Cactus and Chocolate

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. It turned out to be a beautiful spring day in Taunton.

I want to back track a little on the Vegas adventure. I missed a part of the tour when we went to Hoover Dam.

The “Dam”Tour was great but there was one more stop before we went back to the hotel and that was at the Botanical Cactus gardens and the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory.

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When the bus first pulled up I only wanted to see the gardens. Dropping into the Chocolate factory could wait. I don’t need more candy. My time share has been showering us with boxes of Ghirardelli Squares since we checked in.

So into the prickly garden I went.

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They had all sorts of cactus.  Rabbit Ears

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Saguaro

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Prickly Pear

But soon it was time to stick my nose into the chocolate factory.  Inspired by Ethel Mars‘ pursuit of the perfect chocolate, Forrest Mars Sr. created Ethel M, named in his mother’s honor. Using her timeless recipes. It’s not all about M &M’s.

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My favorite turned out to be the pecan bark. Since the chocolate is made without preservatives in small batches it meant that I’d have to eat this chocolate in a hurry. But it was sooo Yummy!

 

 

A Rainy Day in San Antonio

As I was thinking about this post I thought it was appropriate that I write it today as it’s a rainy and dreary day in Massachusetts. Perfect for putting me in the mood for telling you about our rainy day in San Antonio.

We’d had a full day with the City Tour and the rain had held off until the end at the Japanese Garden so I guess we don’t have too much to complain about.

This morning we woke to more drizzly rain. This was our personal day. We got the grand tour yesterday and now we had the whole day to explore on our own – in the rain.

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We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant looking out over the Riverwalk while we considered our options. I wanted to go back to the Alamo to pick up some gifts I’d spotted the day before. The various tours, trolleys and buses all leave from the square in front of the Alamo so that seemed a good place to start.

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We didn’t want to start the day soaked so we asked the valet to call us a cab. Let me tell you, New York City doormen have nothing on our guys! A piecing whistle and a leap into the street and we had our cab.

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Walking would have been a couple of blocks straight down the street but taking a cab was an adventure because so many streets are one way. Once again I was happy I didn’t have a rental car!

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After loading up with souvenirs and gifts we  crossed back to visitor center where we spotted another T shirt that Sandy wanted to get. Unfortunately they were all out of the size she wanted. Thus began the great T shirt hunt while we explored  up and down the street in every T shirt store and gift shop within sight. Eventually we found a shirt similar enough to satisfy  Sandy.

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Now it was time to figure out San Antonio’s transit system.

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We each bought all day tickets for about $3.00 each and climbed aboard a trolley that would take us to the Botanical Gardens.

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It was in the Botanical Gardens that I got my angel wings. I must say they are pretty heavy.

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Along with the Angel Wings were “birdmen” sculptures throughout the gardens. These were from an exhibit by famed Mexican artist Jorge Marín called “Wings of the City.

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The rain wasn’t letting up so eventually we found ourselves relaxing in an arbor that did a pretty good job of keeping us dry.

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We may have been wilting from the rain but the dry desert was coming to life. Cactus was blooming and flowers were perking up.

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All in all it was a nice morning. We didn’t let a little rain put a damper on our day.