Time in Texas

Friday, October 16-Thursday, October 22: Fall Festival, Sisters in San Antonio, NSPA Conference

This year's National Scholarship Providers Association (NSPA) conference was in San Antonio, so I was able to combine the work trip with family time with my sister. I flew into Austin on Friday afternoon. Thanks to a flight delay, I used the lovely yoga room at MDW for my daily practice before doing some MSTI work before the flight. The whole family went to a Fall Festival at M's school that evening, and J and I volunteered to help with the scary graveyard (one of the booths, not booze as her text-to-speech message had read...!!!). Once we got back to the house later, there was just enough time before bed for a 3-way round of Casino for J, C, and me.

On Saturday morning, J went to her yoga class while B took C to a volunteer shift at his school's Fall Festival. Then J and I drove to San Antonio for our sister time to remember and celebrate Mom. We both got upgraded rooms at the Marriott Rivercenter on the 34th floor that were conveniently right next to each other. I unpacked and settled in for the rest of the week for my upcoming conference, and then we grabbed a snack at Cafe Bocadillo in the hotel lobby before walking to Casa Doson for our late afternoon massage appointments. Since J had a regular room rate (not my conference room rate package), her resort fee included two tickets to a local attractions, so we opted for the river boat tickets and had a lovely guided tour in the early evening. We kept a lookout for a good river-side dinner option and found a perfect location at Biga in the International Center. This restaurant was in a more quiet spot, not in the midst of all of the more touristy area along the Riverwalk, so it was very tranquil and we easily got a table overlooking the river. The service was very attentive, with no problems for my dietary restrictions, and we both had a delicious meal of the beet salad followed by the mahi entree. (the photos don't do the food justice due to the low light on the outdoor terrace)

On Sunday morning, I had a lovely sunrise view from my hotel room during my workout. 

We went to a nearby deli for breakfast before going to the San Antonio Art Museum for a highlights tour at 12pm. Our docent was excellent, very knowledgeable and passionate about the collection, and it was a perfect way to get an overview since we didn't have any specific items we wanted to see or any special exhibition to visit. And I found an adorable plush Lucky Cat at the gift shop to bring home with me! 

After the Museum, we went to the local Pullman Market so I could pick up some fruit and other snacks for the week. We stopped at the hotel to unload and then headed towards the northern part of San Antonio towards the fields for C's soccer game. We had time for a coffee and snack break along the way.

After the game, the whole family along with one of the other players from C's team went out for dinner at a seafood restaurant. Then J dropped me back at my hotel before returning to Austin, and B took the kids home to Austin.

Monday morning started out with another stroll along the Riverwalk, giving me a chance to see more of the public art all lit up and reflecting in the river.

The main part of Monday was a pre-conference session that I didn't attend, so I had plenty of time to catch up on work and get more of my MSTI thesis project done. I also met up with my NSPA mentee, C, for coffee in the late morning. The first set of learning circle sessions was in the late afternoon, followed by the opening reception.

I attended several sessions on Tuesday but didn't stay for the entire keynote lunch speaker, as I wasn't impressed with him or his content. I was able to check in with work several times throughout the day during the breaks and facilitated a learning circle related to emergency aid that afternoon. Then there was time for the sponsored Happy Hour before the first class in my next session of Japanese. As we were all talking at the beginning of call, we found out that both L and I just happened to be in hotel rooms in San Antonio. What a coincidence! Her hotel was about 10 minutes away from mine, but she didn't see my private chat message about trying to meet up in person the next day. 

My Wednesday morning walk took me in a different direction with some other sights, including a cluster of ducks along the edge of the Riverwalk.

After a day full of sessions, and a much better lunchtime keynote speaker, my conference experience wrapped up with the Fiesta Finale at the nearby Casa Rio restaurant. Unfortunately, my food challenges from throughout the week continued (hard to find anything nearby that wasn't meat-based or tinged with allium), so I ended up ordering plain shrimp tacos from the hotel restaurant and eating much later than I wanted. But I did at least see some local felines during my late afternoon walk along with a stunning sunset to match the sunrise.

I had a final walk on Thursday morning and got to see more of the set-up for the upcoming Dia de los Muertos celebration along the Riverwalk, which was happening over the weekend.

All went well with my return travel, so I was back home in Evanston just after 1pm, with enough time to unpack before my decompression appointment and afternoon snuggle time with all of my cats. Overall, a great trip with special family time and relevant conference content, but I was definitely glad to be home after nearly a week away. And another conference coming up in less than a week, so more travel to prepare for soon!