Four hours sleep is no where near enough, especially not after as long and as an exciting day as we had yesterday. To be honest, there was only one thing that would ever get me out of bed after only 4 hours sleep in this situation: A close encounter with my all time favourite animal: An Orca.

My family will know that I’ve always had a fascination with dolphins and whales, and at one point wanted to study marine biology at university – before I discovered psychology and my aversion to cutting up animals, which kind of put a stop to my career in science. As Orcas (killer whales, for those who aren’t in the know) are the largest of the dolphin family, and technically incorrectly called whales in their most common name, they especially hold a special fascination for me. They are large, graceful, elegant, intelligent and amazing mammals. They can weigh up to 8000 pounds (2 tons) and are around 6m in length, sometimes larger. They are unique in that they have a matriarchal society, with the females of the family staying together most of their lives and the males going off on their own and coming back only for breeding season… I could rattle on and on here about them, but you didn’t sign up for a science lesson on the Orca in all it’s glory.

What you did sign up for, is a recap of our encounter. So, we’ll start with getting up at the asscrack of dawn – well, okay it was only 8am, but still, early enough for us – and by the time we were ready to go it was 8:45am. A stop at Starbucks was made first and once we were caffeinated we were on our way to SeaWorld San Antonio for our date with some Orcas! We managed not to get lost, and as we had already purchased a parking ticket online, were able to get in straight away and find a park close to the entrance of the amusement park.

When I purchased the tickets to SeaWorld online, I also purchased two tickets to the Shamu Up Close Tour, which gives you a behind the scenes look at the orcas in their pools, the trainers as they do their daily health checks and sessions with the orcas, and a tour guide who will answer any questions you have. It also comes with morning tea, and first choice of any seats for the Shamu “Believe” Show – though now that it’s December, it’s the Shamu “Miracle” Show. We also got gift bags, a necklace of a whale’s tail on leather and a photo of us on the encounter – since there were two of us we got 1 each.

Our tour started at 10:30am, when the park opened and we had to be there at 10am. They let us in, and we went to the reservations counter, who gave us a pass to the section of the park where we had to meet our tour guide, which wasn’t open yet. We walked past the rides that were being tested before the park opened, the closed concession and merchandise stands, and the Ski Theatre, where they do jet ski shows in the summer. We managed to find our tour location and waited for our tour guide and any other guests to arrive.

When our guide, Theresa, showed up she announced we were the only ones on the tour that day, so we could get started early! Sam and I followed her down to the Shamu Theatre where their five orcas live in a rotating set of 4 pools – the main arena pool, the two 25 foot pools and one 12 foot pool (the medical pool). We were lucky to meet all 5 of the orcas, Takara, Kyuquot, Keet, Unna and Tuar (I think that’s correct). One of the females is due to have a calf any day now, so she wasn’t participating in any shows (I just can’t remember which Orca is pregnant!). When the trainers came out to feed the orcas and check their teeth, one of them noticed us with Theresa, and he came over when she said we were there from Australia and had come to SeaWorld just for the orcas!

Jason, the trainer, was more than graciously accommodating and ended up bring over two of the orcas to our side of their pool and showed us some tricks and explained how they check their teeth, and other health checks. They were playful and friendly, and he explained that they always reward good behaviour and ignore bad behaviour, try not to bring attention to it. They showed off their vocal abilities, how to check their teeth, their tongues, their flukes (tails), waving their flippers, etc. We asked a few questions, like what fish were they fed in the park – since I already knew that in the while orcas like to feed on large fish such as salmon, and other mammals like seals and sea lions – hence, their “nickname” of sorts, of “Killer Whales”, which is really grossly inaccurate. Jason said they feed them 4 types of fish – the two that I can remember are mackerel and salmon – and the salmon they are fed is restaurant quality salmon. They don’t know if orcas have a sense of smell, and therefore a sense of taste, so we’re unsure if they have a preference. Theresa said they also feed them ice and jello of all things. Sometimes they’ll even put fish in the jello, as a frozen treat.

