Road Trip Report: Meals

This is really just an attempt to make a lot of miscellaneous stuff fit into my "themed" report. It works, because (being Reeds) we rarely sat for more than five minutes without eating something. I won't bore you with the details of every meal we ate on the trip...just some of the more interesting ones. We departed St. George for San Antonio at dark:30 in the morning so, come breakfast time, we found ourselves deep in the heart of Hopi country. We stopped here for breakfast at the Cliff Dwellers Cafe. I have three things to say about it:

1. It was one of the cleanest eating establishments I have ever been in.

2. Their biscuits and gravy were some of the spiciest I've ever eaten.

3. Alvie peed all over their floor. It's a long drive from St. George to San Antonio, even divided over two days. Bill tried to stop every couple of hours at a McDonald's PlayLand so that the boys could stretch their legs. This stop was in Widow Rock, Arizona, where Ashton became bffs with Anna. They were inseparable for the twenty minutes we stayed there. A flock of sheep were in the parking lot right outside the restaurant window. Probably on their way to a special occasion... We met Emily, Eric and the girls in Fredricksburg, about 30 miles from their house and had dinner at a German restaurant, then followed them home. The Texas hill country was settled by Germans, and there are a lot of little towns in the area that still reflect that heritage; Gruene, Boerne, New Braunfels, Fredricksburg, etc. They are all a short drive from S.A. and really fun to visit. Wooden sidewalks, cute shops, interesting restaurants...the total tourist package. On Tuesday, we went to Brackenridge Park, right in the heart of the city of San Antonio. It is huge and contains the Japanese Tea Gardens, golf course, zoo and lots of hiking and picnicking areas. Here we are taking a lunch break between touring the gardens and doing the zoo. More on that adventure in my final report... This is the Gristmill Restaurant in Gruene. We spent the afternoon there on Thursday. The restaurant is right on the river which is very popular with "toobers". After lunch, we walked to the general store and had ice cream at their old fashioned soda fountain. Then, while Bill watched the kids, Emily, Sarah and I visited an antique store and craft store where I mentally stole a lot of really cute ideas. Bill entertained the kids by giving them each his business card and telling them to call him if they ever need a job. Thursday night we packed up the cooler again and headed over to HemisFair Park where we camped out on the ground to watch "Kung Fu Panda" with about a thousand other people. It was projected onto the side of a big limestone building. Very fun! Sarah, being pregnant, needed something more gourmet than the food we had brought from home. Craving a gas station fried burrito, she had to settle for nachos.

Red Vines, anyone?

These two really know their sweets! This is the bakery at Mi Tierra,the restaurant we ate at after Abby's baptism on Saturday. I thought the food was good, but very different from California-style Mexican food. We have noticed that in Texas, Mexican food involves more sauces and even a kind of "gravy." Did I mention that Mi Tierra is a very festive restaurant? Obviously, the decor did not serve to distract Ellie and Alvie. Leaving San Antonio on Monday, we detoured through Lubbock and had a wonderful "family reunion" at Joe's Crab Shack. Liza and the kids drove down from Amarillo to meet us and we were joined by Bill's sister, Laura, her husband, Harvey, their two grandsons, Josh and Paul and Liza's friend, Brooke Thomas, who all live in Lubbock. After three hours of eating and visiting we started getting visits at our table from the manager who kept wondering if there was anything else he could do for us. Seeing the Clements really whetted our appetites for their upcoming visit. They will be here on July 3 for a three week visit. We can't wait!!!! Honestly, how many other grandmothers can say that they have the best-looking grand kids in the world? Twelve plus two on the way and not an ugly one in the bunch!

Next time: Water