Fiesta San Antonio!

Every few years we stop in San Antonio Texas en route to or from visiting my son.  It's a nice town and we like it.  The River Walk is nice and we have a favorite restaurant we like there.  This year we stumbled into their Fiesta San Antonio! What craziness!  We had no idea.  When we arrived at the campground we were given a Fiesta Book that was an inch thick that showed all the events of "when, where, & what!.  Oh my!!  ;-)  Something was going on everyday, somewhere, from April 20 through April 30th - all day and all night.

Well...we were in for some fun!  ...or a part of it anyway.  Our first outing was to the Fiesta Arts Fair at Southwest School of Art.  We had actually gone to this several years before and really liked it.  You have to pay to go into it, but it has some of the best arts and crafts we've ever seen.  Really unusual pieces here.  Really upscale artisans doing some very imaginative work.  I love to see their creativity!  I always sneak a few pictures...

Afterward we just to a nice walk around town and enjoyed the River Walk.  The following day we found out that evening was going to be their big Texas Cavaliers River Parade at 7:30 p.m.  We thought if we went down around 4 p.m. we would be fine...get a bite to eat along the river then enjoy the parade.  Ha!  We didn't realize what a "big deal" this parade was to the locals!  Ticketed chairs were all lined up all around the River Walk and most of the restaurants were either closed or all their tables were "reserved" or they had "pre-set menus of $65"!  After a long search, we lucked out at O'Malley's Irish Pub, right on the river.  We got good seats and got to watch the parade from there!  It didn't pass by there until almost 8:30 p.m. but we didn't care.  They even passed out a complimentary whiskey drink to us!  Fun crazy evening...

 Besides all the crazy Fiesta happenings, the city streets are all torn up with being widened, so 90% of the street parking is gone, which makes things difficult.  All the public parking people have taken advantage of the situation and have jacked their prices skyrocket.  Such greed, it was sad to see.  It took some time on our part, and we were able to find street parking, but most places were charging upwards of $20+ each time.  Such a shame.

We skipped the crowds the next day and chose to go out to see two of the Missions we hadn't seen in our previous visits.  Mission Espada (c1740), and Mission San Juan (1731).  Both beautiful sites, and not far from the downtown area.  I love the old Missions and the ruins surrounding them.  With all the festivities going on downtown, there was almost no one visiting them, so it was nice and peaceful there.   ;-)

Afterward, we decided to go see the small little shops I like in La Villita.  Well, once again, we wandered into "A Night in Old San Antonio" - a HUGE event taking place in the little village area of La Villita!  So much for our simple browsing!  A nice gentleman saw us wandering around (looking bewildered, I'm sure) and explained what was about to take place in a few hours, and offered us some free tickets to attend.   ;-)  We decided to head on over to the River Walk (once again), grab a snack, then return to "see what it's all about".  

We did.  After our snack, we did something we've never done before...we took a boat ride!  What fun!  The tour guide shared so much information and was a delight.  After all these years of walking along different sections, it was nice to see areas we'd not been to, and to learn about it all.  It was a lovely way to spend 40 min.  

Afterward, we headed back to La Villita, and sat and listened to a nice band play some popular music, then ventured into the crowd.  And CROWD it was!  Oh my!!  Wow!  Body to body...we had been warned (by that nice gentleman who gave us the tickets) and he was right.  Tons of people with lots of food and drinks, and music groups, each in a different section, each themed (Cowboy, American, German, Clown, etc) some shops stayed open, but mostly it was food vendors everywhere.  

We wandered for a while, then left.  I'm getting to old for that kind of crowds anymore.  Been there, done that.  As we left, they were pouring in like crazy and it was only about 7 p.m.  and this was a three day event!  I think they were going to be a success!  

Our last day, we decided to "leave the festivities behind" a bit and check out a small town not to far away, called Boerne.  It sounded quaint.  A nice town, less than an hour drive away.  It had some sweet shops, some antiques a few restaurants and a cute town square.  The boutiques were nice, albeit a little over priced, but nice to browse.  We had a nice quiet lunch and  peaceful way to end our stay.   

...on the road in Texas, Marie


If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Bootscootn' across Texas!

Unfortunately, due to family business, we had to turn our rig around and head back to California, which means, driving back through the big state of Texas once again!  We will have to come back here in about two months when grand baby number seven is born in June...does the word "yo yo" come to mind to anyone else besides me?  I prefer the more forward motion, instead of backward one myself, but sometimes family matters takes an ugly turn and one has to do what one has to do...  Oh well, guess Nashville will just have to stay on my list of places I want to visit, awhile longer!  Dang...

Anyway, as we are bootscootn' back, as time is of the essence, we took the route that lead us through San Antonio, another one of our favorite stops.  It just so happened that it turned out to be Easter weekend and Fiesta de los Reyes!  As usual, I had lost track of all time and didn't even realize the dates until the night before we were to arrive (Thursday) and got panicky that we wouldn't be able to find a site, but as luck would have it (yea me) we got the last of 3 in a beautiful KOA not far from town.

This campground had everything!  So, Friday evening after settling in, we just took a leisurely walk around the very large park and ordering their pizza and just set out our camp chairs and relaxed outside.  The weather was idyllic for a change, as it had been quite cold for the last few days of travel.  The next morning we indulged, once again in their chuck wagon breakfast, then donned sun hats, camera and headed off to see what the Fiesta had to offer!