They explained how they don’t really teach them tricks, per say, they just teach them to do what comes naturally to them, but to do that behaviour on cue with a hand signal. They never try to train them to do things they wouldn’t normally do, that isn’t in their nature. Theresa also said that these particular orcas don’t like to jump over things, they like to go around them. So the end of Free Willy is not true to form, but definitely made great cinematography. The orcas love to be touched, and will rub their bodies on the walls and pool bottoms. They also love to have their trainers hug them and rub them and even rub them over with brushes and other objects that can essentially massage their skin. They don’t have a set routine as they like to change things up for them and keep everything fresh for the orcas. They rotate their pools, and once a day when the orcas have been moved out of the pools, a diver will go into the water and make sure everything is okay and nothing is in the pool or stuck to the bottom. The water temperature is about 60F, so it was warmer in the water than out of it!

There was so much more information and some of it I have on video, and we took a heap of photos but it was just… phenomenal to be there. To stand less than 2 metres away from orcas. They are so large and so beautiful, I had tears in my eyes just watching them. We got our photo taken with the whales posing in the background on a platform – which was not usual for the whales at all as usually the photos are taken in front of the glass tanks in the Shamu Theatre, so that was something special. There was morning tea included (good thing because we hadn’t had a chance to get breakfast!) which was a turkey club sandwich, a cookie, a pack of chips, some potato salad and water or iced tea. HOMG. It was so good, but so big I couldn’t finish it all. Sam and I saved our chips and cookies for later.

Once we were finished eating, we went to the Shamu Theatre where we got to sit in the second row of the Splash Zone, prime location for taking photos. Because it was so cold, the trainers didn’t get the orcas to splash the crowd but the show was just amazing. Again, i got some of it on video but both Sam and I got some amazing photos of it all too. It helped that Theresa sat next to Sam through the show and told him where the whales were going to come out of the water!

All the staff there were so friendly and helpful and very interested in Australia and our SeaWorld, which we were happy to tell them all about. We enjoyed the experience so much, that we even took the time before we left the park to leave some positive feedback on a comments form at Guest Services for the General Manager.

Anyway after the Shamu tour and show were finished at 1pm, Sam and I went into the Shamu Emporium and picked up a couple of shot glasses and a large stuffed orca for me (I’m a sucker for a good stuffed animal!), before we headed into the Voyager Cafe for a coffee (Sam) and water (me). We sat down and planned our next adventure! We wandered past the water rides (yes people were actually going on the rollercoasters and flume rides when it was a] raining and b] 40F outside!) to the Sea Lion area but we couldn’t get in to see them because the show wasn’t going to start until 4pm. We walked back to the 4D theatre and lined up to see The Polar Express 4D Movie, which was pretty awesome. We had 3D glasses on, and when the train arrived on screen, our chairs vibrated! When it snowed, it was simulated over us by bubbles. It was pretty awesome.

After the movie, we headed down to the dolphins and sharks section which was near the front of the park (and the exit). With the dolphins, you can purchase trays of 4 fish, and feed the dolphins! So we did that! We both got to touch a dolphin each too, which was just amazing and luckily, I got to capture Sam’s touch of the dolphin on film too! They feel rubbery and wet (of course) but not unpleasant. And they were just beautiful. There was even a dolphin in the tank that was charcoal coloured, never seen any bottlenosed look like that before! One of the dolphins was clearly lazy because he was so fat and chunky, he was obviously the one who never played with the buckets of fish that they would put into the pools for the dolphins to find, but rather preferred to just hang by the edge and get fish straight into his open mouth. It was definitely an awesome experience!

From there we went into their coral reef and shark tank display – but it was nothing on Shark Bay in our own SeaWorld on the Gold Coast. And no great white’s either! Their sharks were tiny!! No hammerheads or makos or anything! So it was interesting to see the different sharks from the other side of the world, like the black tip shark and the nurse shark but yeah, nothing like ours.

From there, after leaving our comment at Guest Services, and then Sam having a bathroom break, we headed back to the car to find our way clear across town to go to the AT&T Centre for the San Antonio Rampage Vs Texas Stars AHL game there in San An. The Rampage are the “farm team” for the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Texas Stars, in their inaugural year, are the “farm team” for our very own Dallas Stars. We were super excited to go to this game, and since we had 2 spare tickets (Rhonda had to work and Jen couldn’t make it down to San An for it), our friend Jena and her friend Anthony came along to take the seats. Anthony liked hockey, apparently, and Jena had always wanted to go to a game, so it worked out well! Our seats were in section 22, row 8, seats 3, 4, 5 and 6. What I didn’t know when I booked them was that seats 3 and 4 were the glass seats behind the penalty box. Thankfully it was the Texas Stars’ penalty box and not the Rampage’s.

