texas grind

San Antonio was sunny, busy, warmer than here, and one day, downright hot. I stayed on the River Walk, which is super touristy at night but quite pretty all the same. It almost manages to be the right kind of river for me. If only it was a little less Hard Rock Cafe and a little more Yuri Jazz Cafe, it would be perfect. I like the vines, the old stone, the arched bridges, the wrought iron. I like the precariousness of narrow, slippery paths dropping right off into the river (which seemed to me like a canal), combined with ample drinking places. Kind of European, or Asian, or any less litigious continent than mine.

I was not planning on going to the Alamo. Alamo, I thought - whatever. But when I told that to my dad, he acted like I had just said I was no longer going to pay taxes (although he doesn't seem to have let tax evasion affect his love of one Mr. Willie Nelson). So out of father-induced guilt, and because I basically stumbled right over it as I walked through a busy part of downtown, I did go. I asked the Alamo people how I could cut the hourlong audio tour into a much shorter time, and it seemed like they had been asked that before. Anyway, the first line of the audio tour was something like, "The biggest misconception about the battle at the Alamo is that it was part of a war between Mexico and the United States." I privately blushed a little then, and realized maybe I would actually learn something. And I did. But I'm not going to tell you what. You will have to google it, or go to the Alamo yourself.

I also went to a place called Mission San Jose, which was pretty. I saw wheat being ground into flour on a millstone. Jealous?

I had some trouble finding things that I could eat, so a few meals consisted of bloody marys.

I was taken to cool places, away from the tote-baggery of the teacher crowd that had landed en masse for the convention, by some friends of Alec and Mollie. They were so nice and interesting, and I got to see where people who live in San Antonio actually go.

My hotel had a snack bar called Muggs. I kept wishing that various members of the Detroit band the Muggs would be there. That would have made the whole trip so much more exciting and fun. I would have hung out around the lobby a lot more than I did. Plus, I am sure that Danny would have brewed me a mean cup of coffee.

Oh, I also went to a lot of conference sessions and got a lot of cool ideas and fresh inspiration for teaching. But that's not what you want to know about. You are all about the millstone...