Day 40

With its little manmade river winding through downtown and providing much-needed shade from the sun, San Antonio is endearing and steeped in history. After meeting my super-fabulous friend David, whom I met so many wild years ago in Tokyo, he took us on a whimsical nighttime tour of his fair city that included a lesbian bar and the Alamo.

We threw back a couple cocktails and wandered through the dark heat in search of nothing particular. We peered into a Cowboys bus to see if we could spot any football players, who were practicing at the local stadium all week. We stopped in a fancy-schmancy hotel to soak up the AC, then walked through a lonely park while David told us about the time he and his friend were almost robbed. Funsies!

The next day we went back for another trek through downtown, eating tasty Tex-Mex at a riverside cafe and then heading back to the Alamo to look inside. It really is incredible. Most of my familiarity with the place comes from watching Pee-Wee's Big Adventure as a child, and even that's hazy now.

The searing heat eventually drove us, after listening to lazy music drift over the water at the River Center and watching droves of quinceañera sweethearts and brides (sometimes it was hard to tell the difference) parade by in poofy gowns, to the cool refuge of our car and we left San Antonio and dear David in the dust.