We stayed at La Mansion del Rio right on the Riverwalk downtown and just blocks from almost everything. The Riverwalk itself makes San Antonio worth the visit. They've diverted a 3-to-4-feet-deep portion of the San Antonio River into downtown, lined it with paths, shops, and a plethora of restaurants with plentiful outdoor seating. I'm glad we had a few days-worth of meals to explore it. My friend, Amanda, called it a "classy Las Vegas", but it reminded me of Disney World, where everything is undeniably fake, but you love it anyway.
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| Riverwalk |
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| Riverwalk @ Night |
We did what any self-respecting tourist would do in San Antonio: we went straight to The Alamo. Because I'd been told over and over that it is small, over-commercialized, and "nothing special", my expectations were low, but I ended up loving it. They have an Imax Movie down the street to help you understand what really happened there. My summary: a lot of people died, including Davy Crockett, trying to protect Texas/US Freedom from the evil dictator, Santa Ana. It has a lovely backyard, a newer museum, and a gift shop that sells Alamo Crackers. What more could you want?
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| The Alamo |
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| Sara & I outside the museum |
We stopped for lunch in the Mercado at Mi Tierra, which had decent Mexican food and crazy decor. We also toured the Spanish Governor's Palace, which is much larger than my house, and had plenty of Spanish placards to help me practice my second language.
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| Spanish Governor's Palace |
Day Two:
It rained Saturday, so we went to the San Antonio Rodeo, which is at a giant, indoor arena that kept us warm and entertained. The line-up was very similar to the Rodeo I saw in Greeley, CO on the 4th of July a few years back, right down to the Mutton Busting which might be the most entertaining form of child abuse ever. I must figure out how to sign Alison up to do that. The rain cleared up in time for a dinner at an Italian restaurant, Paesanos, and some local ice cream before bed.
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| Let's Rodeo San Antonio! |
This may have been my favorite excursion of the trip. We rented bikes from a great guy that delivered them to our hotel and gave us a map to the four Spanish Missions. The weather, again, was perfect and San Antonio has a wonderful, new bike path that runs along the river and out of downtown. To get there, we had to bike through an old German neighborhood with huge, ornate houses. Given their proximity to downtown and their size, I was dismayed to find out they were being sold for a mere $15K more than what we paid for our tiny ranch in DC.
There are four Spanish Missions approximately three miles apart, leading into town and to the Alamo. They were built in the 1700's and each includes a cathedral and in some cases housing for the local Indian population that the Catholic missionaries were working hard to convert to Christianity. They are in wonderful shape and each still have active congregations.
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| Mission Concepcion |
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| Mission San Jose |
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| Mission San Jose |
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| Housing @ Mission San Jose |
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| Native Flora |
Church is in Session
We came back and tried a bar that was opened shortly after prohibition ended for dinner. It would have been excellent if I could drink. Then, we went to another restaurant for desserts - the perfect end to our time in San Antonio.
Day Four:
I had an unexpected fourth full day added to my trip when, after waking at 4:15am Monday morning, all flights into DC were canceled due to "fog". I sat in the Atlanta airport for 13 hours on list after list for stand-by. Air Tran doesn't have any agreements with other carriers, so it took them until Midnight to get me home. The good news is that my San Antonio weekend was completely worth it. I'm already planning to take Nathan back, perhaps on an extended layover on our way to a more tropical locale!
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