Our first stop proved not to be "our type" - loud noisy music, to crowed with families of small children with lots of carnival food and rides, etc.  I had read something about an up-scale art show, so we looked that up and was able to finally track it down.  It was located in an old monastery turned art school.  Beautiful location and great show!  Some of the crafts were really imaginary and unusual, all very nice, all very expensive, all worth our time and enjoyment.

It was time to move on to our favorite part of the city...the River Walk!  It's such a soothing beautiful, yet entertaining part of the city - and filled with great restaurants!  We were hungry and ready to find THE restaurant.  You see, two years ago we wandered into a great restaurant, one that Jack found a dish that he LOVED.  That's saying a lot.  Let me explain to those who don't know us that well...I love food.  All kinds of food.  Jack on the other hand...not so much.  He's from Philadelphia, and likes pretty basic things, things he grew up with, like cheese steaks & bagels - but only the ones like they make in Philly.  Meatloaf, hamburgers, chicken...you get the picture?  Spicy foods like Mexican....not so much.  So, when we go to these types of places, I try and find foods there that he will eat so that I can have a (decent) meal and he can too.  So, I read menus.  That's what I did two years ago, and steered us into this restaurant.  So, back to my story.  We couldn't remember the name of this restaurant, but knew we would recognize it if we saw it again...wasn't sure exactly where on the River Walk it was located...but...knew we'd find it, right?

So, off we went in search!  The biggest challenge was finding a parking place!  Ugh, OK, that done, down the stars we went to the first set we came to.  Where to begin to look?  Three restaurants in, and...could it be that easy?  Yep, there it was!  The Iron Cactus!!  Same menu, same great food, same great service, same fantastic margaritas!  Same very happy husband!!

Our plan had been to spend Easter Sunday really enjoying this lovely campground, the pool, riding our bikes on one of their trails, even using our new campfire pit Jack made us - but the weather turned yucky, so I decided it was a day to catch up on chores instead.  Not the kind of Easter I've enjoyed in the past, but so far, this year it has been one with lots of surprises that I am sure will just keep on coming...and that can be a good thing!

...on the road in Texas,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Bienvenidos a San Antonio!

Few cities combine the allure of living history - so present at the Alamo and Spanish missions - with the exhilarating mood of a party, like San Antonio! That festive feeling was everywhere we went and with "Mardi Gras" just around the corner, made it even livelier! With only two days to "get it all in" we decided to take advantage of the two-day hop-on-hop-off Grand Trolley Tour. The first day we took the full 60 min. tour to get the lay of the land and see what we really wanted to spend our time at the next day. We then spent the rest of the day at the Alamo, and along the River Walk. As our luck is still shining, we arrived just in time for their Mardi Gras Boat Parade! It wasn't big, nor all that "fancy" but it was loud and fun! They sang, and cheered, and threw lots of beads to all the hungry hands, of which Jack caught lots for the grand kids to have! I just kept taking pictures, of course! We did stumble upon an incredible restaurant tho, the Iron Cactus. Jack isn't into Mexican food much, but he tolerates it for me. Being in Texas, I wanted to have some of the "local flavor". Reading their menu, it appeared to be more along the "southwestern" style and looked quite promising, so we tried it. Jack, to my surprise, ordered "lobster tacos", and I ordered their shrimp enchiladas with the lobster & cheese cream sauce. I'm here to tell you, that those two dishes were INCREDIBLE!! OMG GOOD!! Prices were really reasonable...and all this at a "tourist location"! Beyond our expectations!




































Day two - Up bright and early (well, for us, anyway) and off we went to our "2nd day hopper". As we waited for the trolley at the beginning and again at the mission, you would have thought we were the tour guides! Here was Jack, telling them all about the restaurant, or how to get to the River Walk, or I was advising about which mission to spend their time at, or if they wanted "history" vs "souvenir shopping" experience! Guess you can't take the "guide" out of us, no matter what city we are in! ha ha

We really enjoyed spending time at the Mission San Jose. I haven't had that much fun taking pictures of ruins since my trip to Greece! Beautiful, just beautiful.













































Next we walked all around La Villita, San Antonio's first neighborhood, now restored to house art galleries, craft shops, boutiques, etc. Quiet, peaceful, nice.































After we left the trolley, we walked to a few of the areas we wanted to spend some extra time at - One of the areas that the trolley can only "pass by" is the German neighborhood called King William Historic District. These homes were built in the 1840's, originally settled by prominent German merchants. To say these homes were breathtaking, would be an understatement. As I walked along, snapping away, I would say, "just this last one"... then I would see another that was "so unusual" I would just have to take it's picture too! It's moments like this that I'm glad I no longer use 35mm film!





























One last stop at the San Fernando Cathedral, and we called it a day. I must share, tho, that when I saw the pictures of the "before" (as it was built in 1734); it's simple beauty, I was appalled when I read that the diocese spent 3.1 million dollars to turn the "holy alter" from it's simple beauty to it's now "gold decadence"! What a waste of money, when it could have been used for so many other (human needs) better uses! Sad.





















The campground we are staying at is really nice, and full of "rodeo folk". Their big rodeo is in town, right next door and many of them are staying here! Big rigs, real BIG rigs! We would have liked to gone one day/night, but we just couldn't fit it into this trip's schedule...oh well, another time to show Jack what a rodeo is all about!

It's off to Corpus Christi in the morning, so early to bed, early to rise! Yee ha, a new road to travel on!






















If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...on the road in Texas, Marie