Okay, last time I had us just finishing up with the mermaid parade. We’d gotten back to the hotel, cooled down (as best we could), had a quick swim in the pool, and were now ready for a spot of lunch.
We didn’t know where to go for that, but, I’d seen the webpage of a local restaurant, Ivar’s Pub.(1) It looked very cool, and so I suggested we go there. Martha agreed, and shortly we were on our way.
Now, Ivar’s Pub is, indeed, intriguing. It is in San Marcos and literally just next to the river (you’ll recall how the city is on the San Marcos River). You can sit, eat, and look out windows at the river itself. Or, if you wish, you can go down to the water’s edge and rent kayaks or floats and spend some time on the river itself.
About the Photos: Rather a lot today. First, a view of the inside of Ivar’s Pub. Second, a view of the river from the same location. Third, some of the booths at the Mermaid Faire. And, finally, as per norm (and nothing to do with the story. I just like the photo), a picture of Martha at lunch in the town of Llano, Texas.
Kayaking etc., wasn’t on our list of To-Dos for the day, so we skipped that part and headed right to the restaurant itself. The very nice person at the front desk asked if we wanted to be inside or outside (they had seating on the patio). I hesitated. It was awfully hot, and we had spent a lot of time in the sun already. So I started to say inside. But there was a longish wait for seating there. And the nice person assured me that patio was also lovely and “quite cool...we’ve got fans and misters.” Better still, there was immediate seating. So...I yielded to temptation and said we’d sit outside.
The term I’m looking for is “dumb.” As in Really Dumb. As in Whoa, Nellie, How’d You Get So Stupid? With a side order of Sheesh!
By Texas standards, it was indeed much cooler on the patio than in the direct sun. Or *on* the direct sun. As in sitting in a sunspot. Or roughly 10,000 Fahrenheit (5,600 Celsius). Give or take. And the patio, with its fans and misters was just whole bunches cooler. Say 5,000 Fahrenheit (2,800 Celsius). Positively chilly.
In other words...Oops.
But, it was too late to change our minds. So, we stayed. And sweated. A lot.
Anyway, the view was great and the food was good. We finished, paid, and headed out.
Martha then wanted to go to the “Mermaid Festival Street Faire.” You see, there’s the parade, but there’s also a Faire, where people sell all sorts of Mermaid-themed arts and crafts. So, off we went to the part of town were the Fest was to take place. It took forever to find a parking place, but we finally did, and then we made our way among the tents and stands where there were merchants and crafts-people.
Again, it was also hot. In fact, it was very hot. Maybe Very, Very Hot.
Notice a theme here?
Anyway, we toured for a bit. Martha didn’t see anything she wanted, but I think she enjoyed the shopping. The only other interesting event was that while we were among the tents and crafts, we were approached by sales-people from a certain, large, famous vacation property and hospitality firm. They wanted to offer us a great deal to come and check out their newest Austin-hotel.
If the term “scam” in big neon letters is even now sort of dancing about in your brain, you’re right. But...I won’t go into details right now. That’s because I want to tell the whole thing as yet another story, complete with all the gruesome details. It’ll come right after I finish the San Marcos series. So stay tuned. The story’s coming. It’ll be full of pith and vinegar. And vitality. And it’ll be profound. And richly textured. And resonant. And impactful. And several other cool words I just got from the thesaurus function of my word processor. You betcha.(2)
After that, we headed back to the car. Martha wanted to pick up a few things at Walmart. So, we got directions on our phones and were on our way.
Which is when it happened...
All this time, Martha had been in the heat. We’d eaten in the heat. We walked in the heat. We’d been shopping in the heat. And so far, she’d been fine.
But then...we got to Walmart, collected a cart, and went into the store...
And it hit her.
The heat of the day, and her tiredness, all came down at once. For a minute, I thought she was going to go down right there on the floor. Fortunately, she had the cart to hold on to, and somehow she managed to stay on her feet.
We got her back to the front of the store where there was a bench she could sit in. Then I ran and got her a cold drink. She sat down and waited. I watched, anxiously, while she went from gray...to green...to, finally, something like her normal skin tone.
I thought about calling emergency services, but she claimed she was fine. So, finally, I got the car, brought it to the door, and got her into it. Then we headed back to the hotel.
Once she was in the room, she seemed better, but I was still very concerned, and, again, seriously wondered about getting her to an urgent care clinic. But, she said all she needed was to rest and that she’d be fine if she just had some time to herself. Finally, and very reluctantly, I agreed. She lay down and napped for two hours.
I was not a happy camper. I realized I had made two major mistakes. First, I’d let us eat out of doors at lunch. Should *not* have done that. And, second, I hadn’t objected when Martha said she wanted to go to the Mermaid Street Faire. I should have pointed out that we’d already spent the whole morning out of doors, in the heat, while we watched the parade. I should have reminded her that we had agreed that, these days, we can only really do one...just one...major thing each day.
I should have urged her to take the rest of the day off and just loaf around the hotel.
But...she *really* wanted to go.
And, besides...well, admitting that we can no longer do as much as we did ten years ago...that’s not easy. And it’s not fun...not fun at all.
Ah, well...
She woke up late in the early evening. We ate one of our in-the-room bread and cheese dinners, and then found a Friends episode on streaming.
And that was our day. But stay tuned. Next time, I’m finally going to get us to the lakes...and we’ll actually see...not mermaids...
But something amazing...
And underwater.
More to come.
Footnotes:
1. For more on Ivar’s Pub, go here: https://www.riverpubtx.com/
2. Spoiler Alert: No, we didn’t buy anything. Thank goodness.
Written April 1, 2024
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