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Still in San Antonio... just in time to see the Festival of Lights on the River Walk!
Next we went to visit San Antonio's claim to fame...
Remember the Alamo!!!
Well, most of us did. If you ask nice Jim may tell you why he was asked to leave!!
Here's a clue, in Texas, a do-rag is the same as a hat.
We don't really have much nice to say about San Antonio so we'll leave it at that!
Next we headed to South Padre Island for some and fun.
When we arrived, it was warm
so we played...
and played.
Then a storm passed our way and we spent some time...
playing cut-throat monopoly...
and building motors.
Cindy was getting antsy because she needed to get some shopping done before returning to California for Christmas. And we had no Christmas tree. You would be surprised at how hard it was to find a small tree in south Texas. It became somewhat of an obsession for her. And no, the small artificial ones at Walmart wouldn't do, she had to have a real tree....a tiny...tiny...real tree.
Remember what we said about not messing with her holidays?? Yeah.
USS Lexington, Corpus Christi, Texas
It didn't look very big driving up to it,
but it was!
It wouldn't be very hard to get lost since the many narrow passageways look alike.
Thanks for the warning.
After we left the ship, we went to the Jeep to get our lunches. We walked up to a streetside snack bar to buy drinks. The kid inside couldn't have been more than 16 and was sound asleep or so we thought. We knocked several times and called out to him. When he didn't respond we went into the attached restaurant thinking maybe something was wrong. The manager came out and pounded on the window and yelled the kid's name...no response. The manager became worried and went around back to let himself in and indeed, the poor kid was sleeping! He apologized and we told him not to worry, that the drowsys get everyone once in a while. We bought our drinks and went back to the Jeep to eat. A few minutes later, we saw the kid walking home. We felt so bad.
Goodbye Corpus Christi.
Hello Port Aransas!!
This was, without a doubt, one of the coolest places we have camped. Ten bucks a night gets you beach front camping.
This was the view out our windows. As Californians, we were amazed to see the sun rise over the ocean!
Port Aransas is a very busy port and it was fun watching large ships come and go.
At night, everything took on a new look.
We have a tree!!
We even found the perfect shell for the top. Life is good.
Next stop....
Galveston
Here we toured an old oil rig and learned about offshore oil drilling.
Maddie and Matt sporting Halliburton Hottie suits! Maddie actually considered requesting one for Christmas.
Houston, we have a problem.
Just kidding I've always wanted to say that!
No but seriously folks, the Houston Space Center was great.
"It's like pod racing, Mom"
"Yes" Maddie celebrates a successful mission
That is one cramped ride back to Earth!
Before long, the scientists at NASA discovered Matthew's true origins and were planning an alien autopsy...
So we hid out till the coast was clear.
It was time to head back to Austin, we had a plane to catch...home for the holidays!
But we had just enough time to check out an Austin holiday tradition.
Zilker Park's famous...
Ooohhh...
Ahhhh..
Wild Things are one of our favorites.
The reason for the season.
The Zilker Park Tree.
This is what it looks like from the inside.
This is what it looks like when you stand underneath it and spin!
Cool huh?