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Sunday, 4 September 2011 - Plush

 
Kristina had another swim lesson to give this morning in another plush neighbourhood, and I tagged along to test a polarizing lens filter I bought for the new camera yesterday.

 
 
Nice, and complete with pet lizard (and a cat that has a habit of eating the lizards). Anyway, the polarizing filter is supposed to reduce glare and reflections on non-metallic surfaces (e.g. water, so this was a good opportunity to test that), darken the sky, improve colour saturation, etc. Anyone with polarized sunglasses (like my Oakleys) will know what I'm talking about.

 
 
Oh and check this out - a drive-in bank! Apparently these things are all over the country. You drive up, tell the chicky in the speaker what you want to do, stick your paperwork in the tube there which gets sucked up and sent inside, then wait for receipts and whatnot to be whisked back to you. Barely even need to leave the comforts of your car in this country.

Monday, 5 September 2011 - Smokey one-year anniversary

 
 

Kristina and my one-year anniversary today - special :) In other news, there are major fires raging across Central Texas at the moment about 150km north of San Antonio, and there have been others further north again that have been making national headlines. And just now we got a phone call from Kristina's older brother, who lives in a neighbourhood only a few miles north of Kristina's, saying he's being evacuated due to a nearby brush fire that broke out two hours ago so he's coming over. Shortly after he called, the US Tennis Open we're all watching was interrupted with breaking news of the fire. I could bike there in about 20-30 minutes but it sounds like the fire crews have it under control so there's little point. Shame ;)

Tuesday, 6 September 2011 - Toobing, with a whiney bitch

 
Just like a week ago, we headed back to the Comal River for a little tubing under the sun, but this time we brought Layla along (Kristina's dog). One would assume most dogs would love this, and Layla has gone tubing with the family before and loved it, but...

 
 
...she just wasn't in the mood for it today, and spent most of her time like this on our tubes hahaha!
 
In the past she would apparently run along the shore, jump in and out of the water, and real good ol' time but for whatever reason today she just hated it hehe. Videos here and here.

 
Layla the land-lover.
 
She doesn't mind pissing in the river though.

Wednesday, 7 September 2011 - Take me out to the...

 
...ball game! I've always wanted to go see a major baseball game in the States, but the best we could do at short notice was a minor league game in the Texas League between San Antonio and Frisco (a northern suburb of Dallas). Video of some of the action here.

 
 
The San Antonio Missions are the local heroes, with no shortage of fans in the crowd - most of them Mexicans and rednecks.
 
This guy has a girl's name.
 
And this guy throws like a girl hehe.

 
I went in expecting a lot of big hitting like what you see on TV, but unfortunately most of the hits went in this general direction - skywards and backwards. Good if you're hoping to catch a ball in the crowd (which a lot of folk did) but not so much for an entertaining game.
 
We were sitting right beside first base so I was also hoping to see some desperate sliding and diving, again like what you see on TV, but again I didn't. Oh well.

 
 
By the end of the seventh innings the score was dismal hehe. Time for some crowd entertainment.
 
And so out came this, thing. Supposedly a taco hahaha!
 
Then came this retard, a jalapeño - brilliant.

 
The eighth innings was a good'un for San An, and after Frisco failed to put anything on the board in the ninth that was the end of that. So, not a lot of big hitting, but regardless it was still a fun way to spend a night :)

Thursday, 8 September 2011 - Even more toobing!

 
 
Check this out! It's a dust devil, and appeared randomly in front of us as we were driving along a country road. It lasted just long enough for me to rip my camera out of my bag in the back seat (while driving hehe) and snap it before dissipating.
 
Anyway, today saw us in another former school bus being dropped at another river for another day of tubing. This is the San Marcos River some 70km outside of San Antonio. It's spring-fed and so is one of the few around here that actually has some water in it.

 
 
First order of business, bladder relief. Yup, this is my ladyfriend taking a piss in a river.
 
This is a really popular spot for tubing, canoeing, swimming etc, though with the tourist season over we had the whole river virtually to ourselves apart from the occasional kayaker or tuber, or turtle.

