A couple of weeks ago Robyn and I took a day trip over to San Antonio for the TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) convention. This is a HUGE convention that lasts for 3 1/2 days each February and draws 10-12,000 attendees from all over Texas and plenty of other states. Our purpose in going was to browse the exhibits, two large convention center halls full of booths of every description, most pertaining in some way to music education.
Our first stop was to drop Ginger off at the kennel for an overnight stay, since Ben was visiting in Lexington at the time. Then we headed out I-10 for the 3+ hour drive to San Antonio. We got there in time to eat lunch at the mall across the street from the convention center, after which we headed over to the main attraction.
It's easy to get lost in the exhibit halls. The noise is incredible with people trying out all sorts of instruments all over the place. The smells are interesting, too, since lots of companies that specialize in fundraising products like cookie dough, pizza kits, gourmet meat products, etc., bring their little ovens and cook up samples to hand out. And the temptations are great, as many of those fundraising companies specialize in chocolate and other candy products. One could easily forgo spending money on food by just cruising around and picking up samples!
Robyn really wanted to try out different brands of bassoons. It's helpful for her to have an idea how the different makes play and what she can recommend to schools and students who want to purchase instruments. Besides, it's a lot of fun to play all your best excerpts for the world to hear! Her favorite, though, was the Moosman mini-bassoon, which is made for very small children to play on as they learn the basics of the instrument. She kept going back to that booth and playing the little burping bedpost over and over. Isn't it cute?
Here's a video of Robyn playing Mozart on the mini-bassoon. You can also hear lots of other noise in the background, but try to focus on what she's playing.
Several of her friends from the UH bassoon studio were there, too, and we seemed to keep running into them at the booths that had a lot of bassoons. Here's Keith, Kristen, and Theresa (Robyn's roommate) at the American Bassoon Company. Lucky for me, right across the aisle from that booth was one selling massage cushions, where I gratefully sat and rested, since my back was really sore from walking around on concrete floors for several hours!
We stayed until the exhibit halls closed, then we made our obligatory trip to Mi Tiera Mexican Restaurant in the market area west of downtown. We first ate there when we visited San Antonio over 20 years ago, and it's definitely been a favorite of our family ever since. The place is decorated with hundreds of pinatas hung from the ceiling, but the biggest attraction is the bakery counter out front. I must admit that Robyn and I indulged just a little and bought some pastries to enjoy. After eating dinner, we hit the road and headed back to Houston, happy and tired. It was just before midnight when we pulled into the driveway, and I was very glad that Ginger was at the kennel and not at home expecting to be walked!
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