Time in TX is winding down

 It was amazing being down in San Antonio.  I can't begin to describe how lucky I feel to have such incredible friends... we have such a great time when we are together.  It's funny how at home I feel even when J&D are in their respective offices and working and I'm on the couch studying.  You know, when people are dating they have certain milestones that indicate how comfortable they are with each other - farting in front of each other is an example - but there should be the same kind of thing for friends.  Like, you've reached peak friendship when all parties involved can be 100% themselves without having to apologize or feel like they have to entertain each other and know that no offense is taken.  I feel like a lot of my interactions for the past 2 years have been really careful... it's nice to just relax.  

I mentioned to Jess that I'd be down to go to the San Antonio Zoo if we wanted to get out and about at some point.  So we did just that on Wednesday.

We started in the aquarium part

EEL!  So big and freaky looking.

Tiny crab and sexy shrimp... I kid you not, that's their name.

Pretty kitty - it shouldn't surprise you that Jess and I both like the kitties.

Freaky horned snake... reminded me a bit of my friend K's eyebrows... hehe.

Have a fun lizard

I don't like these things... and I'm happy there was glass between us.

Not often I've seen a hippo's feet.

I'm rather proud of this pic, tho I feel like the dwarf croc was posing.

Wild dogs

The baby giraffe

Evil birds... EVIL!

The rhino... well, one of 3 but the others weren't interested in moving away from their hay.

We went to Australia too!!  The kangaroo in the back with it's legs in the air cracked us up.

Porcupines are way cuter than they have any right to be.

Then we made friends!  Yes, at some point the birds did poo on us.  Small price to pay for the fun of being able to interact with the animals.

So this was fun - the zoo keepers were trying to use a weed eater to mow the grass, they were trying to coax the gator into the water.  His name is 'Rufus' so we kept hearing 'Rufus, water!' from the keepers.  We assume that eventually Rufus did get in the water because we saw the zookeeper in another place later, but it was quite entertaining.  

Then we headed to the birds.

We came back to see this guy, who was NOT happy being so close to prey and yet so far away.

Majestic kitty.  I also got a good pic of a jaguar, but I guess I didn't choose that one to upload.  Oops.

One of the bears... the other one just had his head out of his door.

They had animatronic dinos all through the zoo, and they also have some kind of dragon land that is open on the weekend.  This was a bit of a teaser for that at the end of the zoo.  Seems like something I'd like to see, but alas, we went on a Wednesday and so we weren't able to see the dragons.

I love that Jess was ok with going to the zoo.  We needed food afterwards, of course.

We went to Chuy's.  I got a chimichanga with green chili.  This was the first time I'd ordered a chimi and had the sauce UNDER it instead of on top... so I scooped the chili for the pic.  It was SO GOOD.

The chips and ranch (yep, that's ranch dressing) came standard, we ordered the guac.  The margaritas are so good - fresh squeezed lime juice makes them *chef's kiss.*

The next day, we headed north from San Antonio on I-35 toward Dallas.  We stopped at the Czech Stop in West, TX to pick up baked goods for later.  We got 3 kinds of kolaches, 2 jalapeno and cheese sausage rolls, 2 snickerdoodles, a gingerbread man, and a ginger molassas cookie.  As of Friday, I have only one cookie left.  If you ever drive through West, TX be sure to stop for some baked goodies.

You can even get sammiches.  

We also decided to check out the bluebonnet trails.  If you don't know, the bluebonnet is the TX state flower and it's a thing to go take pictures of/in the bluebonnets.  I love it because Indian Paintbrushes also bloom at this time of year, often with the bluebonnets, and the Indian Paintbrush is the WY state flower.  I appreciate the symbolism of my home states.

So pretty, even if it's not peak season.

Standard selfie - it was windy and I couldn't figure out WHAT to do with my hair that day.

We are so cute!

Had to change shirts and find another location.

I'm better at posing when I can see what I look like - Jess got some good pix of me, but there are rolls and stuff involved.  So here's the closest you're getting to a full-body shot.

We are so cute!  My earring made an interesting shadow.

So the whole reason we came up to Dallas was so that we could have dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant.  That's right, we went to Anamia's after all the picture taking.  More margaritas and yummies for us!  We did order tableside guac, and it was WAY better than at Chuys.

So good.

Since this was also on Thursday, I got my poblano a la parilla with BRISKET in it.  So good, I'm gonna miss this so much.  The Yucatan slaw, rice, and bean soup are also good, but the poblano a la parilla with the brisket - SO AMAZING.  

So that was our last 2 days of adventures.  Jess flew back to San Antonio early on Friday and I hung around the Dallas area.  I took a couple old phones to Best Buy for recycling, drove around, rearranged some of my stuff in my car, went to Daiso (that's right, there's a Daiso here - needed pens and reusable bags), went to Half Priced Books (only got a new journal), and eventually checked into my hotel.  I started my new journal to work out what I'm sure will eventually be some weird emotions.  That's one take away from counseling I'll forever remember - how helpful keeping a journal can be.  I also decided to have a spa night so I did a face mask, shaved my legs, took a shower, and relaxed.  Since this is really the first time I've been alone since I came home, I've been able to reflect on a few things.

It feels weird to be back.  So much has changed, and yet so much is the same.  I'm still distracted by the fact that I no longer look different than the majority of people here.  Seeing tattoos and people wearing heavy metal t-shirts is no longer a 'WOW, haven't seen that in a while' sort of thing.  Being able to say "Thank you" and "Have a great day" is so nice.  I still hand over my debit card with one hand on my other arm, I guess that habit is going to take a while to break.  I don't really bow at people though - more of a nod.  I'm smiling more, and while I'm a little freaked out about finding a good job, I'm also pretty darn relaxed about everything.  I'm excited to catch up with people from Granbury and Glen Rose, and then head further north (while hoping the weather stays nice).  Tomorrow I'm meeting up with one of my old co-workers from Glen Rose at a BBQ place.  It's gonna be nice.  I'll be mostly on the internet calling people on Easter, though I may treat myself to some good German food.  I've officially put over 1000 miles on the stink bug, and I know this because it has an option for Trip A and Trip B - Trip A gets re-set every time I get gas, but Trip B does not.  Trip B just re-set to say 200 miles, but I know it's really 1200 miles.  It's doing great, too.  Hugs to all, see some of you soon!