 
 
It may have water, but the river (like all bodies of water in Texas) is far below its usual level.
 
Still good relaxing fun though, and there were occasional 'rapids' to keep us amused - video here.

 
 
We were on the river for about three hours, and bugger me it's a nice spot! We're heading north tomorrow to spend the weekend staying in a lake house owned by family friends of Kristina's. When the daily temperature never fails to hit 38+ degrees, hanging around what little water the state has left is a pretty good way to spend the day.

Friday, 9 September 2011 - 2011 Rugby World Cup

 
This year boys, surely this year. Cool little something to mark the occasion here...

Friday, 9 September 2011 - Deep in the heart of Texas!

 
We ventured north a couple hours today to spend the weekend here on Lake Lyndon B Johnson (or lake LBJ - named after the former US president) at a Kristina's family friend's house. Not bad, not bad ;)

 
First order of business: some R&R.
 
Second order of business: some exploration.
 
 
LBJ is a massive reservoir on the Colardo River in the Texas Hill Country, formed in 1950 by the construction of a dam. Kristina's mates live right on the eastern shore, and I had a little nosey around the area in the kayak - bloody nice!
 
 
 
There are some pretty amazing houses around the area - these rich pricks have their own wee island connected to the mainland by a little bridge.
 
Third order of business: cycling!
 
 
More massive properties, and deer - dozens and dozens of deer all over the place. They wander in people's yards, they wander all over the road, I nearly hit a few of them, but I did have fun terrorising those in my way hehe. Video here.
 
Explore a bit more of that tomorrow.

Saturday, 10 September 2011 - I want a lake house, and a jet ski

 
 
Another hot and sunny day (if I was still in London I'd no doubt be saying "another cold and shitty day") and we hit the water!

 
 
That's me, being awesome.
 
Jack, I'm flying! (little Titanic reference there)
 
Video of us hooning around the lake here.

 
 
No shortage of other traffic on the lake. People fishing, wakeboarding, tubing, and cruising.
 
I want a jet ski!

 
 
And I want a lake house!
 
I've no idea how much some of these properties are worth, but I heard the land alone is over a million along some parts of the lake.
 
These dudes even had a pair of mini-waterfalls.
 
 
 
 
I could live like this.

 
 
We went out again later in the evening to a different part of the lake and gate crashed some more family friends, who told me to help myself to the beer fridge, which I did.
 
'Twas just another day in the life ;)

Sunday, 11 September 2011 - Ten years

 
A lot of American flags flying at half-mast today, both around the lake and along the highways on our way back to San Antonio. Most of us in New Zealand knew nothing of 9/11 until we woke on 9/12 given we're 16 hours ahead of New York (so the first plane hit at 12:46am our time). I woke to a txt message telling me to check out the front page of the newspaper, after which I turned on the TV to find it being covered on every station, and then drove to university to find it being covered on every radio station as well. So that's where I was - asleep.

Monday, 12 September 2011 - Back on the bike, in 100 degrees

 
 
Typical stinking fucking hot day again, but my legs were itching for a burn so off we went and this is what we found....
 
More random street names (and based the size of some of the houses I'm sure they do have a money tree out back).

 
 
Then I found something called the Salado Creek Greenway Trail, and it was pretty welcome relief from the heat! This is just one of several such trails around the city with several more in the planning - good to see. Cycling mate, it was the way of the future 100 years ago, and it's still the same today :)

 
 
Then I found more plush neighbourhoods (this lot definitely have a money tree)...
 
And some not-so-plush cuter neighbourhoods. Lovely.
 
Someone toilet papered this dude's money tree hehe.

 
 
Then I found a river...
 
...nice park near Downtown...
 
...and the longest train I've ever seen - this thing must've been at least three kilometres long. I arrived at the crossing just as it did, and ten minutes later I'm still sitting there waiting on it hahaha, bloody hell! Anyway, 55kms all up in 30+ degree heat, and if my legs were itchy before they were well buggered now. My route here if anyone's interested (I forgot to start the GPS tracking me at Kristina's house again, but you get the idea).

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