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!

Homecoming Weekend in Madison

Thursday, October 1-Sunday, October 4: Taliesin, Badger Win, Home Depot, Laurent House

Mr. E picked up a rental car on Thursday morning, and we headed up to Madison later that afternoon, in the midst of rainy weather. Our hotel was the Residence Inn in Middleton, in the same area as the Madison Marriott West where we've stayed in the past. After checking in, Mr. E went out to get provisions while I did yoga. I'd been battling with a really nasty cold since Monday, so continued my routine of earlier bedtime and no drinking.

Our destination on Friday as Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin for a 2pm Highlights Tour that lasted 2.5 hours. On the way there, we stopped briefly at the Spring Valley Inn, which was another Frank Lloyd Wright design that I'd read about in one of my new books by Kristine Hansen. I had seen her at an author talk at Bookends & Beginnings the week before and picked up both her Illinois and Wisconsin books, which was a great way to learn more about these sites.

Our tour started at the Visitor's Center, and we then boarded a small shuttle to go to the estate, where we toured the main home, some of the grounds, and the school and studio. I had been here once before with Mom when I lived in Madison, but I think that was nearly 30 years ago (!), and there have definitely been changes and upgrades to the sites and the tour operations. We had a beautiful day for the visit and could really appreciate how the buildings fit into the landscape.

I really love the unique and iconic light that we saw several of throughout the property. A large and small version were available at the gift shop and even on sale, but both Mr. E and I decided that it might be too risky to have something in our home that would be so tempting to our climber kitties!

Our evening was pretty low-key again, with some reading, browsing at a few nearby shops, and another takeout dinner. Oh, and during a trip to Target, Mr. E was able to get his COVID and flu shots, since he hadn't been able to do so when I did the previous week at our Evanston CVS.

On Saturday morning, we made our way to campus for the tailgate at the Olin House (Chancellor's residence) before going to Camp Randall for the homecoming game. We had been invited to watch from the Wisconsin Club, which gave us access to much comfier seats as well as food and drinks throughout the game. This was really the primary reason that I had wanted to attend, as otherwise Mr. E goes with his friends who are more into the game than I am. We had a great view of the entire field and saw some amazing plays as the Badgers won 31-3.

We left a bit early and decided to take advantage of having a car to visit Home Depot and do some recon for various items we'll need for our condo projects (paint, faucets, cabinet handles, etc.). We also picked up some items at Metcalfe's Market and Paper Source at the Hilldale Mall. Then another relaxing evening at the hotel.

I took advantage of the decent length and rectangular shape of the hotel pool to swim laps on Sunday morning and finished with perfect timing, right before a family with two kids came to use the pool. After breakfast, we packed everything up and hit the road to drive to Rockford, IL, for our 1pm tour of Laurent House, the only home ever designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for someone with limited mobility. The tour was quite lovely, and I really enjoyed seeing the modifications to accommodate Mr. Laurent and his wheelchair, as it reminded me so much of how Dad had to navigate and move through the world, first on crutches and then in a wheelchair as he got older.

We got back to Evanston in the late afternoon, so we had plenty of time to unpack, do the grocery shopping (with a car for a change!), and spend some quality time with the kitties. 

Evanston Activities

Mr. E and I took advantage of a few fun local activities last month, including a book signing by chef Carla Hall at Bookends & Beginnings, a Chicago Cubs game to benefit Hubbard Street Dance Company, and a bike ride to the Bahai'i Temple.

I've also had some amazing sunrise views during my morning walks to the Lake over the past few weeks. And Mr. E and I were lucky enough to catch the big harvest moonrise when we [very coincidentally] happened to go to Cafe au Lake for drinks one evening. I couldn't really get any photos that truly captured how amazing the moon looked over the Lake, but the sunrise images are pretty darn good.