Our Trip to San Antonio

On January 15, 2005, Kim's eldest son married his childhood sweetheart in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas. We flew out, by way of CLEVELAND (why in the world do you have to go to Ohio to get from North Carolina to Texas?!), on the 13th and spent some extra time there after the wedding to have a little vacation.

Although Kim had lived in San Antonio for a time, I had never been there before so I was all psyched up to do the tourist thing. It only gets cold in San Antonio once every 10 years or so and, unfortunately for us, this was the year. We were warned before hand, though, so at least we came prepared with jackets and long sleeve clothes. *smile*

The first thing that I HAD to see was the Alamo. Like most Texans, Kim always speaks of it in a reverant tone. After visiting there, I now understand why. Even for a yankee like me, walking into the Alamo is like entering a holy place (despite the information desk and velvet ropes). It's really rather amazing. Hardly anything is left of the original Mission and yet, when you walk those grounds, you get a feeling of history and of pride and sorrow for those heros who died there. Click HERE to see the photos we took. To me, the Alamo had always been some far off concept, like the Berlin Wall. Now that I have visited there, and wrote my name in the guestbook, I have a real sense of why Texans feel as they do for the place. It stands for something real. The men who defended the Mission against Santa Anna died for what they believed in. They were heros and should be remembered.

For 4 years, Kim had been telling me about a restaraunt called "The Magic Time Machine". It's a very unique place, where the waitstaff is in costume and they stay in character throughout your meal and you get your salad out of a car. It's a place where, if you dare ask where the restroom is, the staff will yell at the top of their lungs that you need to go to the bathroom and then lead you there while inviting other diners to join you (still at the top of their lungs!) on the "Potty Train". The night we went, we were waited on by pirates...Captain Jack Sparrow of "Pirates of the Carribean" and The Dred Pirate Roberts of "The Princess Bride". As you know, pirates are not known for their good manners (especially those two particular pirates!) so we were harrassed and teased throughout our meal. It's a fun place to go and the staff love to pose for photos. Click HERE to see the photos we took of our dining experience. If you are ever in San Antonio, I would definitely recommend taking dinner there one evening. It's lots of fun for kids AND adults!

The San Antonio River Walk is famous. The canal runs through the middle of the area and there are interesting cafes and shops on either side. Kim and I took a boat ride with a guided tour by the boat captian. It was so neat! We saw the hospital where Carol Burnette was born, a building with with faces carved into it by it's second owners in order to ward off the evil that took the first owners, the back side of the Alamo where bulletholes from the battle are visible and too many other things to name. After the boat ride, we ate lunch at a quaint little Mexican place that had the best food I have ever tasted. To top it all off, we saw one of the trolly cars that you can take through downtown San Antonio. If I may say so, this is a MUCH nicer way to travel then the subways of New York City that I grew up with.

No trip to San Antonio would be complete without visiting some old churches. My personal favorite was the Missionary Servants of St. Anthony. It's a beautiful old building and, in the churchyard, they have the Stations of the Cross...each one stands alone and has a stone kneeler in front of it for prayer. I took a couple of photos to share, which can be seen along with the River Walk photos HERE.

The trip ended too quickly for both of us, but we intend to return sometime in the future. Being a native, Kim is always up for a trip to Texas and I am now enamoured with this city. There are other places there I would like to see and, due to time constraints, I did NOT get a picture of the 3 story Tony Llama Boots. I need to go back there just for THAT! *grin*