Happy Cappies
We arose in time to meet the gang for brunch in the hotel restaurant downstairs by the river. A lively discussion of frequent-travel programs ensued over a nice Southwestern breakfast buffet ($13.95) with live omelet station. Starwood continued to do everything right while Delta Airlines seemed to be bucking to join Northwest in the penalty box. United was up in the air. We all loved the Westin Riverwalk.

After breakfast we bid farewell to most. Only Catman remained behind to share Sunday night with us. Hunnybear and I went to the San Antonio zoo and saw a happy family of capybaras lolling in the water, our favorites. The lions and tigers were indoors out of sight but there were lots of small cats, a pair of beautiful snow leopards and lots and lots of monkeys and flamingos. A pair of mean-looking grizzlies with long nasty claws paced uncomfortably close to us in their barless habitat leaving us wondering just how far they could leap. We finished up just as the weather threatened and got a bit wet before reaching the safety of the Buick habitat. We thought it was one of the better zoos we had visited with very high-quality animals and much nicer habitats than the Austin zoo, itself still the winner of the bang-for-the-buck award.

We called Catman when we got back to the hotel and invited him up to the suite to watch movies on this rainy afternoon. We told Catman Niles from Frasier had been on our flight to Denver and he was suitably impressed. The weather worsened and soon we were seeing a tornado watch superimposed on episode 250 of The Simpsons. The wind picked up and blew the flagpole across the street over at a 45-degree angle as the rain whipped down. We called the concierge and asked them to see if Little Rhein could move our reservation indoors. They had already taken care of it so we got a cab to take us the two blocks ($3 plus tip).

Little Rhein was as great as usual. We had the appetizer platter and steak, Hunnybear and I ordering filet mignon rare and Catman having the ribeye charred. The only flaw was that the usual fresh-baked loaves of bread were reheated and day-old tonight, perhaps a function of it being Sunday. We ordered a bottle of the Treana red blend from Paso Robles, California central coast, one of my new favorites. As a rule I don’t eat dessert but Hunnybear and Catman wanted to split a chocolate chocolate cake a la mode so we did. We asked three times if it was flourless and were told no but it was. Why doesn’t anyone make regular Duncan Hines chocolate cake any more besides the Metropolitan Grill?

We walked back to the Westin and turned in early in preparation for tomorrow’s very early flight.


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