Thanksgiving Trip - Day 1

[I worked in the city all morning - left at around 1230 and finished my packing at the apartment - Erin and Brenna picked me up at 1350 (after they made an ill-advised stop at Burger King for a late lunch) - we drove to Edison and I went inside to check Mollie out from school (she passed me and went to the car while I was in the school office) - we were on our way to the airport by 1405 - fortunately, we left early enough that the traffic hadn’t backed up to I-66 yet (it almost had) - on the way, we talked about the security process, the checked bag rules, using Uber to get around (no rental car) and where we’d get our food - we used the Access Road and arrived at Dulles by 1430 - we had to drive around for a while before we were able to park - this ultimately benefited us, though, and we were able to walk to the terminal - tried to complete the bag check process but had to wait a long time because there was a computer glitch (done at 1515) - when we went to Security, we found a relatively short line (canine search) and got through very quickly - we were at our gate by 1530 (after riding on a special shuttle to the United Terminal) - I bought the kids sandwiches from Dunkin Donuts (1615) to eat later - about 30 minutes before boarding, I figured out that our gate had changed and we moved to a new area - we were on the plane by 1715 but our takeoff was delayed - once we were in the air, we had a nice time talking with the young couple and their daughter (Vivian) in my row (the kids were all sitting together on the other side from me) - Erin was very nervous about flying and I reassured her throughout - Brenna did some studying and Mollie reveled in looking out the window (taking lots of pictures) - we ate dinner (sandwiches, fruit snacks) about halfway through the flight - the girls listened to pod casts and music and I researched brochures to prep for my trips to New Zealand and Spain - we arrived in San Antonio by 2015 (local time) and were off the plane very quickly - we retrieved our checked bag and walked to the ride share area - our Uber Driver (Gabriel) picked us up quickly and drove us to the Resort - he was Italian and made all kinds of recommendations for restaurants in the area (the kids were entertained) - we arrived at the hotel (La Cantera Resort) at around 2045 and learned that they had lost all water pressure - they offered to let us out of our reservation and go elsewhere - we immediately contacted Kathy to see what they planned to do and, once they confirmed we were staying, we checked into our room (we got a 50% discount) - afterwards, we got a ride to Grille 254 (Golf Club) and ate some appetizers with Bonnie and Kathy - we had a great time and rode back to the hotel with them on the shuttle (2245) - back in our room, we learned that the water pressure had returned - the girls watched some TV until around 2330, when we all went to bed]