San Antonio

The very next weekend after going to Boston, we headed to San Antonio. This trip was planned as a result of getting a great deal at the Hill Country Hyatt through Travelzoo. I had wanted to stay at the Hill Country Hyatt for a long time, but it's always so expensive (usually $300+/night). I couldn't resist the great deal so on a cool, rainy Friday afternoon we headed south.

As an added bonus, we were upgraded to a suite. When I booked it said we would be upgraded if available, but I never dreamed it would really happen. It did and our room was fabulous! See???






I love a hotel with robes!



The Hill Country Hyatt is especially popular with families in the summer because they have a lazy river and a real-sand beach. The water was a little cool when we were there because it had rained for a couple of days before we arrived. But, that didn't stop us - we floated the lazy river and read books in lounge chairs and floated the lazy river some more. It was a very relaxing day and much needed escape.



On Sunday, we took a driving tour of the San Antonio Missions, which are part of the National Park system. I have been to San Antonio many, many times, but this is something I had never done. It was kind of fun trying to find our way and then learning a little about these missions. They date back to the 17th century and their purpose was to Christianize the native population and make them Spanish citizens. The missions were not just churches, but were communities where the church was the focus.

Mission San Jose:




Mission Espada:




Mission San Juan:



Mission Concepcion:




It was another great weekend for us and even though it threatened to rain all weekend, it never did, which made it even better!

Boston

For Labor Day weekend, Joe and I decided to go out of town. Labor Day can be a good travel weekend because school has just started in Texas and it's officially the end of the busy travel season. We picked Boston for one reason - we could get there. Oh, sorry - two reasons - we could get home, too!! We had actually wanted to go back to Boston for quite some time (we haven't been since 2002!), but usually it's a tough ticket to get. So when I saw the flights were open, it was an easy decision to go to Bean Town.

Our weekend started out with a kind of good news/bad news scenario. The good news was - we made the first flight we tried for. We didn't think we were going to because there were tons of revenue standbys on the flight, but at the last minute they called us with seats. Unfortunately, the overhead bins were full, so we had to check our bag at the gate. Not the end of the world, we've had to do that before!! However, when we arrived in Boston, our luck would change. The DFW-BOS flight before ours had been delayed and left about the same time we did, so there were 2 DFW flights + flights from ORD, MIA, and STL arriving about the same time. Believe it or not, the bags from all of those flights were delivered on the same baggage belt! We waited. And we waited. And we waited some more. No bag. Sigh. We were pretty convinced that it was still in the elevator at the gate at DFW and hoped that maybe it would arrive on the next flight, however that was not the case. We found out the next morning that someone else picked up our bag and didn't realize it until they got home.

We had some personal things with us that we packed in our backpack so with that, we headed to downtown Boston to our hotel. On Saturday morning, we got up, showered, and donned the same clothes we had worn to work the day before and headed to Quincy, MA on the train. Quincy, MA was the home of John Adams and after watching the mini-series on HBO and reading the book by David McCullough it was based on, we decided to see where it all took place. The homes where they were born are both still standing next door to each other. The National Park Service provides a tour of both homes + a trip to Peacefield, the home that John and Abigail lived in upon their return to the US from Europe.

The house where John Adams was born:


The house where John Quincy Adams was born:


Peacefield:


We spent a little more time in Quincy after the tour, visiting the United First Parish Church where both John and John Quincy and their first ladies are buried. Across the street from the church is the Hancock Cemetery where we saw lots of really old headstones and I took a picture of a couple because I was interested in the "angel skulls" on them.


Returning to Boston, we got our bag and changed clothes before heading to Cambridge, home of Harvard University. In Harvard Yard is a statue of John Harvard. Upon his death, he directed that 1/2 his money and all his books be donated to Emmanuel College, Cambridge (est. 1636 and the oldest institution of higher learning in the US). The gift was said to have assured the college's continued operation and in 1639, the college was renamed "Harvard" in his honor. It is said to be good luck to rub his foot, so I did!


This is the main library, Widener Library.


Cambridge also has some historical sites. It was there that troops assembled before marching to Bunker Hill on June 16, 1775. It was also the site where Washington first took command of the American Army on July 3, 1775.

On Sunday, we took a trolley tour and our ticket included a harbor cruise. At the other side of the harbor, we stopped and toured the U.S.S. Constitution. The ship is still a fully commissioned Naval Ship and the tours are run by Naval personnel. The ship was named by President George Washington, never lost a battle, and is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world.




We had a really good weekend, (in spite of our bag being M I A for a few hours), including the most fantastic weather for the whole weekend. We still have a few things on our Boston "to-do" list, but it was a lot of fun knocking a few off on Labor Day weekend.

A Housewife

I hear all the time that being a housewife would be boring. I don't know. This past weekend we went to Illinois for Lilly's baptism and we came home on Monday morning. I am in the very odd circumstance of having several vacation days to burn and no plans, so I decided to take one on Monday. We landed about 9:30. On the way home I stopped by the Aveda store to get some hair products. They were out of everything I needed, so I got a Starbucks to comfort myself and was home by 10:30. I intended to gets lots of stuff down around the house, but also thought that since it was a vacation day, I should do some stuff I LIKE. So, here was my day:

Stuff I needed to do:
Unpack
Laundry
Grocery Store
Made dinner (I know - SHOCKING!!!)

Stuff I wanted to do:
Watch Grey's Anatomy (Joe doesn't like that show so I try to watch it when he's not here)
Finished organizing and captioning my vacation pictures
Watched Oprah (Ellen was on - OMG - she is SOOOOO funny!)

I thought it was a fairly nice balance and, gee, I think I could be a housewife!!! Then the mail was delivered and in our mailbox was the credit card bill for our recent vacation. Sigh. Guess what I did today? I went back to work!!