The experience was a pretty awesome one, I have to admit. The energy in the building was good, there had to be at least 5000 people there in the arena and boy did they get into it and make some noise. Sam, Jena and I were all cheering out loudly (well, okay, maybe more Sam and I than Jena!) for the Stars, as was this guy in the next section over. There were a couple of Stars jerseys in the crowd which was nice to see, but obviously we were definitely outnumbered.

About part way through the second period, the Rampage’s mascot, a raging bull called T-Bone, came over to our section and spotted us in the crowd. Oh God. I didn’t even know he had come around until I felt a tap on my shoulder and there in front of me was T-Bone. A skinny guy in a grey leotard wearing the Rampage hockey uniform and a bull’s head. Actually he’s kind of awesome. We had this sign language (on his side) conversation. It went a little something like this:

T-Bone: *indicates to my jersey and then points to the raging bull logo on his jersey* Why you in a Stars jersey? Why aren’t you wearing a Rampage jersey?
Wendy: Because we’re Dallas Stars fans mate!
T-Bone: *shakes his head, makes a X in the air and a heart symbol on his chest* No Love, no love.
Wendy: What?! We came a long way for this game!
T-Bone: *Puts an L on his forehead* LOSER!!
Wendy: Me!? You’re the one with a Coyotes connection! That makes you the loser!
T-Bone: *Indignant jumping back with fake shock, hand on his heart, then he nods and offers me a high five* OMG WHAT?! That Hurt! HAHA. You’re alright!

T-Bone then hugged me as I was sitting there, and Sam – who had been watching the whole thing – asked for a picture. I stood up and T-Bone just enveloped me into his arms so I was barely visible! So awesome. And the guy in the suit was just laughing the entire time. I thanked him and he took off to “annoy” other fans. He was just the best mascot of any of the games we’d been to. He was involved in the intro, he danced on ice, he danced in the stands, he had a cowbell and a drum stick to get a beat going to rev up the crowd – which worked by the way – he was energetic and fun loving and very, very funny.

We also think a few of the Stars players heard us cheering for them, because when Gagnon ended up in the penalty box for like the third or fourth time, he looked at us, smiled and then shook his head and hung it in shame! And at the end of the game, he actually acknowledged us with a nod and a wave, which was awesome! But back to the game. It was 1-0 to the Rampage at the end of the first, but then the Stars came out to play in the second. We ended up winning 4-1. It was pretty awesome. And Jena and Anthony had a great time, so that was brilliant.

We had Whataburger (awww makes me think of Jessebean! Jesse is the first person that ever took us to Whataburger in 2006 after we came to the Duncanville rink to watch him play in a pickup game of ice hockey) at the rink, and much to Jena’s shock and amusement Sam managed to get ketchup all down his right pant leg (he’d had the dipping ketchup for his fries), and mustard and lettuce on the glass of the penalty box from his burger – how that got there, I don’t want to know. She was incredulously amused – which was a highlight for me!

After the hockey, we went back to the Short’s house to tell them all about what happened, and Jena’s husband Ryan came over. Then Sam, me, Jena, Ryan, Amber and Grady when back to Amber and Grady’s apartment (attached to the main house) and sat up talking for a couple of hours before Sam and I – completely exhausted and on the brink of passing out – went up to where we were staying to get some sleep.

It was a long day, a long weekend, but HOMG SO WORTH IT!!

Tomorrow: A drive back to Dallas and good friends!

It’s been our final day in San Antonio, and we had left it semi open for things to do as we figured you never quite know what to expect. After a very late night last night, we finally got out of bed at 9am and went downstairs to socialise with the Shorts. It turns out, we think they may have been waiting for us to get up, so we could have breakfast with them… coffee, bacon and french toast. Yum! We didn’t mean to sleep in so long and keep them waiting that’s for sure.

