San Antonio

OF COURSE some drunk woman fighting with her brother in the hotel hallway would choose our door to claim as hers. OF COURSE they’d stay outside talking about how much they both love Avery, but that they disagree on how good a person he is. OF COURSE after that and having to call the front desk when he started threatening her, I would lay in bed listening to passers by and pondering how closely drunken celebration sounds to drunken anger when it’s 3am.

Brightside: I got to finish the book I started on the plane.

Lesson: Always. Pack. Earplugs.

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I got up on time (hooray!) for my race this morning and everything came together without issue. We left the hotel on schedule and Kevin walked me over to the start line. I was pretty nervous and it helped to have him there with me. The race contained many opportunities for self-reflection. I’m mostly going to reserve that story for another day so that I can digest it a little first. But it was good and it was challenging and this city is beautiful and I finished.

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Once I crossed the finish line, I found Kevin waiting and we spent a little time enjoying the festivities. I had some snacks and some water and then we returned to the hotel.

I got showered and changed and we headed out for some food. Since football was just starting (at noon – weird) we decided to go to the sports bar that we’d seen a few times during our trip – Yard House. The food was good and the service was superb. We had a really good time.

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Our last event of the trip was happening at 6pm – The San Antonio Spurs game vs the Portland Trailblazers.

The AT&T Center is huge building and it’s very nice inside. We got there early at the recommendation of our lunch server. There were a lot of fun things going on before the arena opened its doors: games and live music, food and drink.

Inside, there are plenty of team displays and interactive games. We saw the teams five gleaming NBA championships and everywhere we turned a different staff member wanted to help us enjoy our game experience – take our picture, give use thunder sticks, help us find something we didn’t even know we were looking for.

We stopped in at the team store so Kevin could pick out a hat and then we headed to our seats.

Since basketball left Vancouver and Seattle, for that matter, it requires an effort for us to watch the sport. It’s been years since I’ve been to a game, but Kevin has worked a couple of traveling exhibition games at Rogers Arena over the last couple of years.

There was a moment of silence for President George HW Bush and some high energy, great intros. San Antonio is a city that is devoted to its basketball team. I saw many people decked out – and I mean head to toe – and I didn’t see a single Blazers jersey.

The game ended with a Spurs win, 131-118 so fans left happy.

We Ubered back to our hotel area and headed out for something to eat. Our food intake has been nothing like normal and that’s been hard. I haven’t really felt good as a result and that’s been a struggle for me. We were finally able to get a meal that was, though not perfect, at least it gave us the feeling of proper nourishment.

And then it was time for bed. Travel day back to Vancouver tomorrow!

There are benefits to traveling so damn early. Like, no lineups, way fewer people, not ever being awake enough to understand the torture.

Things went relatively smoothly this morning. We got up at 3-ish and left for the airport mostly on time. Parked the car, took the shuttle, tagged our bags and passed through security.

For our flight to San Francisco, it was like flying through the night. For well over an hour, there was nothing to be seen over the wing. Just darkness.

We had a couple of hours at SFO and has it ever changed since I was there last! It’s really beautiful and well planned. Restaurants – even the fast food counters – offer hearty and healthy options, there’s great coffee available (not just Starbucks,) workspaces are plentiful and so are the plug points. There is great places to sit, beautiful public art all over the place and it’s nice and bright thanks to its use of windows and natural lighting. It was truly enjoyable to layover there. (More photos here.)

We departed for San Antonio just before eleven and there were a number of open seats on the flight – that’s something you don’t often see anymore! Kevin and I spread out and got some extra elbow room. He mostly slept, I mostly read and the flight was mostly uneventful. We did hit some pretty nasty turbulence later in the flight. It was worse than any I’d ever experienced before, in fact. The pilots quickly ordered the flight attendants into their seats and I guess it was rushed enough that proper procedures couldn’t be followed. For the duration of the rocky part of the flight, you could just hear all the airplane bottles of booze clattering against each other. It was equally humourous and aggravating.

But, alas, we arrived in Texas, safe and sound. Of course, I’d been here before, but it wasn’t for long and it was quite a while ago. A few things rang some bells when I saw them, but we are staying in a totally different part of town and I needed to reacquaint myself.

We can see The Alamo from our room.It’s literally right across the street.

We dropped our bags and headed to the Health and Fitness Expo related to the races that brought us here: this city’s version of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. Coming into town, We were both booked in for the half marathon taking place on Sunday, but there’s been a lot of debate about whether that would remain the same.

