Destination - San Antonio, Texas

“If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell”

Philip Henry Sheridan

 

San Antonio at night

For my city destination series I have mostly stuck to places I have actually visited.  But I am running out of those, at least here in the states, so now I am starting to do ones of places I would like to visit. 

I'm not a big fan of Texas in general.  I've driven across the middle of it, and for one thing, it took forever, and then there was the scenery - or what I felt was the lack of scenery.  It was hot, and dry and all the same, and went on for what seemed like days.  And then there is the political views being expressed in Texas today, and their lovely governor, Rick Perry.  Not to my taste.  But I have always heard that there is one saving grace to Texas, and that is San Antonio.  I've also heard that Austin, which is nearby, is also nice.  So I actually have San Antonio on my list of places that I would someday be interested in visiting.  The rest of Texas I'm not so sure about.

Everyone knows that the Alamo is in San Antonio, and probably most people know about the River Walk area, which San Antonio is famous for.  But what else is there to do in San Antonio?  I will start my things to do list with the two obvious places, but we will explore from there to find out what else there is to see and do.

The Alamo- aka Mission San Antonio de Valero

The Alamo, originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero, is a former Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound and was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.  The mission was one of five missions established along the San Antonio River.  It was established in 1718, and had been closed for many years before the battle of the Alamo, which took place during the Texas Revolution, and became a symbol for  courage and sacrifice in the name of liberty.  "Remember the Alamo" became the cry for justice.

 For 13 days in 1836, close to 200 Texas defenders held the Alamo from over one thousand of General Santa Anna's troops from Mexico. The most famous of the defenders, William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett, died fighting overwhelming odds for freedom.  There is an IMAX movie which you can watch, which shows an accurate accounting of what happened.
Over 2.5 million people visit the Alamo yearly.  It is located on Alamo Plaza in downtown San Antonio.  Three buildings - the Shrine, Long Barrack Museum and Gift Museum - house exhibits on the Texas Revolution and Texas History. Visitors are welcome to stroll through the beautiful Alamo Gardens.   The Alamo is open every day of the year except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Their hours are 9:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. Monday through Saturday and 10:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. on Sunday. To better serve visitors, the Alamo will remain open on Fridays and Saturdays until 7 P.M. during the months of June, July and August. 
        

Admission to the Alamo is free.  The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Inc. (DRT) receives no monetary help from local, state or federal government and depend solely upon money from sales in the Alamo Gift Museum, donations from individuals and private foundation grants to fund its educational programming and general operation.

The River Walk is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath the streets of Downtown San Antonio.  It is a public park which is open 365 days a year to the public, and is lined with restaurants, hotels and shops.  There are special events held along the River Walk every month.

River Walk area of San Antonio

One of the favorite thing for tourists to do, is to take a boat ride on the San Antonio River, which you get from the River Walk area.   They are exclusively offered by Rio Cruises. The company offers daily tours of the San Antonio River. The tours are narrated by experienced guides who regale visitors with anecdotes and historical trivia about the river and the quest to build a River Walk.  The boat tours are conducted in open-face boats that seat up to about 40 passengers. Tours depart daily from three different River Walk locations: Historia (under the Market Street Bridge and Alamo Street; Clearwater (at the Rivercenter Mall on the corner of Commerce and Bowie streets); and the Aztec Theater (at Crockett and St. Mary's streets). Cruises last from 35 to 40 minutes and take in 2.5 miles of river. They run daily from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. -15 to 20 minutes apart. Admission is $8.25 per person. Senior citizens (60 and older) and active military pay $6; children under 5 are $2.

Rio Cruises also offers water taxi service along the San Antonio River. Water taxis stop at 39 locations along the River Walk, and drivers have tickets on board for purchase at any one of these stops. Taxi service is available daily from 9 a.m. through 9 p.m.; one-way tickets are $5, 24-hour passes are $10 and three-day passes are $25.

Other things to do while in San Antonio:
 
The Tower of the Americas is a 750-foot observation tower/restaurant on the southeastern fringe of Downtown San Antonio.  Located in downtown San Antonio, the Tower of the Americas provides guests with the most spectacular view of the city.   Enjoy the gorgeous panorama from the Tower's revolving restarant while having dinner at the Chart House Restaurant, or take in the scenery from the Observation Deck where you can also experience the thrilling 4D Theater Ride "Skies over Texas."  You can also learn about the history of the six flags that once flew over Texas from captivating murals that line the walls. There is also a café on the Observation Deck level.

Tower of the Ameicas

Ticket includes unlimited access to Observation Deck, Flags Over Texas & the 4D Theater Ride!  There are extra charges for parking.
Adults: $10.95
Seniors & Military: $9.95
Children 4 - 12 years: $8.95
Children 3 years & under: Free

Witte Museum

The Witte Museum, is located adjacent to Brackenridge Park in Midtown San Antonio, on the banks of the San Antonio River. It is dedicated to natural history, science and South Texas heritage. The permanent collection features historic artifacts and photographs, Texas art, textiles, the world-renowned Hertzberg Circus Collection, cave drawings, Texas wildlife dioramas and the four-story H-E-B Science Treehouse; in addition to nationally acclaimed traveling exhibits.

