Over the years we have developed a tradition of trying to top the previous year's wedding anniversary get-away. It gets progressively harder as the years add up, but the world is full of unique, interesting, and beautiful places to explore. Going on the recommendations of various friends, this year we decided to check out San Antonio Texas. Neither of us had ever been in the state of Texas before.
When I was a teenager, I was envious of the 2 aunts who seemed to frequently be jetting around to exotic vacation spots with their men on trips earned through business dealings. Little did I dream that some day I would be the one married to a smart businessman and get to jet off to distant places with him for free, compliments of the credit card points.
There was a fair amount of drama around this trip. Soon after we booked it, there was the government shutdown that had national parks and other things shut down -for a time we didn't know if this would affect our trip. Then there was my fall down a flight of stairs, resulting in a broken tailbone and inability to sit. There was a flu bug the week before. And there was a lost wallet, including driver's license -required to fly- 2 days before. The decision to purchase travel insurance was worth every penny for the peace of mind!
The day before departure was packed full, but the best of all was the Chocolate Walk in the evening. When I purchased the tickets at our school auction I had no idea it was going to be the evening before our Texas trip, but it was well worth it. R. forfeited his ticket for Miss A. What would be more fun than mother & daughter walking the streets of town at night collecting chocolate of all sorts? Here is my stash. Yes, that's chocolate popcorn in the back, and even more delicious than it sounds. The little cups with the Hershey Kiss on top (upper left) is chocolate shampoo from a hair salon.
We had to get up very early Friday morning to catch our flight to Dallas, then on to San Antonio. Our flights were smooth and on time, but oh my aching tailbone did not care for the 3 hour please-remain-seated-with-your-seatbelt-fastened AA policy!
We chose not to mess with a rental car/parking fees, so we caught a taxi to our hotel. The driver informed us it had been chilly early in the week but was forecast to be nice & warm over the weekend. (Thank you, God, for getting on that request.) 70* felt wonderful to us compared to snow at home earlier in the week.
We stayed in a Hyatt, paying extra for a Riverwalk view. This is the view from our 7th floor room. Not quite what I was envisioning, but technically correct.
Actually the riverwalk flows right through the lobby of this hotel. Cool.
By this time we were "starved" so we made our way to the closest restaurant -in our hotel. That lunch buffet turned out to be the best meal of our entire trip! Our waiter gave us a little tour of the selections, then we started with soup & salad bar, moved on to the fabulous made-to-order pasta bar (which was a bit confusing to us country hicks until the chef walked us through the process), and wrapped up with a slice of chocolate cake that was to die for! Highly recommend the Q if you ever go to San Antonio.
After a nap, we hit the Riverwalk to find out what the hype is all about. It is beautiful, but very crowded at night.
This place would be a photographer's dream of architecture and gardens, but our camera doesn't do well with night photography. You'll have to take my word for it- that's a beautiful waterfall behind us.
Saturday we started out with bagel stackers from Einstein Brothers, then took the opportunity to go on the Rio San Antonio Cruise in the morning before the boats were so full. That's us in the boat -not that the boat shows. Gotta love self-portraits!
Our captain was Doug. His birthday. Our anniversary. He was an interesting tour guide and this was one of the few times we got our money's worth. Definitely recommend this tour if you go to SA. (Hint: if your main interest is ambiance, go for the night cruise; if photo memories are your priority, opt for the day cruise.) He threw in this group photo op for free.
Next we went across the street to the Alamo. Proof that we were there-
Mom, you would enjoy this place. It is filled with old documents from the 1700s. And then there was Davy Crockett's gun, and a Bowie knife. But all the cool stuff was in buildings where photography was not allowed. I was fascinated by this live oak though. It was 40 years old when it was moved to the Alamo in 1912, by a man who set out to prove mature trees can be moved.
It was forecast to go up to 80* that day but I don't think it got quite that warm because the sun never managed to peek out of the clouds for long. The heater for our hotel's pool was out of commission so to say the pool water was chilly would be an understatement. Still, who can resist soaking up warm weather by a rooftop pool in November? After that we browsed through the shops in La Villita and on the Riverwalk.
