Remember the Alamo (and more unforgetable stuff) - San Antonio TX

We rolled into San Antonio yesterday afternoon, but first to finish up our South Padre stay - we had a great last weekend at Isla Blanca. We spent Saturday night at Laguna Bob's where the Chrome Wheels band (www.thechromewheels) was playing.

This is a husband/wife duo and they were a super fun bar band - lots of great classic country as well as pop stuff. We hung out with some people from Minnesota, fleeing the cold just like us. I got to dance, so I came home happy. Laguna Bob's was our favorite bar in South Padre.

Sunday we ended up having a football playoffs party at our site, with new friends and neighbors Gary and Susie and Beverly and Bob all joining us. The Patriots lost (sorry Greg and NH friends...) but the Seahawks won (yay, Seattle and PHOPS friends!), so the split decision worked out for us. Having an outside TV is a pretty good draw so it wasn't hard to put a party together, even though we still miss all our Sunday football homies.

Monday morning, amid a flurry of goodbyes we set off for San Antonio. We arrived to a sunny 78 degrees so we were pretty happy to sit outside with cocktails soaking it in for the rest of the day. But this morning we drove into town early since this was going to be our one day in San Antonio. We started out at the Alamo.

Believe it or not, we had a little trouble finding it. It's tucked right smack in the middle of downtown, among all the other buildings and we actually drove along the side of it without realizing it. But we got there eventually. My first impression was that it was so much smaller than I expected. It looms so large as a historical site - we all learned about it back in grade school - but it's really not a large structure. It is very well preserved and you definitely feel the age as you walk around it. Well worth a visit.

After that we hopped on a trolley for an hour long city tour. The tour was informative as there is so much history in this city, but it was all pre-recorded so not very personal. After that we went down to the Riverwalk, and wow, that did not disappoint. Everything about it is absolutely jaw-dropping. We have seen riverwalks in many places but nothing that can compare to this. We did a boat ride so we were able to see most of it, which would have meant hours and hours of walking had we tried the whole thing on foot.

The boat tour (www.riosanantonio.com) is an amazing value at $8.00 per person, and we felt it was much better than the land trolley tour.

We picked up drinks at a little place right next to the dock before boarding, and quickly made friends with Sidney and Becky from New Mexico who were sitting next to us. I wish I had better photography skills, because my little phone pictures in no way do justice to how beautiful the Riverwalk is. It felt like we were traveling through a foreign country, with the old stone buildings, the trees and landscaping, the bridges, the wrought iron balconies and the ornate structures that it meanders along. Restaurants, bars and shops line both sides, but there are no McDonalds or chains marring it. The restaurants are mostly little sidewalk cafe types and everything just fits together beautifully.

After the boat ride ended we walked with our new friends over to Marie Mia for happy hour and "first of the day". We had a fabulous afternoon.

Kodak moment with the band:

In short, we absolutely loved San Antonio and will surely come here again. But tomorrow we're heading north to Austin to meet up with good friends - Teresa and Tom, hope you're ready!