H-E-B Science Tree-house

Located on the museum grounds overlooking the San Antonio River, the H-E-B Science Tree-house encompasses 15,000 square-feet and four-floors of hands-on science exhibits for all ages. A two-level little tree-house, crafted by artist Carlos Cortez, also overlooks the river and is connected to the main Tree-house building by elevated walkways.

The current exhibit at the Witte is on dinosaurs, the most fascinating creatures to have roamed the earth.  Experience the world’s largest and most advanced life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, complete skeletons, fossils, hands-on inter-actives, a paleontological dig site where visitors can unearth fossils as well as the opportunity to explore the most current scientific findings. Created with electronics instead of hydraulics, the animatronic models capture some of the most life-like motions ever created.  General admission does not cover this event, there is an additional charge.

The Witte Museum is open year-round except for the third Monday in October, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The general admission price includes the exhibits in the main building, the Witte Backyard and the H-E-B Science Tree-house. Please note that some special exhibits may have an additional fee or surcharge. Admission is free on Tuesdays from 3 pm until 8 pm, because of this Tuesday afternoons can be quite crowded.  Admission is - Adults (12-64) $10, Seniors and Active Duty Military are $9, children (ages 4-11) - $7, and ages 3 and younger - FREE.

San Antonio Botanical Garden

There are many other things you can do while in San Antonio.  You can take in a play at the Majestic Theatre.  The Majestic is a beautiful old theatre that shows Broadway road shows.  You could visit the San Antonio Botanical Gardens which has 38 acres in the center of the city, dedicated to plants. While there you could enjoy lunch in the bistro which is located in the Sullivan Carriage House which was reassembled on the grounds of the garden, brick by brick. 

Or you could visit Sea World or Six Flags Fiesta Texas both of which are in San Antonio.  We have a Sea World here in San Diego, and it is basically the same as the one in San Antonio.  It is always a fun day to visit, and if you are traveling with kids then it would certainly be a fun thing for them to do.  As for Six Flags Fiesta - it is full of wild rides for all ages as well as a water park. 

State Capital Building in Austin

Another thing you could do if you have time, is to take a side trip to Austin, the capital of Texas.  It is an 80 mile drive to get to Austin.  It would certainly be a nice one day trip, and you could be back in your hotel in San Antonio that night.  There are city tours of Austin that you could book, which would show you the sights of the city in a short time.  There is Zilker Park in the center of the city, which is 350 acres, and on the southeasten edge of the city is McKinney Falls State Park.  You could also visit the capital building.  Even though I am not a fan of Texas politics or its governor, the building is quite pretty, as are most capital buildings in the country.  The LBJ Presidential Library is also in Austin, and there is a lake named after Lady Bird Johnson. 

Whatever you decide to do while visiting the San Antonio area, have fun, and relax by the River Walk and watch the boats go by.  I've heard there are some good restaurants in that area, as well as some nice shops, which are always fun to check out. 

**photos taken from the internet, since I have not yet visited this city.

Destination - San Diego

"But do not ask me where I am heading,
As I travel in this limitless world
Where every step I take is my home"
~ Portion of a Poem by Eihei Dogen ~

San Diego Skyline

As part of this blog I have been picking different cities and writing about them as destinations.  It occurred to me that my own city, San Diego, is considered one of the great vacation destinations.  Just because I live here, I shouldn’t ignore it.  And for those San Diego residents who may be reading this, revisiting the city we live in can be fun.  We sometimes get busy and don’t take the time to see our own city.  I have heard of people who live in New York who have never visited the Statue of Liberty.  I am equally sure there are people who live in the San Diego area who have never been to the Pt. Loma Lighthouse.  The past few years we have heard the term “staycation”, which means taking a vacation where you live.

from the air looking toward OB

I recently had out of town visitors and I was showing them around San Diego.  It made me realize that this is a city that I am proud to live in.  Yes, it was February and sunny, in the low 80’s, and my company was from places that were cold and snowy, so the weather was a big factor in how I felt about the city.  It was nice to take them to the beach on a sunny day in the middle of winter.  But more than that, we really do live in a really pretty city, with a lot of history, and culture, and things to do and see.

There are a lot of guide books to San Diego, and information on the web, and everyone will have their own ideas of the top things in the San Diego area.  Here is my list of the Top 10 Things to See or Do in San Diego:

Inside the Natural History Museum
Balboa Park

     Visit the Hotel Del Coronado

      Balboa Park
      San Diego Zoo
      Beaches
      Take the Trolley tour from Old Town

       Old Town

       Pt. Loma Lighthouse

       Sea World

       USS Midway

       Seaport Village

Of course there are a lot more than 10 things, the list is just to get you started.  I’d like to talk about the things on the list, giving a little more detail.

