It really is true that Hubby and I don’t usually vacation in cities. We actually tend to avoid cities. So why go to San Antonio when there’s so much other stuff and places in Texas we could have explored?
Before we were married, Hubby had spent a lot of time in San Antonio, as he played a pretty big role in the design of the Marriott Rivercenter hotel. For those who don’t know, he is a plumbing engineer. Architects design buildings, he is responsible for designing the plumbing systems that make the buildings function.
He enjoyed his visits to San Antonio, but had never really done the touristy thing while there. In fact, since he was a single father with two young daughters, he didn’t have much extra time to linger and usually flew down and back in the same day. And he’d never seen the completed project.
He was quite excited to see “his” hotel.
We don’t usually stay in big, fancy hotels. We’re more mid-range-accomodation types. But we decided to make an exception for this trip.
It really is a gorgeous property. The hotel’s web site describes it as:
…Marriott Rivercenter, a magnificent 38 story hotel on the River Walk…just steps away from the world famous San Antonio Riverwalk, premier shopping, dining and entertainment destination.
The River Walk is rather interesting. The “river” is actually a flood bypass channel. In the late 1930s, folks began to realize that having a sort-of-river that meandered through their city was kinda cool. The River Walk was born. Slowly but surely over the years, the River Walk became a park, and a garden, and, today, is reported to be the number one tourist attraction in Texas. (If you want to know more, you can visit the River Walk web site.)
The park is situated below street level, which is sorta cool. Especially if you know nothing about the city and just happen to be exploring its streets.
If there’s one thing I do love about cities, it’s all of the colors, angles, and textures you see.
Have I mentioned that it was HOT in San Antonio that day? The heat isn’t unusual. I mean, latitude-wise, San Antonio is further south than New Orleans. But it was also humid, which made it gross. There was a breeze, so the air wasn’t nearly as thick as it could have been. But it was uncomfortable. Especially for someone like me who hates sticky heat.
We decided to find a place for lunch. We used our Yelp apps, as we usually do when exploring new places, and settled on Schilo’s Deli, which had a four-star review.
Unfortunately, the rating was wrong. We were completely underwhelmed by the food. The root beer was cool and the interior was nice and kitschy, which I loved. But the food was nothing to write home about. It was completely mediocre. We did, however, really enjoy the air conditioning.
After lunch, we settled back into tourist mode and headed over to the Tower of the Americas.
The Tower of the America’s is a lot like Seattle’s Space Needle. Except it’s not as ridiculously expensive.
The view from the top — the tower is 750 feet tall — was nice.
Just like the Space Needle, there’s an outside observation deck that was REALLY windy. It was much warmer than it was when we visited Seattle in February.
This next series of shots shows what Hubby looked like in the wind.
After we enjoyed the view for a bit, we headed back to the hotel. By then, it was late enough in the day that we could check in.
Seemed like a good time for some rest and relaxation.
I’ll close with this selfie captured later in the day as we headed out for dinner.
The final post from Texas will be shared one day…
Cool! I’ve been there before for a conference in 2009 but didn’t stay at the Marriott. And also enjoyed the Riverwalk but we were somewhat challenged to find any decent restaurants. In fact, I couldn’t even remember what city that was in before this post even though it wasn’t that long ago. I guess too much traveling to too many cities. After a while many tend to look alike.
But I do remember the Alamo just across the street from the hotel I stated at but would be hard pressed to remember any of the restaurants. Thank you for the reminder!
Richard, the River Walk is nice, but FULL of chain restaurants. We found a decent Mexican place for dinner, and even it turned out to be a chain. That’s a sad evolution for touristy spots like that. The area is popular so rents/property values go up, and the little guys can’t compete. So the big ole, drag chains swoop in.
I’m glad I had the chance to visit and experience the River Walk, but don’t need to go again.
Kathy
We generally stay away from large cities too. I even bypass Seattle and Portland on my way south. I am not so much into the tourist thing. I like to see scenery and stay in smaller towns. It was opportune for you to post your San Antonio photos. I hope to see the Alamo this year
Hard to believe that Mike had not seen “his Hotel” after it was finally finished. That is some large Hotel. We generally feel out of place at such grand, luxurious places, preferring more modest accommodation.
I liked your last selfie
bob
It looks like you had a good time even if lunch wasn’t great.
I’ve never been to Texas so it was neat to see the pictures. The river walk looks pretty.
It was a fun place to visit and see, but it was very crowded in the evening. WAY too many people for my liking. 🙂
Texas is a cool state. And I’ve only seen parts of it. Austin is much nicer than San Antonio. And the coast is beautiful. The BBQ is to die for, too. Definitely worth a visit if you and your main squeeze ever get the chance.
Kathy
We generally stay away from large cities too. I even bypass Seattle and Portland on my way south. I am not so much into the tourist thing. I like to see scenery and stay in smaller towns. It was opportune for you to post your San Antonio photos. I hope to see the Alamo this year
Hard to believe that Mike had not seen “his Hotel” after it was finally finished. That is some large Hotel. We generally feel out of place at such grand, luxurious places, preferring more modest accommodation.
I liked your last selfie
bob
Kathy:
I can’t imagine that Yelp would give a 4 star rating, unless of course, food expectations are lower in San Antonio
bob – Riding the Wet Coast
Kathy:
I keep looking at that lonely Church surrounded by that building, which appears to be a Pennitentiary
I am not sure if I have ever been up the Seattle Space Needle. It seemed to cost an arm and a leg. It the cost for the Tower of the America’s is reasonable perhaps we will go up top too
bob: Riding the Wet Coast
Hmmm, looks kind of “spamy” to me…
Bob,
Akismet is the spam service that WordPress uses by default so there may be a way you can contact them to un-spam your email address.
I’ll look at my Askimet settings, too, and keep an eye on the Spam folder. Thanks, again, Richard.
Richard:
I’m trying my best to not use hyperlinks
I read that Askimet learns over time and if I continue to post “approved” comments it will ignore me, eventually. In the meantime I just have to build up my comment total
Bob: Riding the Wet Coast
Bob, I’m not sure what the building is surrounding the church, but am pretty sure it’s not the penitentiary. LOL.
The view from the Space Needle is better (mountains and water and more mountains, not to mention Seattle itself), but I think it was about $19.50 per adult. And maybe $12 or so for kids. We were 5 adults and 3 kids… OUCH.
The San Antonio ToA was only about $9 per person, which isn’t cheap, but is better. And there were only two of us. 🙂
Kathy:
we have the same problem here with tourist attractions
I don’t want to put in a hyperlink but look at these admission rates for the Capilano Suspension Bridge
http://www.capbridge.com/visit/hours-and-rates/
and here is our FREE Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge
http://lynncanyonecologycentre.ca/suspension_bridge.html
where I wrote about it here (includes video)
http://wetcoastscootin.blogspot.ca/2013/10/lynn-canyon-north-vancouver-bc.html
$9. for to ToA seems reasonable and there will only be the two of us.
Bob: Riding the Wet Coast
PS: no hyperlinks, see if this goes through with the links
Interesting that they named a city after St. Anthony, he is the patron saint of lost and found things & people. I wonder how lost people wandered into San Antonio in the beginnings of the city. It reminds me a lot of our Canadian Prairies flatter than pancakes. Nice pictures, the river walk looks quite lovely.