Music Under the Stars - Fri., Sept. 23, 2016

Bob and I often remark how much we enjoy living in San Antonio, a city of festivals, spiritedness, enjoyment of life, and a feeling of contentment. We have so many events to choose from and so much diversity in the culture.

Tonight we chose to go to the Music Under the Stars Concert at Mission San Jose featuring the USAA Band and Chorus. Before the free concert, we went to Chaba Thai, our favorite Thai restaurant, and picked up Chicken Pad Thai for two to go. We took our "picnic" with us to the concert.

Music Under the Stars at Mission San Jose in San Antonio

It was a lovely evening, but we were wary of the weather. (You see, last year we also attended Music Under the Stars; however, as soon as the first song had been played the concert was called because of thunder and the imminent possibility of lightning strikes. Then we had a big rain storm.) This evening the sky clouded up and we felt the slightest of sprinkles, but the clouds soon parted and we had a perfect 78 degree temperature with a slight breeze and 47% humidity. The fireflies were out, but the mosquitoes weren't.

The lights on the mission were part of the show.

Mission San Jose

Music Under the Stars

Attendees brought lawn chairs or blankets and food and drink. There were also chair rentals available at the mission.

A small part of the crowd enjoying an evening out.

The quality and variety of music was wonderful. The selections were:

• "I Just Want to Celebrate" - Zesses & Fekaris, arr. Wallace
• "The Star-Spangled Banner" - Francis Scott Key
• "Jubilate! Joy We Bring" - Antonio Vivaldi, arr. Liebergen
• "This Land is Your Land" - Woody Guthrie, arr. Gallina
• "Latin Carnivale" - arr. Victor Lopez (a medley of songs including "Hot, Hot, Hot," "Conga" and a few others)
• "Sway" - Ruiz & Gimbel, arr. Taylor
• "Fever"- Davenport & Cooley, arr. Holmes
• "Oye Como Va" - Tito Puente, arr. Mossman
• "Malaguena" - Ernesto Lecouna, arr. Kerchner
• "The Yellow Rose of Texas" - traditional, arr. Hibashi
• "L-O-V-E" - Kaempfurt & Gabler, arr. Collins
• "Save the Last Dance for Me" - Pomus & Shuman, arr. Ragsdale
• "I've Been Everywhere" - Geoff Mack, arr. Althouse
• "My America" - Joyce Eilers
• "March of American Hymns" - arr. William Swor
• A salute to the Armed Services - arr. Jari Villaneuva (Themes from each branch of the service were played and those who served in those branches or had relatives in those branches stood while each theme was played.)
• "God Bless America" - Irving Berlin, arr. Moss & Christopher

The show lasted 1-1/2 hours. Did I mention Mission San Jose is only 3/4 mile from Travelers World RV Resort? It's really close to home.

In other news, Bob is feeling great. The other day he was running on a treadmill at lunch in Gold's Gym and did 10-minute miles for six miles. It's about the best he's ever done and he felt wonderful. He is heavy into his training for the Honolulu Marathon in December. I think he is running 14 miles on Sunday and then 16 miles next weekend. Then they taper off for a bit. Also, his neck is healing well. His left ear is numb as they did have to cut a nerve when the did surgery. He jokingly says about that ear, "I could get my ear pierced without anesthesia because I can't feel anything."

At Travelers World RV Resort where I work, our new owners (Sun Communities, Inc.) are making all kinds of upgrades to the park. The most major one is the addition of five new park model cabins for rent. They were just installed a couple of weeks ago and are being cleaned and furnished. We already have three of them rented for most of the winter season. The other two have some daily and weekly renters so far, but are not full. Because of the popularity of the furnished cabins, Sun is going to put five more park models in sites that are not used often. Two of the cabins will be two bedrooms. They hope to have those cabins in by the end of 2016. Other remodeling and changes are coming too. Onward and upward.

Enjoy your weekend! Travel Bug out.

Eateries and Flip'z - February 2015

Well, eating out has been on our plate lately. Here are a couple of the places we've been.

Hans and Lisa love Thai food, so on Thursday, Feb. 19, we took them to Chaba Thai in south San Antonio. My favorite dish is their Pad Thai, but this time I opted for their Pad Prio Wan, a sweet and sour chicken dish. Hans had the Pad Thai and really enjoyed it. Bob had Lettuce Wraps. I can't remember what Lisa had, maybe Pad Thai too. (That's what I get for waiting almost two weeks to write the blog. Sigh.)

Hans and Lisa at Chaba Thai

Hans, Lisa, Bob and I

On Saturday night, Bob and I wanted to try a restaurant we hadn't been to before, so we headed over to the Little Red Barn. There's nothing "little" about this place. It's huge!! Thankfully, we did not have to wait long for a table. When you are seated, your waitress serves salad immediately. The waitresses dress in cowgirl get-up. The food was average.

Little Red Barn entrance

Art work by our table of The Little Red Barn

Bob at Little Red Barn

One other place we checked out was Flip'z Trampoline Park. It looks like a blast. I don't know if I want to try it because my knees hurt sometimes, but it would be a good place to recommend to families with kids who visit our RV park.

Not only are there large trampoline areas, there is a foam pit, birthday party areas, and a pinata room. The trampoline areas are by age group and a couple of fenced in trampoline areas were obviously being used for some type of dodgeball game.

Trampoline into a foam pit

Large trampoline area

In addition to the Trampoline Park, next door is Pica Pica, a shopping area with over a hundred licensed booths selling new clothes, shoes and souvenirs. A food court with different types of foods is also on premise.

Pica Pica had just closed before we arrived so we weren't able to check it out.

All for now. Travel Bug out.