San Antonio, TX and Valentines Day

For Valentines day and to take a little Vacation before training started, Logan and me headed to San Antonio for a weekend trip! We left after work on Wednesday and got there that evening picked up dinner at Panda Express and watched a movie before heading back to Lackland AFB where we stayed at one of the hotels. 

Thursday 14

On our first morning there, I was getting ready and so Logan said he was going to go fill up the car on base while I finished up. When he got back, he had gassed up the car but also gotten me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and chocolates! He is so good to me!

Valentines day was spent in downtown San Antonio. We went on a boat tour, toured the Alamo, walked around the mall and walked the river walk. It is a beautiful location. It is green and has some really interesting history. I was impressed at how well they have up-kept all the old buildings - some were even several hundred years old! 

I have to admit that before going, I really didn't know much about what happened at the Alamo. It was interesting learning about it and the people who died there. For instance, did you know that Davy Crockett was killed there - I didn't!  

Walking around the grounds it was so beautiful and I really loved all the old trees. 

Some more pictures taken at the Alamo.

For dinner that nigh,t Logan surprised meagain by taking me out to dinner at one of the restaurants on the river walk. When we walked in for our reservation, I was sure they would put us inside in a little corner but then they walked us to a table right on the water side!! I was so impressed with Logan, yet again! He is so romantic!

I love this man so much!

Friday 15
The next day we went to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. It is one of the unique places I have even been! You drive your car (slowly) though the reserve and get to feed the animals out of your car window! 

We found out that the animals were really used to people and some would walk in front of your car so you had to stop and then come to your window to get fed. The one below, next to Logan, would have had its whole head in the car were it not for it's horns! I thought the Zebras were cool because they would come up and open their moths really wide so you could trow food in. 

After seeing all the animals we got Chipotle and went up north a little bit to a place that had TWO outlet malls! I couldn't believe that they were right next to each other and they both had a Banana Republic Outlet. It was my lucky day! Logan got some shoes but I don't think he was as excited about it.

Saturday 16

By now I couldn't imagine that our trip could get any more fun but then we went to SeaWorld!! Once every year they let military members and their families in for free. We met up with another couple from San Angelo at the park and got to see all the amazing animals!

One of the first things we did was go to the dolphin exhibit. It is open so you can reach in a pet them! We were there for a while and all the sudden one swam right up to me and I got to be the first of our group to touch one. By the time we left, we all had had a chance.

After that, we walked over to the aquarium because it was feeding time for them. Inside, they had several tanks and then two large ones with stingrays and sharks. We watched a scuba diver feeding the stingrays and then walked over to the Shark tank.

One of the workers asked if I had any questions and I didn't, so I asked him what is favorite shark was. He took me over and showed me one called a zebra shark - it was one he was personally in charge of feeding and taking care of.

I don't know why but after we were talking he asked if the four of us would like to go up to the top of the tanks. Uh, YES!! So he took us through a door that lead to the back and gave us a private tour! He showed us the huge water filters and then took us to the "kitchen"  were they prepare all the animal's food everyday.

Then he led us up a staircase that went to the top of the stingray and shark tanks. They must do this every once in a while because he had a tub that had examples of sting ray teeth, the fake coral and a empty shark egg. About that time the scuba diver girl was getting out of the water and we got to chat with her a little too. 

Then we went over to the shark tanks. It was so cool when the sharks would come to the top and you could see their fin above the water. Our tour guide gave us food to fed the fish that live in the shark tank. Another one of the workers came over and said if you threw it in front of the shark, sometimes the fish would swim in front and the sharks would eat them! I asked how often the sharks actually ate the fish and the guy was like "it happened just yesterday".  So of course we all tried but didn't get to see that. 

Another super cool thing about or private tour was seeing some animals that were not displayed to the public like this guy called a Wobbegong or a carpet shark. I guess she is super old for her species. I love the stars pattern in her skin! 

After our tour, we road two of the roller coasters and saw some shows. We ended our day with the killer whale show. We sat two rows into the splash zone thinking that we wouldn't get wet because we were really close to the top. WE WERE SO WRONG! haha. With the first well placed splash, Logan and me were drenched. Oh, well. That's just part of the SeaWorld experience!

When we got back to the car, we were lucky we had extra clothes. So we changed, got dinner on our way out of town and headed back home that night. I have to say it was the most amazing trip! Just what we needed. We were so lucky that the weather was perfect everyday we were there and we had some amazing experiences. We decided that we really like San Antonio and Lackland, AFB and we would be happy to live there someday.