I was rock steady in my commitment. Kevin, however, is still suffering from an injury that seems to be rooted in his back, but manifesting in his hip. He’s been at the pool at least six days a week and seeing a combination of physiotherapists, chiropractors and massage therapists at least four times a week. He was hoping for a big showing this weekend, but he finally decided that the 5k was pretty much all he could risk.

We went into the expo planning for him to downgrade to the 5k and for me to remain in the half only. He stuck to his part of the plan, but as soon as he did, I got carried away and registered for it, too. My intention isn’t to actually run the race, but I’m going to enjoy seeing the city and keeping him company. And I’m freaked about running by myself for the first time on Sunday. Eeeek.

The expo wasn’t my favourite. It was fine, but we didn’t see anything great and we didn’t buy a single thing. (Weird.)

From the expo, I introduced Kevin to the River Walk, one of San Antonio’s main attractions. At first, from above, he didn’t seem that into it, but that quickly changed as he got a closer look.

After walking for a few blocks’ worth of River Walk, watching the tour boats travel back and forth, we started talking about where they started and whether we should take one. Next thing we knew, the lineup for the boats was right in front of us! We bought tickets and drinks and hopped aboard.

The River Walk was recently decorated for Christmas and it was like a wonderland cruising under all the lights. Magical.https://www.carlyrigby.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/img_2215.mov

The tour lasted about 35 minutes and we both really enjoyed it.

We went for Mexican food right near the place where we got off the tour boat and it was really, really good.

From there it was a quick walk back to our 150 year hotel (more on that later) so that we could catch a quick swim before the pool closed.

It’s been a good day, but a long one. We’ll be up early for the race and we lost two hours when we came to Texas so we’re hitting the hay to catch up/rest up for tomorrow.

It started raining here today. It may not stop for months. Or it may clear up and go back to what it was yesterday: perfection. It was cold-ish, but it was sunny. I don’t like it warm, but I do like it bright.

I just made a MASSIVE bowl of popcorn for my dinner and it feels like the biggest accomplishment/best decision I made all day.

I officially worked from home for my official first telecommuting day. (Is there any word more dated than telecommuting??) I chose today partly because I needed to get an early start, partly because I could get away to see my favourite doctor and mostly because I could. I almost never take a lunch break in the office because there are so many distractions constantly emailing or walking in my office door that I don’t ever feel like I’m getting anything done. Today I went for a walk in the rain to get a change of scenery and move my body and it was a great way to break up the day.

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We’re just over a week away from our next trip, our last of 2018: SAN ANTONIO!

I’ve been in San Antonio once before, it was right around 13 years ago. I can always remember (or at least reference) the year because I was there as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

I’d been planning on seeing the Falcons play the Saints in New Orleans, but Mother Nature had other plans. If you’re a football plan, you may recall that the Saints were relocated to a number of different locations throughout that season. As luck would have it, the Falcons game moved to San Antonio.

I didn’t know a single thing about San Antonio before I went there and all I really know about it now is that I loved it there. But, I’ve generally loved my trips to Texas than I’ve loved my trips to other states.

The football game took place on the first day we were there and it was the first thing we really did there. As we looked down at the field, there were several rows of chairs set up on the Saints sideline. Standing around that area were probably 100 regular looking people, they could have been picked off the street. We found out a few minutes later that everyone who would be sitting in those seats was someone who had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina and who was living in a shelter in San Antonio. When the Saints took the field, they ran past that group of people and Joe Horn ran right over to a crowd of adults and kids alike and he danced with them. It was such a heartwarming interaction to witness.

The next day, we met a couple of guys in a tiny Mexican restaurant on the Riverwalk. After chatting with them for a while, they told us that they were on the field for the game and that they’d been displaced by Katrina. We ended up spending the whole day with them and it was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life to get to listen to their first hand stories of what it was like to live through a natural disaster. As people were moved out of New Orleans, they were moved further and further west, as far west as San Antonio. The people who landed in San Antonio were the last people to be evacuated. These men were two of them and I’ll never forget their stories.

Obviously, that was the most impactful part of a quick four day trip to the city, but there were a few other highlights, too. It was interesting to visit The Alamo and the Riverwalk was so beautiful and fun to explore. We’re planning to hit up both of those locations on this trip and we have a few other things in mind:

• Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon San Antonio
• The Spurs game vs the Blazers

It’s also San Antonio’s tricentennial this year so it’ll be pretty cool to say we were there for part of that.

Still, we’re looking for travel tips. Have you been to San Antonio before? What are your can’t miss destinations while there? We want to hear about them!