I’ve returned from vacation in San Antonio. I’d like to say rested and refreshed, but I’m not here to lie to you, dear reader. I came down with a cold during my trip and I’m far from either rested or refreshed. Friday, the first day back in the office was…unpleasant. Brutal would be an overstatement. But I was in poor condition to wade through the piles of work that had built up during my absence.
The Alamo, as if you needed me to tell you that.
The web log is travelling. The HA is anxious to get to Six Flags. Who has time to write? So instead of my usual maunderings, here are some photos of San Antonio, Texas.
Lion Tamers
Butterfly day at the zoo, much to the delight of the HA.
Everything is bigger in Texas. Get a load of those pigeons.
The River Walk.
The Sniper Tree
Tower of the Americas.
Birthday taster at Blue Star Brewing.
Your safety is our number one priority.
Advice from a man who probably has no business giving advice: Remain grateful but beware contentment. There, that ought to cover Thanksgiving.
MBW, the HA, and I drove to the Oregon Coast Wednesday for an extended Thanksgiving weekend. The weather was appropriately Oregon Coast-ish: wet and windy, though we did enjoy occasional sun breaks.
A cool fall day in a college town on a football Saturday is classic Americana. I traveled to Eugene and back this weekend for precisely that.
MBW, the HA, and I drove out to the Columbia River Gorge yesterday and embarked on a paddlewheel sightseeing excursion upriver. The sky offered better visibility than it had most of the previous month: about this time every year everything west of the Rockies bursts into flame. Smoke obscures the views. Yesterday wasn’t bad. The river breeze was nice.
The HA spent a few days in California with her grandparents. Currently MBW and I are en route to pick her up at roughly the halfway point, specifically a casino about twenty five miles south of Roseburg, Oregon. I believe the HA’s excursion benefited everyone. Her grandparents get grandkid time, MBW and I enjoyed some child-free time, and the HA, I assume, enjoyed being spoiled.
MBW, the HA, and I returned from Mexico Friday night. Saturday we loaded up the car and drove south to Springfield, Oregon. At least the cat had one night to reunite with MBW before we abandoned her again.
Today is the is the wedding of one of my cousins. Other than the 90+ degree heat, it’s a fine day for it.
We reached Springfield around 1PM Saturday. We hit Plank Town Brewing for lunch. I like the space; open, brick and timber. The food was decent. The flights disappointed me: instead of picking from the available beers, there were three pre-selected options. I don’t object to an IPA only flight, but I’d prefer to able to sample a greater range of the offerings. The New England style IPA exceeded expectations, the other three…did not.
We still had time before we could check-in to our hotel. So we visited the Springfield museum. Springfield is, of course, the actual inspiration for the hometown of The Simpsons. I don’t care what else you may have heard, it just is. Springfield is located next to Eugene. Eugene is the college town, Springfield the blue collar town. An admirable pairing, if you ask me.
The wedding was a sprawling, family affair, the family now that much larger. Perfection would have required about a ten degree decrease in temperature. But why quibble. We had to leave relatively early during the post-ceremony festivities to make it home at a reasonable hour. Congrats to the newlyweds.
I hope that ends my travels for the near future. As much as I generally enjoy travelling, I need a break. Back to the office tomorrow.
MBW is on a business trip to Monterrey. Monterrey is a vast, sprawling metropolis in Northeastern Mexico. It’s grown even larger since my last visit, not long ago. MBW brought me along with her to entertain the HA. The Airbnb we rented boasts an impressive view (when smog and clouds allow), a gym, cafeteria, and — most importantly — a swimming pool. The HA and I have spent numerous hours in the pool and we’re only at the halfway mark of the trip. I expect many more.
Denver, I hardly knew thee. That’s because I spent most of the last four plus days in the Hyatt Regency. The hotel hosted Westercon 71, yet another convention foolish enough to invite me to sit on panels and pontificate. That required I stay inside most of the time, preventing my touring the city.
The weather has become suspiciously summer-like. You know what that means? Beach weekend.