After breakfast Wendy and I decided we’d shoot down to the AT&T Center to pick up our game tickets for Sundays game where we get to see the Texas Stars take on the San Antonio Rampage in an AHL match. It will be our first ever AHL game, so we’re quite keen to see how the “baby Stars” look. The drive there was uneventful, and while we only had directions given to us by Vicki, we got there fine. Getting home however was not so easy. More on that shortly. After collecting our tickets we took a wander through the Rampage team store where we picked up an official game puck and also a San Antonio Spurs (NBA) shot glass. Then, the drive home. As you all know, we’ve done incredibly well not getting lost during our stay in San Antonio, which is amazing for us. We didn’t think it would last, and today, we met our match! On the way home we were supposed to go down the I-35S, and take the I-10 turnoff. I missed the turnoff, and we ended up going about 10 miles too far up the I-35. After a turnaround, a laugh and a few choice words we headed back up the I-35N, this time taking the correct turnoff and finding ourselves back on target again. I should point out that Wendy had told me to take the I-10 originally, so it turns out she was right.

On the way home we stopped at the North Star Mall for lunch and to get cash from an ATM, but after finding no decent food options decided to just head to The Rim instead.

Before leaving though, I needed a bathroom break, where I had an encounter with 2 of the San Antonio Spurs, the local basketball team. While washing our hands, one of them looks at my hat and says “Dallas Stars eh?, you should come see a Spurs game”. i replied with “Why?”. He kinda looked shocked and said “because we’re good”. Me, in my hockey-centric way simply replied with “nah, you don’t play hockey”. The guy behind him (also a Spurs guy) looked arrogantly at me as if to say “do you know who we are?”. Funny stuff, right there! Anyway, off we went.

The Rim is a LARGE outdoor mall, meaning it’s loads of buildings over a very large area, so you have to know where things are to really benefit from them. Needless to say, we didn’t, so just drove past all the places trying to find a small place to grab a bite to eat for lunch… no such luck. In the end we got back on the access road and found Sonic, a burger joint we’ve wanted to try for a while. Ever had Sonic? It’s actually REALLY nice! They do this killer toasty type burger thing… hmmmm delicious!

For the rest of the afternoon we just chilled out talking to Vicki, Amber, Grady and the family until Jena and Ryan turned up for dinner. Jena and Ryan are neighbors of the Shorts, and pretty much family… great people to know and hang with. For dinner, Vicki had cooked home-made spaghetti sauce which had been cooking all day long and was truly delectable! We had that and washed it down with Diet Coke… a really great dinner. I should get that recipe!

Vicki had also cooked Pumpkin Pie! We’d heard about that for years but had never tried it, so the chance to have some was awesome! OMG this pie was like Christmas on the plate! The taste was spectacular and I think that might have to bee another recipe i track down if i can!

After dinner, Amber and Jena took us down to the River Walk, which is a section of downtown San Antonio where the river flows between all the buildings. I can’t even begin to describe how amazing that place is, so hopefully these pictures come out ok. We were going to go on a boat ride which tells the history of the buildings but the boats were all missing, so we’re thinking that the weather may be too cold for them. Sucked, but Amber and Jena did a great job educating us on the city.

In the middle of the walk we headed back up the streets to possibly the most famous landmark in the city; The Alamo! Yep, we finally got there! This city is steeped in history, and the catchphrase “Remember The Alamo” is well known the world over. The buildings themselves are still there, and even though we couldn’t go inside as it was night time, we got some great photos of the exteriors of the complex. Such a beautiful historical place and marks a turning point in Texas history.

On the way home we all felt a little peckish so figured we’d find a bite to eat. As we’d never been there before, and had always wanted to, we went to Jena’s fave eating place, her home away from home, IHOP. That stands for the “International House of Pancakes” for those interested. Wendy and I both got pancakes (hey, ya gotta, right?) with Wendy getting the Blueberry and me, the Banana and Strawberry stacks. REALLY nice!

By the time we got home it was 11pm, so grabbed the clothes from the dryer and got prepared for our early, 4:30am start tomorrow! Wendy then got to bed, while i jumped online to update the blog (ie. this) and check todays hockey scores.

Tomorrow is a HUGE day with 10hrs of driving, a hockey game AND an NBA game!

Zoo day! We’d heard a lot about San Antonio zoo before even heading over here, so we were quite keen to ensure it was near the top of our “must see” attractions while down this way.

