FREE DAY

A free day on tour is always nice! Especially – in my case - if that’s the first day of tour. Blue Devils usually have two free days per summer. The Sunday in San Antonio is always one of them. Every summer I toured with the Blue Devils we had a free Sunday here (together with about 8-10 other corps).
This year the corps had a show in Austin on Sunday night, so they returned to San Antonio for a free day on Monday. And everyone liked it. Less crowded, shops and mall open till 8PM instead of 6PM. Movie theatre discounts,…

The members first had the opportunity to do laundry, and then spent all afternoon and evening in town, and along the popular Riverwalk.

I hung out with fellow cook Mike. Great guy! I met him last summer when he spent a good week on Devils Food at the end of tour. His wife Vicky will join us later next week.

Obviously we walked the Riverwalk, spent some time in the mall, had a great sirloin beef burger (the jalepeño bacon and jalepeño aioli were a perfect accompaniment!

It was a pretty sweaty day. The humidity made it unpleasant. But hey… I shouldn’t complain. I’m here, having a wonderful time again!

Next stop was the famous historical site of the ALAMO. I blogged about the Alamo before here (look it up). Still not impressed. Pretty boring site alright, but the tourists seem to like it. A quick walk through the Shrine and through the premises was more than enough to absorb the story.

Tasted some excellent oil and balsamic vinegar at a new store. Interesting combinations (coconut, fig, white truffle…)!

Dinner was exceptional! We went to Landry’s on the Riverwalk, and had a nice table right at the water. Landry’s is a restaurant specialized in fish and seafood. Not exactly my first choice with my allergy for both, but they were said to serve good steaks too. I was stunned by their service! As I mentioned my allergy, the waiter informed the manager and the chef. The manager came to our table to explain how seriously their restaurant took serving guests with allergies. The grill would be scrubbed clean before my steak would go on. Excellent!! Started dinner with a delicious Mango Mojito.

After a drink at Mad Dogs some  other support staff joined us, and we ended up in Howl at the Moon, a piano bar with a fabulous atmosphere. Two pianists played any request song that was written on a slip of paper and left on their pianos. Pretty unbelievable how many songs (and especially lyrics) they know by heart!

All Blue Devils vehicles left the Convention Center around 10:30PM and we’re on our way to Houston. I didn’t even know we were stopping in Houston until today. I thought we were going straight to Hattiesburg.

Good night everyone!

Enjoy,

HK