Alamo City

As it turns out, I didn't have any plans for Presidents' Day weekend, so I quickly researched how far I could fly without spending any more than I would've spent had I stayed at home. So, I found San Antonio for a $7.50 round-trip fare... and some miles. I had never been to San Antonio but the weather forecast predicted a warm weekend. Sold! I arrived Saturday evening and stayed at the Crockett Hotel, adjacent to the gardens of the Alamo. Since I didn't have a guidebook (last minute trip!), I figured all I had to do was follow the signs to The Alamo if I wandered too far away. Hotel itself was nice... not too many bells or whistles (cheap!), but I'd stay there again.

Highlights:
Tower of the Americas - just like the Space Needle in Seattle, it has an observation deck on top and was built primarily for the World's Fair. Seattle built theirs 6 years before San Antonio. San Antonio, though, offers a pretty cool 4-D attraction to complement the tower.

I rode the Rio San Antonio. Very entertaining 30-minute tour of the River Walk... our tour guide was pretty funny. Best to do this to get a feel of where everything is located so you know where everything is. Incidentally, the River Walk was only a 5-minute walk from the hotel.

Market Square - toward the end and to the left in this photo is Mi Tierra, which was recommended to me by some folks from NYC that I met during the weekend. Great Mexican food. I ordered the chorizo mexicano con huevos which came with fresh, hot flour tortillas and bottomless decaf coffee. Bill was only $8, not including tip!

Streetcars were a very efficient of way of seeing most of the sights. $3.75 is all it takes for a one-day pass. You can get by with paying the $1 fare which comes with one free transfer slip and $0.15 for each additional slip. Transfer must be used within 2 hours.

And, for 30 minutes, I was the guest bartender at the Blue Arts Brewing Company. My shift ended when a customer actually walked in. Kidding aside, I recommend the Smoked Dark, which is a Scottish dark ale. Even after a taste of another brew and a glass of water, I still had a smoky aftertaste on the tongue. Also, try a cup of the pork green chile soup... gives you a kick in the...

I also ate a lot, but do you really need to see pictures of the mouthwatering bbq?

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