The day started at 8:30am after just 6hrs sleep. After planning our day, trying to call our friend Tammy (again, no luck) and having showers we headed down to Starbucks for coffee and then Subway for breakfast. The Starbucks leg of the trip went smoothly, but it turns out the Subway did not do breakfasts. I think I was going to fall over in shock.. a Subway without a breaky menu.. are you serious? Anyway, so we left there and decided to head down to “The Rim” instead and see if chick-Filla (spelling?) did breakfasts, as we’d had a nice lunch there the day before. Turned out they did but we missed the cut-off time, so settled for a burger and fries. Not an ideal breakfast, but it ended up being breaky and lunch in one, so no dramas.

The next stop was the Zoo itself. To get there we had to go on the I-10 S and then merge onto the I-410 E follow that and turn onto the 281 S (i believe). It’s not really that confusing when you do it because they’re all incredibly well marked. Canadian transit peeps… take notice, road markings are GREAT things. So we finally get to the zoo after thinking we’re lost, but not really “being” lost… doesn’t count as getting lost, so we’re still doing great on that count!

The Zoo is open 365 days a year, but as today was incredibly cold, many of the animals were hiding in their cave things. Sucked for us, but as entry was only $10, it wasn’t really that much of an issue. The Zoo covers a huge area and took us about 3hrs or so to go round.. and that’s with the empty exhibits and/or animals hiding. With a full family, i’d give it at least 5 – 6hrs to go round if you wanted to read everything and learn all about all the animals they have.

FYI, we have put photos from the zoo in their own category, which can be found here: http://epictrip09.succeed2k.com/galleries/?album=4&gallery=25

I wont go into massive details about “all” the animals we saw as it would end up making this blog post incredibly long! So, if it seems i’m skimming over areas, please forgive me.

Our first stop was the bear enclosures, where they had 3 types of bears; the American Black Bear, the Spectacled Bear and of course the Grizzly Bear. It’s amazing just how big these creatures are, and the ones they have in the zoo here are actually MUCH smaller than the ones they have in the wild.

I personally loved the Grizzly bear and managed to get a great close up shot of his face, which can be found in the full photo gallery. I’m not sure, but i believe the Grizzly is the same as the Brown bear.

After the bears we went past one side of the “Amazonia” section, where they had things like snakes, lizards and this amazing little cat known as the “Fishing Cat”. I’d never heard of this thing before… they’re a small species of cat that primarily survives on fish, and catches them with it’s claws. Quite a quite little fellow, too.

our next stop was my favorite area; Africa! They have this new exhibit that is being build called “Africa Live”, which gives you a much more deeper look into the African animals, including (eventually) live shows, but that section is still being built. They did have one incredible feature here though; an underwater view of the Hippopotumus! I knew these things were large, but holy heck, i never knew they were quite THAT large! Check out this photo wendy got.

We didn’t get a chance to catch the elephants, as they were currently closed off from the public due to the works they’ve been doing on the new enclosures. We weren’t too happy about that, but what can you do, huh? Anyway, we quickly made up for it as we soon found ourselves right up close to a White Rhino and a Black Rhino. Did you know these creatures were bigger than the average Australian car? Yep, and weigh as much as a tank. Photos simply do not do them justice. The Black Rhino and White Rhino have one huge difference, other than the colors. The White Rhino has a square jaw, whereas the Black Rhino has a pointy bottom lip which is used for destroying rotten logs, digging up earth, etc. The White Rhino is also much larger than it’s Black cousin, I believe.

We went through a huge section dedicated to birds of the African safaris and then past the Cheetah enclosure. Unfortunately, the Cheetah was right at the back so we never got a chance to get a “good” photo.

Other cat enclosures we past, but had no luck seeing the animals were the Black Leopard, Clouded Leopard, and the Jaguar. We did however see the big 2; Lion & Tiger.

They had 2 lions in the exhibit, a female and a male. They’re truly incredible animals. Many people think the Lioness do all the work like the Males just sit around being lazy, which is completely wrong. While the Lionesses are out hunting, the Males are actually the primary teachers, and will teach the Lion Cubs about 90% of everything they learn. The Pride is one of the most successful family models among all animals, including humans!

Every so often one of the Lions would roar. If you’ve not heard a lions roar before you don’t know what you’re missing out on. These things can make a sound that just seems to ripple through the ground and travel for miles. I can understand why that sound would be so terrifying to hear at night time… it’s truly daunting during the day! After the first started the other one would sometimes follow, then they would go silent for a while and repeat it again. Quite incredible animals.

