San Antonio Texas

Everyone has been getting excited about arriving in Texas so we wondered if it was all hype and we would be disappointed. This has happened in the past on more than one occasion because different people look for different things in a town. Often how good a town is is based on the night life. I'm pretty sure the night life is great here but that isn't what makes a town for us.

One of the first things we did when we arrived was visit the Alamo. It is one of those places that everyone knows how it looks but we were surprised at how small it was having got use to everything else here usually being bigger. Another thing that surprised us was it is smack bang in the middle of downtown, surrounded by all the shops and attractions. I just expected it to be a bit in the middle of nowhere. It was good for us that it wasn't though as it meant we could walk from the arena and I visited more than once.








After visiting the Alamo we went over to the Imax movie theatre and watched the film Alamo... The Price of Freedom. This was made extra special for us as we went with Alex and his dad Marco, who was actually in the film. I wish we had seen the film before we visited the Alamo, I think it would be better that way. I did go back another day and it seemed a bit of a different place. Later in the week we also watched Toy Story 3D at the Imax, which is a brilliant film.

Also on the first day we went on a Riverboat tour which covers 2 ½ miles of riverwalk. This was a really good way to see all of it and get a bit of history before exploring it on your own. The Riverwalk runs beneath the city's main streets and is full of shops bars, restaurants, a theatre and gardens.. It is a really nice fun place with the added bonus of keeping you out of the direct sun. Right next to, actually above Riverwalk is Rivercenter Mall full of shops and the Imax theater.




Not far from downtown was Splashtown Waterpark. Willow has never been to a waterpark before so was very excited to go and had a brilliant time. There are no photos from here though as we were all to busy getting wet and having a good time.

The Alamodrome arena is pretty much in downtown which is really handy as it gave us a chance to really explore. Though a lot of the time I did this on my own as it was way too hot for Willow. She does seem to be adjusting a little to the heat though and squirting her with water has also helped.



At the back of the arena was a Bill Millers BBQ place, the food was good and cheap but the best thing was the pecan pie. Willow would have eaten there everyday just for their baked potatoes.

Hemisfair Park was a nice park with a large wooden play ground.





It is also the home of The tower of the Americans.





There is a large water feature here but it was a bit of a wind up as it was so hot and you weren't allowed in it. It was pretty though and cooled you a bit with splashes.

Next to Hemisfair Park is the historic Art Village La Villita, San Antonio's oldest surviving neighbourhood. It is a really nice area of San Antonio but was very quiet when I went there, though you can tell why it would be an ideal setting for various events and celebrations throughout the year. There is also a walking tour here you can do to learn about the area which dates back to 1750.




Another 'historic' area is Market Square which is rich in Mexican culture and boasts to being the largest Mexican-style market place in the country.



On the walk to Market Square you pass San Fernando Cathedral and Bexar County Courthouse, both pretty impressive buildings. The Cathedral is the resting place of some of the defenders of the Alamo.



This is definitely a tourist town though and there where lots of things we could have done but didn't have time to or have done similar in previous cities. Along with all the history they have here like a tour of the missions (which I would have liked to do) they have a mirror and laser maze (which I would also have liked to do) and a Seaworld, a children's museum, a zoo, a dinosaur quest, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Ripley's Haunted Adventure, Six Flags, Tomb Rider 3D, a waxworks, various museums and a Guinness world records museum.

So did it live up to the hype? Lets just say one week was not enough.

Tulsa Oklahoma

Very few train yards make an impression and those that do, do so for all the wrong reasons (well except for Colorado Springs). Tulsa train yard was very odd, on one hand it was awful and on the other it was amazing. It was awful because it was one of the weirdest cuts we have ever had. Half the train was on one side of the yard and the other half on the other side. It was also a busy yard so you had to be very careful, not that you shouldn't be anyway living in places that can be pretty dangerous if you are not careful. On the plus side though the nature and wildlife here was amazing. We saw fireflies for the first time ever and they are the most wonderful little things, just like real live fairies. One night we even caught a few and had them in a jar for a while. There were deer and possums and funny little birds that Alex thought were bats. Unfortunately there were also loads of mosquito's that packed some heavy duty poison and they seemed to get everyone on the first night before we wised up and got the insect repellent out. Small price to pay to see fireflies though.





The arena the circus played in Tulsa is called The BOK center and is very new and was designed by architect Cesar Pelli. It was very pretty and a work of art all on its own.



The arena was down town and very close to Route 66.



Very close to the BOK center was Coney Island hot dogs which was a unique hot dog experience. They were tiny but also cheap so you could afford to try a few different ones. The most bizarre thing though was the seating which was old school and by that I mean the seats were old school chairs all in a row, very odd. There was also a very strange mix of clientèle when we went.

There wasn't that much downtown but it was nice all the same.





A really nice area of Tulsa runs along beside the river and is called River Park. One part has a children's play area, both wet and dry and once again Willow got soaked in her normal clothes and was dry again before she got back into the car. I would have liked to have spent more time exploring this part of town.

