I wonder if he'll be disappointed to see us again-- since we don't spoil him nearly as well as our families do-- or if he'll instead crumble and make a big show about how badly he's been treated in our absence-- something he's done a few times when being baby-sat by friends.
We arrived yesterday to rainy and very cold weather. We walked around the Riverwalk a little, but then stayed indoors for most of the afternoon. Dinner was had at a Mexican place around the corner, and I was surprised at how good the margaritas and food were. I think I forget how good they can be when you're actually *in* Texas.
Today was gorgeous and much warmer. We walked around the King William area, where I think I took a picture of each and every house. Most of them are these HUGE colonial-style homes, and some are renovated but many of them look fairly run down, and it gives you the sense of a place that is very old and that was very much part of The South. It was almost a shock, as Austin is so very different from this (or if there are areas if Austin that look like that, I've not been to them). It's funny how these two cities that are not that far from each other really do have such different feels. But then again, Austin feels pretty different from just about anywhere else in Texas...
We later went by the cathedral, and on to the Market Square where all the banners say Feliz Navidad rather than Merry Christmas, and souvenir shops are filled with Mexican fighter masks/capes, and wooden marionettes, and cowboy hats and sombreros. I really forget how much stronger the Mexican influence is here, how quickly that changes as you travel south in Texas, and it was kinda fun to be surrounded by it. Zach was noticing that it seems the cadence and rhythm of Spanish spoken here seems different even from how it's spoken in California. We stopped for a margarita and nachos, and listened to mariachi singers visit the tables nearby, then walked back to the hotel where we enjoyed the sunset from our window and will soon get ready to head out again for dinner.
Families and young kids are everywhere here, and we've seen many toddlers about D's age/size, which makes us miss him a little. We'll both be happy to see him again tomorrow. We're also really, really enjoying the freedom to sleep in, to take our time, to figure out what we want to do, and just be together without planning everything around a certain small person's needs. We're trying to figure out how we can make something like this happen a bit more often...
Sorry I didn't call. I figured since you were kid-less, you wouldn't want to hang out with 2 kids belonging to someone else ;). Besides we're all a bit sick here. Glad to hear you had a nice visit in SA. And yes, the Spanish spoken here is very different from that spoken in California. It's almost a whole different language!
ReplyDelete