San Antonio, Texas August 6-9, 2013

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I took a drive down to San Antonio, Texas for a few days. The drive was somewhat long since I drove directly from work in the morning (after working 12 hours). I stayed at CityView Inn. It was a very small but clean and friendly place. I was looking at staying at one of the more popular hotels but they wanted price for parking ontop of the overprice daily rate (for a place that I was just doing to sleep at). The walk from the Inn to the Riverwalk was a mere 2-3 blocks (less then 10 minutes). If people has an issue with this type of walking, then I would recommend not going to San Antonio or the Riverwalk in San Antonio as walking is what you would be doing!

On the first day I took a nap. On day 2, I went to the Riverwalk and enjoyed the view. I stopped at the IMAX in Rivercenter Mall to watch the Alamo (I also caught the Flight of the Butterflies 3D). After watching the Alamo, I walked over to see the Alamo. It is a "must see" if you're in the area but other then it's history it is not a big deal. I am sure it was back in the day but...

After the Alamo I stopped on the Riverwalk and had lunch at Las Canarias Restaurant and ate the Spicy Crimini Mushroom Penne Pasta but added chicken to it. The service was great, the food was good, and the location was perfect. I sat indoors and ate because it was hot and muggy but they do have outdoor seating on the Riverwalk.

On day 3, I went to Sea World and caught some animal shows. That was pretty neat. They have one show that uses domesticated animals. I never thought they could work so well together and the fact that Sea World adopted them is even more awesome. I went to the waterpark but it was so crowded and busy that I did not stay very long. The food, like every other attraction like this was overpriced and not a big selection.

On day 4, I went to the Japanese Tea Garden and the Botanical Gardens . I do not have a green thumb but I enjoy taking photos of plants and flowers. The Tea Garden was not user friendly if you are disabled or in wheelchair but it was a nice oasis in the city and FREE!!! The Botanical Gardens was nice as well and features something different then the other Botanical Gardens did, even Dallas, and that was a section for different parts of Texas. Because Texas is so big, the weather and environment is different depending on the location. So that was nice. They also had carnivorous plants, which is something that I do not recall seeing elsewhere. After my stroll thru the Botanical Gardens, I had lunch at the Carriage House Bistro. Yum. I had the Bistro Smoked Chicken. It was good but not recommended if you do not care for spicy food or cream sauce.

On day 4, I traveled back to Oklahoma. Unfortunately about 30 miles south of Fort Worth there was a 7 car accident with fatality. The traffic was at a standstill for 4 hours!! Yes...FOUR hours!! But I remained calm, had patience, and was thankful that I used the bathroom at the rest stop when I filled up the gas tank (because creams/milk products do not sit well :-)). I was also thankful that I still had a body to wait in. But it was a mess and my 7 hour drive home took 11. But what can ya do?

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