We very rarely go out in the evening and it is even rarer that we go out together as a couple. I'm so pleased we both managed to go out in Tulsa to Slicks one night stand. Saturday night truly proved that the circus band are all amazing musicians. We had a great night and I am so pleased we didn't miss it. It was also great to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones.

Wichita Kansas

The train didn't move this week so it was still parked in Newton but the arena the circus played was in Wichita. It was good to have somewhere else to explore, though once again it was so hot it made it a bit difficult wandering around.

The school had planned a field trip to Old Cowtown which sounded lots of fun and something different but it got cancelled due to the weather. Not bad wet weather but because it was so hot and it was an outdoor attraction. That is how hot we have been having it.

The arena was in the Arena Neighbourhood, strangely enough they often are. This was right next to Old Town which was a nice bit of town but not a lot there other than places to eat and a water feature that you could play in. This cooled Willow down a bit but it was amazing how fast her clothes dried off.



There is a lot of art and sculptures around Douglas Street and I found out later that there is a self-guided sculpture walk.






On the last day here the train moved from Newton and parked right behind the arena. Oh how great it would be to always be that close. We were parked in an old train station which doubled up as a train museum.

Newton KS – Two week break.

Recent blogs I have said I wish we could have a decent train run as recently they have been fairly short ones. Well I soon began to think 'be careful what you wish for' as we heard a rumour that it would be a 5 day train run. Luckily this wasn't the case and it was just a two day run. Long enough for a long water stop in Kansas though for the animals (and humans) to stretch their legs.



The circus has a two week break just before the summer and people generally go home or go on holiday somewhere. Of course there are always exceptions to this, like the train crew, animal crew and the pie car that still work as some things still need to be done in a place this large even without a show going on. Going home for three of us would have been really expensive and there was nowhere we wanted to pay to go in the US that we hadn't already been to or were going to. We thought about Canada or South America but in the end decided it would be more relaxing doing nothing. Tweedy very rarely does 'nothing' and we thought it might be a nice change.

So we heard it once again 'we are parked in the middle of nowhere' and for 3 weeks with no way of getting about any where. We though we would have to hire a car for at least a bit of the time here. Once again though we were happy to find we were not in fact in the middle of nowhere but actually it was a really nice little town with really nice friendly locals. Being a small town in the middle of nowhere though it was very plain who was not a local, even without the red hair. The first couple of weeks when most people were not here was quite strange. It was a very quiet circus town.



There was a nice little High Street that you could walk easily and had pretty much everything we needed. There was a really nice health food shop called Prairie Harvest. They sold a great date slice which may not sound a big deal but I have had cravings for date slice recently and this one really hit the spot. There were antique stores and thrift stores galore to rummage around in, and find a bargain and at the end of the High Street was a Dillons grocery store, very handy. You could even walk to Walmart if you could be bothered. There was even an Amtrak right next to our train, though the only Amtrak trains were 3.30AM. Yes I typed that correctly AM!

We joined the video store and made good use of the first month half price offer and all the free kids movies and educational movies. We often left the store with about 5 DVD's and it only cost us 54c.

Willow was completely in her element here, I have never been anywhere with so many play parks. It seemed every few blocks there was another one. We could even see a small one out the train window. We visited a lot of them.

There was a really good bar very close to the train called The Red Dawg which quite a few people went to. I didn't actually go to the bar but did meet the owner who was a really nice guy called Frank. He took us to East lake one day which was lots of fun and we hung out with his family who were all really nice. We went back to the lake a few times and had fun swimming and played about on the dingy which we had bought from the thrift store for $10.



We also used it on another lake which wasn't as nice as East Lake (you certainly wouldn't swim in it) but it was walking distance from the train and next to 3 large play parks.



Very close to the train was a small indoor pool which Tweedy and Willow went to a few times but this was really only while we waited for the outdoor pool to open on Memorial Day. The outdoor pool was better than the indoor one. There was a main pool and a kiddie pool and it had slides and diving boards, which the Russians all made use of to show off their acrobatic skills.



With the lakes and swimming pools we did a lot of water stuff which was great as it was so hot but that didn't stop water fights. Willows highlight of the water fight though was when two little puppies appeared and attacked the water balloons.

We could see the Library out our train window and Willow went lots to read and use the computers to play games. It was a nice library with a really big children's section but the staff weren't that friendly. They didn't do anything wrong but then you could say they didn't do anything right either. Having spent a lot of time visiting library's with Willow that we are not members of, both here in the US and in the UK I have got use to the staff being really friendly and helpful to us even though we are from out of town. You just didn't feel the love here.

The train being parked right next to the main tracks at a cross road is a real pain as the trains sound there horns when they cross the road as a warning and it is really, really loud and it is all day and all night. You sort of get use to it but every now and then one will wake you. One sight out the window here which was pretty good was a bunch of planes being taken somewhere on a train.



Oh and we had Alex's keys to his room as we were magic dove sitting. Which meant we had an entertainment room and somewhere to blow up the dingy. We also filled it with balloons before he came home.