Greetings from the Lone Star state as the wandering foursome wind down their two week “swang” through Texas with a night on the town in Austin and a stop at Donn’s Depot to hear fellow South Dakotan, Chris Gage perform on stage. UPDATE: Great evening, Chris sounded fantastic. He even did a couple old Red Willow Band songs for us.)
Below is Texas Motor Speedway, where we were heading off to in the rain last time I blogged. It was so magnificent, we went there twice.
Cold and rainy..waiting for the thumbs up or down on the race.
An optimistic selfie from our seats at the fourth turn.
After sitting in the stands for about three hours, watching track dryers fail to get the job done, we all got word that the race was postponed till Monday. So, after inching our way back to the motel in a world class traffic jam, we returned the next day for the actual race.
That’s Joanie’s hand waving for her favorite driver Tony Stewart who led early but faded to tenth.
It turned out to be a nice day for racing Monday.
We all agreed it was a great experience but really kind of a boring because there wasn’t much action. The day was soured too by the huge traffic jam that followed. Trying to inch our way through agonizingly slow traffic to our motel in Waco was so frustrating that we finally just had to laugh.
We made up for it the next day on a toll road to San Antonio where the speed limit was 85 which, of course, means 90. So we really loosened Big Red’s reins and arrived in short order to our beautiful hotel..The DruryPlaza..right on the famous Riverwalk.
The view from our suite
What a suite bunch.
It was built as the Alamo National Bank in the Art Deco era and beautifully restored into the hotel.
The weather was spectacular; perfect for a riverboat cruise.
The tower built for the 1968 worlds fair as seen from the river boat.
Just a lovely view. In fact our room had a painting of this very vista.
A fellow passenger volunteered to take our picture.
Those familiar with Drury Inns know that guests receive three free cocktails daily as well as a huge hot buffet during happy hour and for breakfast.
We made sure to take advantage in order to justify the room rates which were a bit spendy but with four of us in one suite it wasn’t too bad if you don’t mind the noise. I didn’t notice it but others mentioned I might have snored slightly.
Speaking of spendy, Linda and I decided to splurge for dinner one evening and found a place right downtown called The Palms. It’s just what Linda wanted; an outside table, a delicious Texas steak and red wine. Perfection.
The filet looks a little rare to my liking but it tasted great. Heck, I even tried mussels on this trip.
We figured that walking is over rated so we boarded the double decker bus with hop on hop off privileges and took the San Antonio City tour. Great fun. Well, take a look.
First stop was the old market where Joanie and Denny tried on hats.
Drinks at La Margarita came with entertainment. At a price, of course.
Seeing the Alamo tucked in among all the big buildings comes as kind of a shock to some.
Linda has 7 brothers and sisters..three of whom live in the Austin area..so we’ve been making sure they don’t have a chance to escape seeing us. Our first stop was in Lyndon B. Johnson’s backyard; Horseshoe Bay, Texas. A man made lake near MarbleFalls that uses water from the Colorado River to power generators at a few dams and provides lots and lots of incredible water side real estate for filthy rich oil barons. Tom and Cynthia Tucker (Cyn is Linda’s sister) are residents but are also the exception. They live on pensions from careers in electronics and nursing not big oil.
Tom and Cynthia’s patio view. Spent a lot of time chatting and imbibing here.
They don’t live directly on the water but do have a pontoon boat docked at the Marina which Captain Tucker took us aboard for a memorable ride around the huge man made lake for a look-see at all the high falootin mega million dollar homes bought and paid for every time you fill ‘er up at the gas pump.
Captain Tom Tucker at the helm appears to have been caught in mid yawn but I think he’s just providing informative narration to his South Dakota passengers.
( That’s Cynthia on the left and Joanie on the right.)
We docked across the lake where Linda’s brother Chad and his wife Lisa have a home. We were joined for cocktails by Linda’s other sister, Shelle and nephew, Jordon. Just a terrific afternoon.
Chad and Boz with Chad’s wife Lisa in the background.
So far, Big Red..our 14 year old Lincoln has performed admirably. We did have a gearshift lever issue which was quickly repaired at no charge by one of Tom’s buddies.
There was sad news during our journey when we learned of my cousin Bob Gruseth’s passing from Alzheimer’s complications. He was a good man who, for some reason known only to his maker, was robbed of so much..but not all..of the personality that made him special. He’ll be missed.
I hope you have good friends and family in your life that are always glad to see you come, spend a little time, eat, drink and be merry who will shed a tear when you drive off into the sunset.
Being welcome and being missed. What better legacy could you ask for?
8 Responses
Glad you had a great trip, the Riverwalk is awesome.
That steak looks absolutely perfect! Glad you had a fun trip.
Great story Doug. We can relate having taken the trip to Texas the past two winters. We have family in Austin, Huston, and Kerville. We enjoy the drive and such an interesting state and so many things to see.
Doug, Great pictures from Texas. How come no pictures of my cousin Mr. Gage? He is a fantastic musician, and no matter how long he lives in Texas, he’s still a proud South Dakotan
Doug, You said you tried “Muscles on this trip”- I thought you already had muscles!! Maybe you meant mussels? Your friend John Mogen & I were watching the prairie chickens dance yesterday morning on the Ft. Pierre Grasslands – that was pretty neat!! Stu Surma- the Java Man
Good catch, Stuart. I’ve made the correction.
Doug, I also meant to say you post some great photos and as an amateur photographer I appreciate that! Stu Surma
Doug, My gosh am I glad I found this on Keloland. Reading all your stories reminds me of growing up as a kid and listening to you on the news early in the morning when I was getting ready for school with my parents. My father always told me to turn off the cartoons and watch some real news because that’s how I would learn about what was going on in the world. You always made it fun! Every morning at exactly 5am that’s wher we’d be, parked in the kitchen, cereal bowl and spoon in hand, ready to learn if school was to be canceled or not. Proud to be reading more about the times you grew up in and the events that still keep occuring here in this great city. Can’t wait to hear more from you! -Courtney Nelson