The Lion is actually far smaller than another big cat, and truth be told, nowhere near as dangerous. In fact, as the board at the zoo said today, the Lion should really pass on it’s title as “The King Of The Jungle” to the real king.. the biggest of the cats and the most viscious; the Tiger!

We never got a chance to see her stand up, so the photos we have are only from a distance, but this Sumatran Tiger was just incredible. Bright colors, and just from the size of the head, we figured she had to be about 1.5 times larger than the Lions in the previous exhibit.

We had 2 great Wendyism moments today at the zoo.

The Zoo has an Australian section. Naturally. I mean, what good zoo would NOT have an Aussie section, right? Well, we’re looking at the Kangaroo’s and Wendy starts having this little conversation with them, just filling them in on the events, saying hi type thing. By the way the Kangaroo reacted, we’re guessing she didn’t like hearing that Steve Irwin passed away.

So off we go into the “Australian Aviary” section, where they have birds natural to Australia, including these ducks. As we’re walking in there, the duck walks down as if recognising our accents and quacks at us. Wendy, being the adorable one she is, starts talking. Here’s kinda how it pans out.

Wendy: Geelong won the AFL Grand final
Duck: Quack
Wendy: Storm won the NRL grand final
Duck: Quack
Wendy: Tony Abbot was named opposition leader
Duck: Hangs it’s head in shame and lets out this half-assed quack.

Go figure.

Anyway, we moved on and fed the fish for a while with the fish food you could buy for a quarter. That was great fun and reminded me of my childhood feeding the fish at Fairy Springs in Rotorua. After the fish we headed to the birds enclosures where we saw some of the most beautiful, and most ugly birds imaginable! I love the Raven.. it’s a scary bird, but truly mystical in a way. The Flamingo’s, which are born brown and turn pink at about 2yrs of age were pretty funny to watch, and the Owl was simply beautiful. Wendy made fun of the Kookaburras there and they flared there feathers at her, which i found amusing. The weirdest bird though was this Oscillated Turkey, which has this funny orange thing on its head which make it look like it could do with some serious medication! Kinda wiggy like.

We were almost done, but there was one exhibit we were hanging out for; the Otters. Otters are just adorable creatures, and absolutely fascinated with people. The way they act around people just wows me, as they almost try and show off their swimming and diving skills. Not only that, but they actually look adorable. Check these guys out.

Our last stop at the zoo was a quick visit to the the gift shop to pick up a shot glass (we’re getting quite a lot of them now).

Last night we’d been given instructions to the local “Skechers” store, as Wendy wanted to buy a new pair of shoes to replace the ones she bought in Dallas in 2006. Skechers are a brand, and are really expensive in Australia. To replace her shoes in Aussie, it would have cost around $130, which is much more than we could afford.

So we headed to the store. It turns out, when our friends said store, they meant Skechers Outlet Store! Holy crap… not only was it huge, but had hundreds of different types of Skechers shoes. Did you even know they made hundreds of styles of Skechers? We didn’t.

It also turns out they had a special on. Buy 1 pair of shoes and get a second pair at half price. But here’s the best part. Over the last 2 days we had under-spent on our budget, so we actually had a bit of cash spare, so Wendy says I could get a pair of shoes also. So off we go in separate directions looking to pick up a great deal.

And did we ever!

45 minutes later we walked out of the store with 4 pairs of shoes, and a pair of boots for Wendy. Wendy found the exact same shoes she already has for $40 and also a pair of work style shoes for the same price. I found a replacement pair of walking shoes with great ankle support for $40 and a really nice pair of slip-on leather shoes for $35. Lastly, Wendy found boots that not only fit her and have a low heel, but they looked GOOD. price? $30! All up, our 5 pairs of shoes came to only $140. That’s LESS than what the one pair of boots would have cost if they’d got them back home. Deal? Bargain? Can i hear a HELL YEAH!

We finally got home and checked our email at 4:30pm and then headed downstairs to the Shorts living room as Vicki was cooking “Southern Fried Chicken” and “Scalloped Potatoes” for dinner. Southern fried chicken is really yummy, and the potatoes are like a sliced potato bake with ham through it… very VERY nice. We were joined for dinner by Jena, whom is a friend of the Shorts. We first met Jena 3 and a half years ago when we came down to San Antonio in 2006, so it was great to see her again.

