The San Antonio Adventure

I am heading home from our annual trip to San Antonio, Texas.  We are somewhere north of Austin, Texas.

THE HOTEL:

This year we stayed at a different hotel than usual.  It was clean.  It was spacious.  It was “green”…no, not the color green, but eco-friendly.  What an experience!  Just inside the door of our room was a slot in which we had to insert our key if we wanted the lights on.  The sign on the back of the toilet instructed us to flush forward for liquid waste and to flush backward for solid waste.

When we arrived at the hotel at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday and tried to shower, we discovered that the water would not get hot.  We called the front desk and were informed that, at that time of the morning, we would have to let the water run for 20 minutes to get hot because it was solar powered.  Now, I am not sure this was exactly the case.  Whatever the explanation, it seemed ridiculous that we would be conserving electricity while forfeiting the conservation of water.  When we quickly pointed this out, we were then told this was, in fact, an issue on which the engineers were working.  Lucky for us, however, is that we spent very little time at the hotel.

CHURCH ON SUNDAY:

Church on Sunday morning at Crossing Point, pastored by Brandon Cox, was powerful.  Afterwards we had a great lunch with some of our friends that attend this wonderful church.

TWO DAYS IN SEA WORLD:

Sea World consumed two whole days…Shamu, Azul (which replaced Viva), Cannery Capers (the 12:30 show in which the sea lion Seymour decided to have a mind of his own and change everything), Shamu Rocks, and Sea Lions Tonight were quite entertaining.

On day two, since we had the Quick Queue Pass, we were able to ride the Rio Loco, Atlantis, the Steel Eel, and more by automatically going to the front of the line.  What was really great was being able to ride consecutively in less time than it would have taken to ride once in the regular line.

RIVERWALK:

Nighttime on the Riverwalk was no less than expected.  We road the Rio Cruise boat around the city and once again were informed of the many historical details of its architecture.  Topped off with dinner and a walk over to the Alamo was the perfect way to end our day.

LAST DAY:  THE COVE, SAN MARCOS, GRUENE, AND ROUND ROCK DONUTS:

This morning we loaded the vehicle and headed back downtown to have lunch at The Cove…an eclectic sort of restaurant with food ranging from fish tacos to lamb burgers which have been featured on Food Network.  It’s known for its organic flare, sparkling sodas (which are actually very tasty), and the 09er burger.  Porches and decks surround the small entrance where we went to place our order at a walk-up counter.  We ate in a large room, however, where rows of tables seat a few hundred folks.  Although empty today, a stage looked as if it would come alive at any moment with music.  We all gradually wandered outside after we ate to enjoy a few rounds of ping pong.  They even had a basketball goal for anyone interested.  We said our goodbyes to the relatives and headed out of town.

Just north of San Antonio, we decided to exit off the interstate and explore Gruene which was established in the 1800s.  A general store, antique shops, grist mill, and Gruene Hall proved to be worth the stop.  And the short drive through town surprised us with a view of the Guadalupe River.  The Denali was full of gasps and oohs and ahhs as we immediately pulled into a gravel parking lot, flung open the doors and headed toward the bank.  It was very clear.  We watched a few folks drift through the rapids in small boats.  Then we drifted ourselves back to our childhood and began to pick up smooth rocks and skim them across the water.  Reluctantly we climbed back into the vehicle and drove farther north to San Marcos where we shopped for a couple of hours.

Our last stop before we get really serious about driving home was at Round Rock Donuts which has been featured on the Travel Channel.  One dozen original hot glazed donuts came in a colorful box and put a smile on everyone’s face as we travelled north and then east toward home.