Don't Blame Us, Blame Groupon!

After Big Bend, we made a quick stop on the way to San Antonio to mountain bike the canyon rim trail at the Seminole Canyon state park. It was a worthwhile stop since the mountain biking was right at our level of technicality and the trail granted us great views of Seminole Canyon with its pictographs and black cliffs streaked with white. It was also a great stop because the plant known aptly as the “barometer plant” was flowering from all the recent rain. Desert sage or Texas sage, as it is more formally known, covers the panhandle down by the border, resulting in a mountain bike ride through fields of purple bushes. Most of the drive to San Antonio was the same, with the whole sea of sage turned purple like Lavender. It was absolutely beautiful!

 

Soon enough, we arrived in San Antonio where we accidentally placed ourselves in a situation similar to our experience at Copper Harbor. We were dirty, sweaty, and certainly smelly after our experiences in the Texas desert… when we checked into the Wyndham Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio.

The hotel staff was kind enough, but it quickly became apparent we were not in our element. A bell boy was required to assist us up to our room with our bags, which created an awkward situation since Ryan and I had no small bills to tip him with, and we were given complimentary breakfast buffet tickets when it took longer than usual to check us into our room. (Complimentary breakfast turned into brunch since Ryan and I are that cheap). We had to pay for valet parking too, since the Acura didn’t have the clearance for self-parking, and I’m sure the valet’s were horrified by the state of the car. Woops! We were given lots of curious glances from other guests in the hotel too.

Once we had showered and cleaned ourselves up, we felt a bit more qualified to be in the hotel, but when I asked the concierge for restaurant suggestions we were showered with “free appetizers” to all the most expensive places in town. “Ummm what do you suggest that’s a little more price-friendly?” I asked sheepishly. Luckily those exist too in San Antonio, but then the concierge invited us to a special event at the Wyndham’s new location… “assuming one of you is over 28?” We apologized and said we weren’t, “Oh well do you live together?” “In the car…” I answered, which was clearly the wrong response. She looked at us, trying to figure out the puzzle, “These people are living out of their car… but they can afford the Wyndham?” 

Ryan and I laugh now, but at the time, we just wanted to explain to all the other guests in the hotel who were looking at us like outsiders, and the hotel staff who were trying so hard to help us spend our “money” not to blame us, but blame Groupon. I got a great deal from the discount site before the trip started, which brought the price of this ridiculously nice hotel down to the level of a Holiday Inn Express, our kind of hotel. In any case, we just blushed profusely and told ourselves later that if they don’t want cheap people like us in their hotel, they shouldn’t offer Groupon deals.

Anyway, besides feeling like idiots at the Wyndham, we really enjoyed San Antonio. The river walk area was so much fun to explore and we, (I), loved the history that San Antonio offers on plaques and signs all around the city. Add to that the Hispanic culture and heritage and we were both pretty infatuated with the place.

Then it was off to the state capital!

(Where we stayed at the Courtyard Marriot)

Austin was more a pit stop than anything else. I was able to figure out my computer issues (as in Best Buy upgraded me to a nicer one, hooray!) and Ryan had an informational interview with a company looking to hire actuaries. It was a productive visit, and we even got to see the end of the Cardinal game at a bar downtown while visiting with a friend from home in Colorado.

In San Antonio, we savored Texas beef, yum. In Austin, we had Texas BBQ at Valentina’s (a little food truck attached to a bar) and then Mexican the second night at El Caribe (a little hole in the wall place). The Mexican by far blew our socks off the most, though it was all good. The fajitas that Ryan got especially were beyond awesome and we licked honey off our fingers after scarfing down perfectly puffy sopapillas. In case you haven’t noticed the trend, in cities Ryan and I tend to spend our time walking around and seeing the sights while spending as little money as possible… until dinnertime.

I love cities.

And it didn’t end it Austin. After a couple days respite, we were leaving Texas for more blow-your-mind culinary experiences. The kind you can only have in New Orleans.