After dinner we laxed on the couch watching the Dallas Stars game on TV. Stars hockey… on tv! Oh yeah, it was a great night. Normally we wouldn’t have watched it and let the others have the TV, but Bob, Vicki and Amber were outside putting all the Christmas lights up on the trees. They have these amazing reigndeer that actually move, and lots of lights on the trees, and a santa… it’s just amazing.

Oh, and the Stars beat the ducks 3-1! A GREAT night.

Now… the most amazing thing… they have forecast SNOW here tomorrow. It has not snowed in San Antonio for going on 20+ years! It snowed in Dallas the other day, so they had a feeling it might, but seriously… snow, hear? That just rocks big-time! We’re hoping it does, as that would just be so special!

Tomorrow we’re going to go pick up our tickets to the Rampage Vs Texas Stars game from the Willcall and hopefully catch up with Tammy. If not, we’ll track her down from Dallas.

We knew today was going to be a long one, so sleep was of utmost importance.  Sadly, between late night packing and over-worked minds, we only got between 4 and 5hrs before our alarm rudely woke us up at 4am.  Because Bel and Terry were both sick, we caught a cab to the airport after a quick but sad goodbye with Bel.  It was rather cold outside at that time of the morning, so the heat of the cab was most welcomed.

We got the shock upon arriving at the airport… it started snowing!  Yes folks, after 12 days in Saskatoon, it actually snowed.  Not enough to do anything with, but we saw the flakes, so there ya go.  Apparently the next day it was snowing and cold… go figure.

We had a quick Breakfast of Timmy Ho’s (a final hurrah) and then went through customs and to our gate.   The flight itself was smooth and uneventful, and pretty short.  It took only 1hr and 18 minutes (approx) to get to our stop at Minneapolis Minnesota. We had to go through border patrol here of course, and Wendy stepped up her game, yet again proving that no custom official in the world can stay serious when she’s around.  We got asked the regular question “Did you bring any food, drinks or animal products in with you”, to which she replied in a heartbeat, “We did bring a Koala with us.  It’s stuffed though, not a real one”.  The guy tried not to smile but couldn’t help but laugh.  Yes, Wendy 6, Customs 0.  After going through, we re-checked our luggage back in for our next flight to Dallas.

The stayover in Minnesota was only 2hrs, so we found this great little place that did eggs, toast, bacon etc and had a coffee before yet again getting back on another plane and heading to one of our most fave places in the world… Dallas.  This flight wasn’t as smooth as the first, mainly due to rain all over the DFW area.  The majority of the flight was bumpy, with the final 30 minutes as we descended through the rain providing a few gasps from the passengers.  We did land safely though, so all’s good.

Our next stop was Enterprise Rental Cars, which was at the Rental car area of the DFW airport.  To get there you jump on the rental car shutting and go for about a 10min bus ride.  All part of the service at DFW   We had booked an economy car, such as a Hyundai Accent or similar, but it seems that they were all out when we picked up our car, so guess what… free upgrade people!  Oh hell yes!  We had a choice of a Focus… and others.  The others were irrelevant, because the Red 2008 Ford Focus was also the sports model, so the choice was pretty much made for us.  We do love the Ford Focus car.

Now, we got up at 4am, traveled from Saskatoon to Dallas, Tx and now had to drive to San Antonio… that’s about a 5hr drive!  As it was not only night time, but raining, the driving was all down to me, and i should point out… holy crap, drivers over here are mad as batshit!  Cars were doing 75MPH in torrential rain… and unfortunately, it meant a very fast, and very scary drive, especially for someone who was already tired.  We did make it though, with only 1 small problem.  About half way there we came across a car on fire that was being put out by the authorities.  The toxic smoke from the fire got into the car, putting Wendy into a semi-scary asthma attack.  About 6 puffs on the Ventolin, some calm breathing and a blast of fresh air from the fans and she slowly came better.  The coughing though lasted all the way to San Antonio, and through the night.  She’s good now though.

We finally arrived in Boerne, Texas where our friend Amber and her family live about 9pm.  Boerne is just north of San Antonio.  It is so great seeing Amber and meeting her husband, Grady (spelling could be wrong, I apologise if it is). We talked until late at night before finally heading to bed.