Day 5 - Celina TX to San Antonio TX

June 18th

We had a long drive ahead of us and we wanted to get to San Antonio before most of the craziness started (more on that later), so we met back at the church at 7:30 AM.  Once again, loading went very quickly.  I think the under-bus loading crew has figured out a good way to pack the stuff.  It helped that a number of people arrived at the church early and started carrying the equipment out of the building.  There was a big pile when Justin and I arrived at 7:25 AM.

I told you earlier that one of Terry's goals on this trip is to show Ed some things that he has never seen before.  Well, he did it again today.  We ate lunch in Austin TX, then made a brief stop to see the Giant Sofa and Couch Potatoes.

 

Austin's Couch Potatoes?  I didn't know that Austin had...oh wait, I guess they mean Austin TEXAS, not Austin McDowell.

The original plan was to go to the hotel, let the kids have some time to go swimming, eat dinner, then go on a boat ride through the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Then the the Spurs won the NBA Championship, and the city decided to have the celebration parade, via boat, on the San Antonio Riverwalk.  The boat tour operator called us on Monday to tell us that the boat tour was just not going to happen, so we came up with an alternate plan.  That was snag number one.

About 15 minutes away from our destination, we hit snag number two.  Lucy called the hotel to let them know we were almost there and they said "we don't have a reservation for you".  Terry scrambled and called the travel agent to find out what happened.  It seems we had a reservation, but it was for Thursday, not Wednesday.  Like Terry said, this was pretty much a "nightmare situation" - a busload of 29 ringers and no place to stay.

But, through a lot of quick work by the travel agent, the hotel staff, and Terry and Lucy, we were able to get into the Menger Hotel, which is the sister hotel of the hotel of the Crockett Hotel where we were originally planning to stay in.  And the best news - it was right across the street. 

While we were waiting for Terry and Lucy to sort out the hotel situation, we went to the Alamo (which was right across the street from the hotel).  After we got checked in to the hotel, we let the kids have a few hours to swim and/or shop. Then we broke up into small groups and walked around the San Antonio Riverwalk.

Tomorrow we head to the Space Center in Houston and a concert in Spring TX.