TEXAS

So I just got back from visiting my sister Torry and her family in Amarillo, Texas. I hadn't seen T since June, and I am pretty sure that is the longest the two of us have even gone not seeing each other before, so something had to be done. Problem is, there's not a whole heck of a lot to do in Amarillo. I mean, this is it's biggest claim to fame:

So, we schemed this big trip to drive to San Antonio and take the kids to Sea World while I was visiting. We got the hotel all booked and everything was official. I happened to be browsing the Sea World San Antonio website the week before Christmas, and... oh. None of us had bothered to check and see if it was going to be open. Yeah, it wasn't. Neither was Six Flags. They both close up after New Years and reopen in March. So...

We went anyway. Why not? It was only a quick trip anyway, drive down Friday, play on Saturday, drive back Sunday, so we found plenty to fill the time. We got off a little late on Friday so by the time we got to San Antonio it was a little late to do anything. Saturday we drove a ways out of town to this Safari Park which ended up really fun with the kids. It was kind of a random thing- you drive through and feed the animals out of the window, and they just have all these animals from around the world tossed in there together- African and Asian ones along with bison, burros and even a couple of Texas Longhorns. (The biggest thing we were able to pet were the longhorns by the way- huge and as tame as a puppy. I wanted to take one home and ride it to work every day) Anyway, it was a nicely put together place and the kids loved it. Next we went to a tour of these giant ancient caverns. The kids didn't love that quite as much, but the rest of us did. Caves are just cool, okay.

After that we headed back to the hotel (named Crockett, after, you guessed it, Davy Crockett, one of the heroes of the Alamo which our hotel was right across the street from). So then we toured the Alamo and strolled along the River Walk, which is just as great as I had heard, and finished out the evening with dinner at The Rainforest Cafe, which is always a good time. We were seated by this anamatronic elephant and Eva was in a snippy mood after the long day and kept complaining that it would't stop staring at her. Then we told her it was because she had such pretty hair, and after that she was enamored and giving flirty eyes to the beasty the rest of the meal. No confidence issues with that one ;)

I didn't leave til Tuesday and Monday was just a wonderful relaxing day, going around with T and the kids- a walk in the park, feeding the ducks, pushing them on the swing... doing the stuff I miss the most now that they're in Texas. We capped off the evening with a delicious meal at a Japanese restaurant and the next morning I flew away. The next time I see them I will have another nephew as T is due in April! Woot woot!

So here's some pics of my adventures in Texas. Next time I'm there I hope I get to see an armadillo: