Howdy San Antonio

Last week we enjoyed/endured a very hot and humid trip to San Antonio, Texas.

Adam was speaking at the annual ASAS/ADSA conference with over 3500 delegates in attendance. This was one work jaunt that Jayne got to tag along to, paying only $20 for her flight (plus airmiles of course) - bargain!

This was the night view of the San Antonio skyline, taken from our hotel room when we arrived at twenty to one in the morning (yawn).

The next day we met with Dale (Adam's ex-boss from Cornell) and enjoyed a leisurely brunch down on San Antonio's famous and lovely River Walk. Huevos Rancheros was on the menu for Adam and Dale while Jayne had breakfast tacos - basically bacon, scrambled eggs with hot salsa and flour tortillas - pretty good. Salsa and chilli sauce on eggs is surprisingly good for brekkie!

This was one of the never-ending river boat rides we saw but didn't get to ride on. Note the family of ducks getting out of it's way just in the nick of time.

Dale and Adam deep in science talk...

After brunch we headed to The Alamo - Adam's one bit of sightseeing for the whole trip.

Surprisingly the Alamo is right in the heart of downtown San Antonio - we'd expected it to be out in the country, but no. Quite handy really, tho walking through the streets in all the heat and humidity was positively yucky.

It felt like 100 degrees and more than 100% humidity... and I don't think it was far off it.

Originally situated on the edge of San Antonio de Béxar, it's now obvious to us that the Alamo was destined to be surrounded by the growing town. The Alamo Plaza (seen above) is a modern main road now but roughly retains the outline of the interior of the old mission and fort.

Here we are at the entrance to the Alamo - not much of a queue thank goodness (others we know gave up because the line was so long to get in when they went).

The epic Siege and Battle of the Alamo took place around 170 years ago. Constructed in 1724, the Alamo has become a shrine and 'a symbol of patriotic sacrifice'. In 1836 the Battle of the Alamo helped Texas gain independence from Mexico.

Inside the old church (behind us in the above picture) are exhibits associated with 'the Alamo Heroes', including: Travis’ ring, Crockett’s buckskin vest, a flintlock rifle used in the battle; a period Bowie knife etc. An arrangement of flags represent all the states and nations from which the defenders came, including England. Somewhat disguised by this serene setting is the fact that this building was the scene of fierce fighting during the 1836 battle.

We weren't allowed to take photos of all the interesting artefacts, hence the somewhat limited photos...

Inside the walls we found the place to be bursting with the most lush foliage, vibrant flowers and beautiful butterflies (plus the odd lizard).

There were also some enormous carp that surged up out of the water and tried to eat whatever was waved at them, whether it was a bit of food or a limb you'd rather hang on to.... gerroff me toes! I swear you could see right down to their bums whenever they opened up their gaping mouths ;)

A hot and bothered Adam

The cacti were HUGE, not to mention their flower stalks

Later at the convention center there was cheerful entertainment by some local musicians

This was the day time view from our hotel room

The hotel pool area where Jayne spent an hour or two - you can just about make out the edge of the pool to the right of the sun loungers... so refreshing, but impossible to stay out there for much more than an hour at a time.



So, the meeting went well for Adam with many good comments on his talk. Jayne was very tempted to sneak into some of the talks but ended up being more tempted by her book and the lure of the pool.

It was a great place to catch up with lots of friends and colleagues we odn't get to see very often now. Most notably we enjoyed catching up with George from Nottingham, and Lorna who did her PhD there.

On our last night there George came along with us for dinner with a bunch of UVM folk. The restaurant choice was 'interesting' let's say. It was called Dick's and, as the name suggests, had a theme based on how rude they can be to their customers, in a weird kind of 'audience participation' stylee. Seriously! It was quite funny really but I think between Adam, Tom (Adam's boss) and George's Yorkshire grumpiness, we scared off the waiter guy by giving back worse than he could dish out ;)

I think it was all too much for George who left when we'd finished eating. A shame really - he missed out on a good night of drinking and singing at Durrty Nelly's (yes, the obligatory Irish pub). The peanut flinging got a little out of hand tho' and Tom had to buy a beer for some poor woman he mistook for someone he knew... oops. Bravo to our friendly Elanco rep friend, David - he bought not one but two rounds of drinks for us all from across the pub - it turns out the deal was that Adam is to give a seminar for them for each round he paid for. Oh dear.

If I get hold of any pictures I'll post them up here for your enjoyment.