With conditions like that, we could have stayed on the beach for a few more days. But, it was time to move on. We were San Antonio-bound.
Well, lucky us: Apparently the San Antonio Spurs are playing the Miami Heat in the NBA championship series, and Game Six is tonight (in Miami). Keith has been all atwitter about this, looking forward to having dinner on the River Walk tonight with all the other fans who will be whooping it up and watching the game. I mean, if you know Keith, you know that he has been chatting this up nonstop. The rest of us are like, "The San Antonio who?"
While we are in San Antonio, we are kamping at the KOA, which is not exactly our MO. But while we're exploring larger cities, it's nice to have the KOA. We're not craving rustic campsites, scenic views and privacy so much as we need convenience (this place is five minutes from downtown), clean showers and a place to lay our heads. We splurged and got a kamping kabin -- just a room with three beds in it -- for the kids, which saves us having to set up and take down the tent. Also, it's 99 degrees here, so at least the kids will have air conditioning.
We set out for the San Antonio River Walk for dinner. And Keith was right -- there were a lot of spirited Spurs fans out and about. And every TV in every bar and restaurant was tuned to the game. We peeked inside Paris Hatters, which is, I guess, a San Antonio institution. The shop is packed with Stetsons, as well as, to Charlie's surprise and delight, top hats and bowlers, and he is pleading for one. Keith tried on and is considering the purchase of a cowboy hat, although I think something that doesn't say, "I got this from my gay uncle in Tijuana," would be more practical.
We ate outside at a place along the River Walk serving newfangled Tex-Mex. We enjoyed guacamole made right at our table, margaritas that, according to the waiter, were recently voted the best in San Antonio, flautas stuffed with sweet potatoes and chicken, and chipotle-rubbed shrimp.
After dinner, we took a boat tour of the River Walk area, which is absolutely enchanting -- lovely and lush and like its own little world, set apart from the noise and the traffic of the streets up above. The kids were completely charmed, too. Natalie marveled at the architecture and at one point she grabbed my arm and gushed, "This is SO beautiful!" I was moved by her display of emotion. She's 12, after all, and at times on this trip has been trying hard to seem unimpressed.
Our tour guide was a little guy named Juan, who cursorily delivered his scripted schtick, which at times was very funny, if not exactly extraordinarily informative. The kids dug it, I think, although the monologue was so rapid-fire and mechanical, I'm not sure how much they were able to absorb.
At some point this evening, the children got caught up in Keith's Spurs fervor. They begged to stay up and watch the game on the big screen in the KOA game room. I have to admit that it was an exciting game -- tied at 95 with 5 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, the Spurs lost in overtime and the series moves on to Game Seven on Thursday. Charlie was deeply disappointed.
When we returned to the kampground around 9 this evening, the temperature gauge in the car still read 90 degrees. I was worried that Keith and I wouldn't get any sleep in the Teardrop, which has been baking in the sun all day. But by the end of the basketball game at 11 p.m., a breeze has picked up and the air has cooled off enough to make sleeping in the Teardrop tolerable. Our kampsite backs up to a pond, and there is a chorus of a thousand frogs out there who will sing me to sleep in their rich, deep bass voices.
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