We figured we can't go to Texas without going to a steak house, so we ventured down the street to Bohanan's, recommended by friends and advertised as the #2 steakhouse in all of Texas. We were about to get an education! We had intended to make reservations but that slipped through the cracks, so we couldn't get a table till 9pm. (Never mind that we didn't eat much all day in order to be hungry for these legendary steaks.) They invited us to hang out next to their bar for drinks while we wait. We opted for iced tea. When our table was finally ready, the hostess informed us we need to settle our tab before we go upstairs to the restaurant. What?? Ok, this does not sound good. Our waiter came and kindly assured us tea is on the house and we are welcome to take our fresh refill up to the restaurant. We were given 2 menus, one of which was literally a book -pages & pages. All wine. Umm, where's the beef?! Our assistant waiter inquired if we care for sparkling water or just regular mineral water. Just plain ol' mineral water will do nicely, thank you. When our waiter finally showed up with "real" menus, he inquired if we have any time frame he needs to know about. Right there we should've known we're in trouble. Whoa! Check out these prices!! While our stomachs marinated on an itty bitty serving of candied jalapenos over cream cheese with those dried-up-bread-slice-thingys, we were told to "take our time" deciding what we want. Hey, waiter, come back- I already know what I want! I've only been sitting here for 30 minutes. Can anyone tell me why restaurants are always freezing cold? By this time, what I really wanted the waiter to bring me was a coat. And how about telling that party at the table behind us -who are obviously soused- to tone it down. Way down.
45 minutes later, we were allowed to place our order. R's 16 oz. NY strip was only $50. To our shock, that was only for the piece of meat -no sides included. A baked potato was an additional $9. The weight watcher reality show continued while the potato was grown and the steer was slaughtered. 1.5 hours after we got to our table... Ta-da!
On gold rimmed plates, no less. To their credit, I must say the food was very good.
While we were savoring every bite and blocking out all thoughts of the starving children in Africa who could eat for a year with what we were spending on this one meal... we listened in while a waiter aka meat connoisseur explained to the men at the table next to us steak options that were not on the menu. He wheeled out one of those carts to display the wares, pointing out the finer features of various cuts ...to the tune of $90 or $120 per serving. Ok, maybe we're not being extravagant after all. Still, we left with little intention of ever repeating the experience. We're just not that classy.
Sunday morning we had ordinary food- chocolate chip bagels. It just cracks me up- they advertised our choice of one "schmear"! I learned -while brushing up on local history for this trip- that Texas was settled by Germans, but schmear?! For the record, I chose cream cheese.
We were not in a hurry to get out & about on Sunday because the annual Rock & Roll Marathon was in progress. Streets were closed and there were loud bands playing -supposedly to spur the runners on. (Then again, I would run from that kind of beat too.)
We strolled half a mile downtown to see the O Henry house. He wrote many of his short stories here, my personal favorite being "The Gift of the Magi". To my disappointment, it was not open weekends.
After that we browsed around souvenir shops some more and chilled by the pool. The forecast was to be in the upper 80s but not quite break the record from 1906, however we heard the next morning it had indeed broke the record.
We had dinner reservations at Landry's Seafood in the evening. Right across from our hotel room. This recommendation was much more suited to my style. And budget. Our table was right by the river. Beautiful.
I got the fried seafood platter. Now that's what I call food!
Dad, that's fried oysters on the right. Thought of you when I partook.
Afterwards, we trotted over to the Alamo and found a Cinderella carriage for hire. I say 'trotted' because -for once- Richard was walking too fast for me. (He fusses about how fast I walk, but I had a formal dress on with a tighter skirt than I usually wear so I could hardly keep up with him. lol) Carriage rides were advertised online as only $25, which seemed reasonable to me. That is $25 per person. Oh! Oh well, still worth it. We were quite impressed with the white horse pulling this carriage. He knew when the lights were going to change and would start going just before the light went from red to green. Smart horse!
We flew home Monday morning. We had an enjoyable time. We saw what we went to see and were ready to return home. Our impression of San Antonio is that it's not the kind of place that we'd return to over & over, but it was interesting to see it once. One thing for sure, there are way more good restaurants to try than you can possibly hit on one trip, even for folks like us that don't do Mexican. And that's our Texas Travel Log.
