New heights

Super Bowl day

I can remember years ago when Leo was about 10 and an avid fan of American football video taping the super bowl for him. (Actually I went to bed and left the recorder running, as this is not a short event!) Today the final was played in Miami, in the rain (Ha!) with the multi million-dollar ads every 3-4 minutes. Evidently one ordinary mortal managed to raise sponsorship to make his own private ad in which he proposed to his girlfriend! Don’t know the outcome yet, but I think I’d rather have had the money thanks!

Anyway, we managed to be almost unaffected by it all, we went down to San Antonio and did some touristy things. We shot to the top of the Tower of the Americas, though we didn’t eat in the revolving restaurant. The views were spectacular, the city literally stretched for miles bathed in the bright sunshine as far as we could see. No shortage of land, no crowded streets, plenty of “highways” though, snaking around, between and beyond the mix of centre high rise and the sprawling suburbs. These weren’t crowded as “fans” were at home with their popcorn. In the far distance there was a hint of mountains, but they were a long way off. We ate Mexican at lunch and rounded off the day with a visit to the San Antonio stock show. We had intended to watch the rodeo too, but hadn’t done our homework well enough as it turned out, Sunday is the only day when it’s held at lunchtime instead of the evening. Rather a shame but I’m sure we’ll catch another one somewhere on our travels. We did wander around the rest of the show, rubbing shoulders with cattlemen in their Stetsons and boots complete with spurs. It felt like a film set, but these people are for real. It’s no wonder we’re taken for tourists even before we open our mouths, those Stetsons incidentally are quite expensive, even a straw looking one would set you back over $100. I never expected them to be rock hard either! We browsed round stalls stacked high with beautifully tooled leather saddles, which at $900 or so didn’t really seem expensive. All together an interesting experience, though it did seem a more commercial affair than the Fryburg fair we visited at the start of our adventure.