Texas!

The second trip in January was to Texas. Holden Director Carol Hinderlie and Nancy signed up in the Fall to attend the Tri-Synodical Pastors' Conference in San Antonio January 25-27. We had heard about it because the program title was Hispanic Theology. At Holden each August there's a Spanish-speaking week called Abriendo Caminos, and Carol thought it would be helpful to hear the perspectives of the speakers at the January conference. Nancy went because of her role as chair of the Candidacy Committee in the Northwest Washington Synod. There are two Latino candidates in Mt. Vernon who are doing their seminary work in what's called TEEM: Theological Education in Emergent Ministries. The candidates are raised up and work in their own communities, and work with specific seminaries for their theological education. These two do their education at Lutheran Seminary Program of the Southwest in Austin. TEEM was going to be a major part of the conference.

The conference was in San Antonio. But, since we both enjoy good music - especially Texas-style bluesy stuff - we flew into San Antonio on Saturday afternoon, rented a car and drove north to Austin. We had a great hotel to stay in - the Hotel San Jose - on South Congress Street right across from the Continental Club, a fairly famous funky Austin music club. Here's a picture of the hotel:

We started out with a dinner of appetizers at an Italian restaurant down the street called Vespaio. Go there if you're ever in Austin. Terrific. We got the recommendation from someone on the Holden staff who has friends who run an organic farm in Austin called Boggy Creek Farm. They supply organic vegetables to this and other Austin restaurants.

After that we set off on foot across the river and checked out 6th and 4th streets. We were a little early, but things cranked up eventually. We heard great blues in two venues. We really liked a woman named Tish Lancaster and her Mizzbehavin' Band. Great stuff. We walked and walked and listened and looked and just took it all in. We took a cab back to the hotel and then walked across the street to the Continental Club for the 10 p.m. show. We heard a Texas Roadhouse Blues singer who's been doing this a long time and was fabulous. Her name is Lou Ann Barton. Her guitar player was amazing. After all the walking, and then standing for over an hour in the club, we were ready to go to sleep!

The next morning we didn't do church (boo), but we knew we'd be doing it for three days at the conference, so with no guilt at all we got great coffees and delicious home-made jalapeño scones at the funky coffee place next to the hotel. It was a beautiful day, so after we got organized and checked out, we headed west for Johnson City for the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and the Johnson Ranch. It was very interesting and a beautiful spot. Here's a picture from the ranch - Lyndon, the Bull:
We headed to San Antonio from there, stopping on the way at a wine-tasting room of Texas wines and found a couple pretty nice bottles for Larry and Paul.

On our way into San Antonio we stopped for an early dinner at a Luby's cafeteria. The Hinderlies have enjoyed these for years when they came down to South Padre Island for a winter break. It was pretty good. We learned it had actually started in San Antonio. We returned our car, went to the airport, and then took a cab to our hotel. After checking in, we watched the Vikings and the Saints football game, checked out the Riverwalk, had a glass of wine in the bar, and retired. We had another nice walk in the morning before the conference.

This is part 1. Part 2, with more pictures, tomorrow!