Amusements - Monday, Sept. 5, 2016

Day 3 of our Staycation: Bob went on five-mile marathon training run by himself. I slept in. When he got home we drove to the Shops at River Center in downtown San Antonio for lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.

Tiki Bar - "It's 5 o'clock somewhere!"

While we enjoyed the music and the ambiance, my taco salad sucked. First, it didn't come in the usual taco shell bowl; instead there were four pieces of crunchy something or other laid on top of lettuce. It was basically head lettuce with "volcano" chili on top of it. The lime crema dressing was terrible in combination with the chili. I would not ever order the taco salad there again. I asked for honey mustard dressing to try to improve the salad. It went well with the salad and covered up the weird flavor of the chili. Bob's Cheeseburger in Paradise was very good. He substituted ground turkey for the ground beef. Moral of the story: Order a burger if we go to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville again.

A few weeks ago, Bob and I went to Dave and Buster's at Wonderland/Crossroads Mall where we played the H2Overdrive boat racing arcade game. It was so much fun we wanted to do it again. At work, I found some coupons in our brochure rack to buy one $20 Dave and Buster's game play card and get a second $20 game play card free.

There is a brand new Dave and Buster's in the Shops at River Center downtown, so we headed there and bought two $20 game play cards and got two free. We then went inside to play our favorite arcade game only to find they didn't have that game. We left without using our cards.

We made a detour back to the RV park so I could print a confirmation for my Six Flags Fiesta Texas 2017 Season Pass. We had to take the voucher to Six Flags to pick up the Season Pass Card.

The Dave and Buster's at Wonderland Mall is on the way to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, so we stopped there for about an hour and played H2Overdrive and Dirty Drivin' arcade games. Bob played Galaga too. We also used some of our game play on a motion simulator ride which was kind of fun.

From Dave and Buster's we headed to Six Flags. I hadn't ordered a Season Pass for Bob because he's not that into amusement parks. My friend Susan and I were going to go together. However, when we got to the park, Bob wondered why I hadn't ordered a Season Pass for him. We parked the car in a 30-minute parking area, not knowing how long picking up our pass was going to take.

Because we needed to buy a pass for Bob, we stood in a 15-minute-long line. While we waited in line, we decided to buy the Dining Package for both of us as well. I should mention that Six Flags was having a 70% off Season Pass Flash Sale during Labor Day weekend. The Season Pass (which is good from the day you buy it until the end of 2017) cost $63.99 per person and includes unlimited admission to all Six Flags amusement parks, parking, special events, and a certain number of "bring a friend free" days each year. The Dining Package is $69.99 per person and includes lunch, dinner and a snack EVERY time you visit a park.

Once our passes were bought, we had to go to the admission gate to pick up our cards and put in our fingerprint which is how you get into a park now...put your finger on a scanner. From there, I had to go to Season Pass Guest Services building inside the park to have my Dining Package added onto my Season Pass. Why they couldn't do that where they were selling tickets was beyond me.

In the meantime, our 30-minute parking time ran out so Bob literally ran out to short-term parking and moved the car to a new spot then came back in the park to meet me at Season Pass Guest Services. We thought about having dinner in the park but knew we couldn't eat and get back to the car in less than 30 minutes.

From Six Flags, Bob took me to the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort to show me around: that's where his accounting convention was earlier this year. It's a beautiful place with convention center, seven restaurants, a lazy river, waterslides, golf course and beautifully landscaped grounds. We walked around for about a half hour, then headed home.

Hill Country Marriott

Lazy River/pool area

Pool

Beautiful landscaping

The glass art in the Marriott Convention Center ceiling looks like Chihuly, but I can't confirm it.

Beautiful glass art

Fanciful glass art

We thought about going to dinner after exploring, but we had German rye bread at home and cheddar and pepperjack cheeses. I made grilled cheese sandwiches and steamed asparagus. We sat down just in time to watch American Ninja Warrior and then Running Wild with Bear Grylls. Another wonderful staycation day.

Thank you, again, Bob for all the fun stuff we did this weekend. I love you.

I was kidnapped for an afternoon date - Mon., July 25, 2016

Bob's been having a tough time of it health-wise lately. For the past week, he has had gout in his right foot which is so swollen and painful it's hard for him to get his shoes on. He hasn't been able to run on it either.

Plus, the basal cell carcinoma he had removed from his neck has returned. There is a hard nodule in the exact site where from whence it was removed last year. He will be going in next week to have it excised again. The problem is that when he had it removed last year, it was down to the nerve that supplies feeling to his face. They were able to work around the nerve, but he still had pins and needles sensations in part of his lower face for months after the surgery. (Those sensations finally went away.) If they have to cut into the nerve, it's possible he will lose feeling in part of his face for good.

On a positive note, the recent catheter ablation Bob had done for his atrial fibrillation is giving him relief. On his follow-up exam, they didn't find any sign of the A-fib. Bob has been feeling healthier and more energetic. When he runs now, he isn't getting tired like he used to.

Bob and I at Random a couple of weeks ago

Last week Bob mentioned taking this Monday afternoon off work so we could go on a date. Apparently he reminded me of it when he left for work Monday morning. However, I was still asleep and it didn't register.

