Busy Weekend
The fun started saturday morning when I woke up to the rain. I started getting ready for the day about 0700, typed on the computer and talked to Karly and my family. At about 0900 I went to pick up the rental car from the reputable company Enterprise which has an office on post. I left the building and it was still raining but I wanted to walk so I proceeded the 1.5 miles uphil toward the DFAC where the car was.
When I arrived it became plainly obvious that they didn't open till 10 even though their online hours began at 0900 so I waited under a shelter over at the DFAC. When I walked over to the office at about0955 they had opened the door a little early and 3 people had already gone in and were doing the paperwork. I got my papers and started working. The entire group before me and those in line behind me were all IET students so when I got up there and told him I was in a hurry because my wife was landing at 1035 and that I was a 26 year old officer he was much more cordial to me than the others. He gave me a free upgrade because the size of car I had reserved would have taken me to another lot on post and he said someone was going to have to get an upgrade and he would prefer me over a 21YO enlisted soldier.
So I got a nice 2005 Chevy Malibu and was off to pick up Karly who was at the baggage claim around the time I left Fort Sam.
I arrived at the airport and found my lovely wife in all of her cuteness and beauty. We headed back to the post hotel to drop off the luggage and get her through a shower.
After we cleaned up we went down to the river walk for lunch and then went to the alamo then had some coffee on the balcony of a restraunt overlooking the river and a walking bridge. Someone had glued a quarter to the third stair up on the walking bridge and that became quite a source of entertainment as countless people used countless measures to try and aquite it. We were also entertained by a number of house finches who had discovered that the door, that was behind us which led directly into the upstairs of the restaurant, had a large gap on its bottom side with no protection to keep animals... out. Thus they would fly onto the balcony, look at the door, decide if it was safe and quickly rush under into the safety of the restaurant where they would fly around and pick up crumbs off the tables. After that we went for a walk and had dinner at the Texas Land and Cattle steak house. Karly was introduced to her first lobster tail as we shared a surf and turf plate for dinner.
Sunday,
We started the day off at church for the "traditional protestant" service which is usually run by a lutheran minister but that day the methodist ran it. After church we discovered the Sunday brunch at the Fort Sam Houston club. The brunch was delicious however buffets are bad for the waistline so we had to watch what we ate. We then got in the car and headed to a cave which was actually part of a fault line. It was extremely interesting actually being inside a fault line and looking up seeing the split in the rocks above. At the end of the cave was a 90ft tall waterfall which was breathtaking. The waterfall is fed by a large amount of water seeping through the limestone. The guide said that if San Antonio were to have a long extended drought, the waterfall would continue to run as it was that day for 5-6 years without rain on the surface. After surfacing from that really wet cave (the wettest in texas) we headed out for the "cave with no name". That caves main point of entry was nothing but a 4 foot wide hole in the ground. But when you went into it the cave opened up into a very large series of halls. These halls in series were where the Guadalupe river once flowed and carved out the large caverns. After emerging from the second cave we attempted to find George Straight, Sandra Bullock, and Dennis Rodmans houses. We didn't actually find the right hill until the next morning when we found the gate to "The Dominion" where they all live. Humorously enough "THE DOMINION" overlooks FOB Colorado where we did our FTX the week before and I used George Straights pole light as a direction indicator during my night land navigation. That night we had dinner at a chinese place which served all you can ceat Crab legs. I think Crab legs are almost on the order of celery being a food which you actually burn calories eating. But if you're good at cracking crabs (like I am) you can eat a whole bunch of them at one sitting and only have moderatly sore hands.
Monday,
Happy Birthday to Karly, Happy birthday to Karly, Happy birthday dear Kaaaaarrrrrrlllllly, Happy birthday to you!!!!!
She said she had never been sung to for her birthday as much as my family did. We have a tradition (especially if your not at home) of bombarding the birthday girl/boy with as many songs as possible over and over throughout the day. Fun Fun Fun!!!!!!
For Karly's birthday we had fun. We actually did find "THE DOMINION" and then went to Guadalupe river State Park for a few hours of cuddling on a rock in a rapid in the middle of the river. Then found Katrina's New Orleans Restaurant (the restaurant came first). The food there was excellent. We then went to the mission trail and hit all four missions (minus the Alamo as it's not part of the National Park) in the afternoon. We then went up to Espada park and visited the oldest dam in Texas (which was built by the indians and designed by the Fransiscans). We then headed up to Groene, TX to the Gristmill restaurant for some really good ribs and a bottle of wine. This was a fitting end to a lovely birthday for Karly.
Independence Day!!!!
Last year Karly and I got engaged on the 4th at sunrise in the Ledges State Park. It was an amazing morning and I doubt the experience could ever be repeated. Fortunately my ploy was that we were going to take pictures of the sunrise from the cliff (Karly was smart though and knew there was something else in the works). So we had the camera and were able to document the moment very well. So back to the present. We decided on the fourth last year that we were going to have to watch the sunrise on the 4th for the rest of our lives no matter how many miles may be between us (sounds good to me). So we got up early and headed east on 10 out into the country to watch the sunrise. Guess what, the sun never rose (at least not visibly) but we were there watching from 10 min before time till 10 min after rise time but the cloud cover made it impossible to see. So we went to breakfast and split a helping of eggs benedict (yummy). We then spent the afternoon on the riverwalk. We went to the Imax theatre and saw the Alamo (which gave light to the story behind the Alamo (which unfortunately neigther of us knew very well)). We rode the river taxi around for a long time, took some pictures of the river wildlife (water moccasin, snapping turtle, and crawdaddy). Then we headed out to watch the firewoks at Richardson AFB which were pretty much rained out. We then headed home and went to bed.
The next morning wasn't fun as Karly had to head home.

In other news, Karly and I are now officially Home Owners.