I planned my day to go see "Star Trek: Beyond" at 12:45 p.m. As soon as the movie started (not even five minutes into it) my phone started buzzing. My first thought was, "OMG, I bet that's Bob calling me about our date." I had forgotten about it. Oops. A half hour later my phone buzzed again. He will just have to wait.

"Star Trek: Beyond" was excellent, way better than the critics made it out to be. I loved the action, the acting, the interplay between characters, the humor, the new uniforms, the sets, the surprises, the traps and the tricks. I think I have to see it again, because the one thing that was difficult to understand was the dialogue, especially when an alien was talking and there was a spoken translation at the same time, one layered on top of the other.

When the movie was over I listened to my voicemail from Bob. He thought he'd be home about 2:15 p.m. It was 3:00 when the movie finished, so I called him and told him I'd be right home. He gave me a whole list of activities to choose from, one of them being to see "Star Trek: Beyond." I went to see it without him because he doesn't like sci-fi, but he was willing to go see it with me. He also mentioned going to the Museum of Modern Art, going to look at 5th wheels at Camping World, and going to eat and play games at Dave & Buster's.

Geeky me got excited about going to eat and play games at Dave & Buster's. We had only been to Dave & Buster's in Hawaii and that was over five years ago. That was my choice. We had an excellent meal to which we each added $10 game play cards.

In the arcade part of Dave & Buster's it was sensory overload. Loud music was playing, video games were making all kinds of racket, and this is at 4:00 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. I'm so happy there weren't hundreds of people there so we could take our time and check out all the machines to see what to play.

Both of us chose to play Trivia and we did horribly. LOL. That's not like us. Then we wandered around the arcade checking out the games.

I told Bob I really wanted to do the H20verdrive boat races. So we both played (against each other). What fun! I loved it! I want to go back and play some more. The graphics are awesome and it is so fun to make the boat jump and do tricks. You collect gems and smash other boats along the way. What is so cool is that there are about eight courses to choose from and the graphics are beautiful. See the link above to watch a YouTube review that shows the graphics. The best thing about this game is each race is completed on your one turn.

After we finished two boat races, Bob went off to play Galaga and I chose a game where I directed a runner across raised platforms past all kinds of obstacles. You could make your runner turn right, turn left, jump, and slide. It was fun to figure out how to make this game work. If you move the rollerball forward, the guy jumps over obstacles. Rollerball right, guy turns right, rollerball left, the guy turns left. If you make the rollerball go backward, the guy slides down stuff. Obstacles include tree roots, gaps in the path, fire, and quick turns. You can collect energy diamonds along the way. The game was fun, but you had to keep putting credits in the machine to keep the game going. I never did finish it.

What a fun afternoon! I want to go back to do the boat races again.

When we came out of Dave & Buster's, raindrops were falling on our heads. As we drove home, we left the rain behind. By 9:30 p.m., however, the thunderstorms came in earnest. The thunder was rocking the RV and lightning lit up the sky. What impressed us the most, though, was the downpour of rain! Whee! Around 9:45 pm we had a power outage that lasted about ten minutes.

Tuesday: By morning, our site was flooded. About six inches of water surrounded our 5th wheel. (This is typical because we're in a low spot in the park.) After not having rain for a long time, the ground was so dry the water didn't soak in. By 1 p.m. the water was gone.

This morning, I wanted to see "The Karate Kid," which was showing for free at 10:00 a.m.  I hadn't seen it for a long time and I love the movie, so the price was right and I went. I got there pretty early thinking the theater would be full. Not so. They put us in one of the biggest theaters in the complex.

Usually this theater runs trivia and advertising for 20 minutes before they show the previews. However, 15 minutes before the movie was to start, all that was on the screen was what looked like the front page of a computer sign-on page. It said "Music, Videos, Live TV," etc. at the bottom of the screen, with clouds filling the top 2/3rds of the screen. I went and reported to one of the employees that there was nothing playing on the screen. She told me the previews would come on at 10 a.m.  Well, 10 a.m. came and went, I went and asked another employee about the movie. He actually seemed interested in helping me. Soon, a couple of employees were coming into the theater to check the status. Nothing.

After about 15 more minutes the theater manager came in to say they were having technical difficulties and they would give us free refills on popcorn and beverages. Say no more, I had a senior (small) popcorn and went out for a refill. That was nice.

Another ten minutes went by and the manager came back in to tell us they wouldn't be able to show "The Karate Kid" due to technical difficulties, but they would substitute the new "Ice Age: Collision Course," or "The Secret Life of Pets." Everyone wanted "Ice Age," so that was what they played for us. But not without further difficulties. They got the sound going, but all we could see on the screen was the front page of the computer with the clouds. After about five minutes of that, they finally got the movie visuals working and they re-started the movie for us. It was okay. I really would have rather seen "The Karate Kid."

After the movie, I went shopping at Costco for fruit, eggs, almond milk, and protein powder. Thankfully, Costco wasn't super crowded. I'm home now, have washed and frozen the strawberries and blueberries, and written my blog. Now I'm going to watch a movie from Netflix.

TravelBug out.