Hotel Del Coronado

One of my favorite places is the Hotel Del Coronado.  I think this hotel is a symbol for the cities of both Coronado and San Diego.  When Presidents come to San Diego and spend the night, they stay at the Hotel Del.  It has been featured in movies, the most famous was “Some Like it Hot.”  It is considered by some to be haunted.  It is one of the oldest and most famous landmarks in the area, and certainly one of the most beautiful.  At Christmas time most locals visit the hotel just to see the decorations, we have made it a Christmas tradition.  There is not a better beach in the city than the beach in front of the Hotel Del.  Anyone can walk in and see the hotel, you do not have to be a guest.  Check out the shops, and in the hallways downstairs there are pictures of the hotels past and information about famous people who have stayed there.  Have lunch in the outside café on a sunny day and enjoy the ocean view.  Walk up the beach.  If you walk clear to the northern end of the beach you will reach the “Dog Beach” area and you can enjoy our four-legged friends romping on the beach and having fun.  You may even see my 2 schnauzers, it is their favorite place in all of San Diego to go to. The website for the Del is http://www.hoteldel.com/

Botanical Garden Building

Balboa Park is our version of New York’s Central Park.  It is in the city and covers a very large area.  There are beautiful gardens, lots of different museums, fountains, restaurants, an International Village, a Botanical building, Spanish Art village, Japanese Tea Garden, the Old Globe Theatre, and the Spreckel’s Organ Pavillion, which gives free concerts on Sundays.  It is a wonderful, diverse area to walk around and just enjoy the outdoors.  On the weekends in particular the park is full of street performers and families, and is a good place to do some people-watching.  There is also a wonderful fenced, off-leash dog park.  Even if you don’t have your dog with you on vacation, it is fun to watch the dogs playing with each other.  There is a large number of museums, the most famous ones being – The Museum of Man, The Natural History Museum, The Air and Space Museum, as well as various art museums. There is also The Reuben H Fleet Science Center and IMAX Theatre, which is a great place to take the kids.  On Tuesdays they offer certain museums free to San Diego residents.  There website is http://www.balboapark.org/

Panda at the SD Zoo

Also part of Balboa Park is the San Diego Zoo.  Our zoo is world famous, and is considered one of the great zoo’s in this country.  We have animals you won’t see at most other zoo’s.  We have several giant pandas, and I believe that we will soon have another baby panda, which is always a big attraction.  Our panda breeding program has been quite successful.  We also have koalas, which are certainly adorable, although I have to say they don’t do much except sleep, but you can watch them do that.  There is a bus that will take you around the zoo, and you can hop on and off whenever you want.  Some areas you do have to walk to get to, but if you plan it right with the help of the bus, you can do most of the walking downhill instead of up.  The zoo is well worth one day of your vacation.  http://www.sandkegozoo.org/

Crystal Pier - PB

My favorite place to be anytime is the beach.  In San Diego you can spend a day at the beach almost any time of the year.  The water is not necessarily warm enough for swimming year around, but certainly you can wade all year long.  I talked a little about Coronado Beach already, and it is certainly one of the prettiest beaches, but there are several other great beaches worth mentioning.  Ocean Beach, known locally as OB is a typical beach town.  The town is full of antique shops and other types of fun shops as well as some fun restaurants.  It has a great pier where you can walk out and watch the surfers.   Pacific Beach, or PB, also has a great pier and lots of surfers.  When I want to go boogie boarding PB is where I head because the waves are better there than some of the other beaches.  It also has the best hamburgers in town at Kono's and you can sit on their outdoor deck and watch the action on the beach.  Mission Beach is a nice beach and it has Belmont Park, where you can ride the old wooden roller coaster.  And the best of the northern beaches is La Jolla Shores, which is a sheltered cove, so the waves are milder for swimming.  You can take a kayak trip from here to the caves or to watch the whales when they are around.*  The town of La Jolla is more upscale, and The Scripp's Institute and Birch Aquarium are nearby.

Old Town

Old Town San Diego is where the city started.  It is now a historical park that recreates life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872.  There are old buildings that you can go into, lots of shops and restaurants. For the best carnitas in town, try the Old Town Cafe.  Spend a few hours, have lunch and then sign up for the Old Town Trolley Tour which is 2 hours and takes you around Old Town, as well as to Balboa Park, the Gaslamp area, Seaport Village and across the Coronado Bridge to see the Hotel Del.  You will stay on the trolley the whole time, so it is actually something you could do when you first arrive in town, and it will give you and overview of the city, and then you can go back and really visit those places on your own.  www.trolleytours.com/san-diego   http://www.oldtownsandiego.org/

Point Loma Lighthouse

The Point Loma Lighthouse is also home to the Cabrillo National Monument.  The Lighthouse has stood on this point of land since 1855.  It is no longer a working lighthouse, as they found it was not the best location to have it, but you can visit it and see how lighthouse families lived at that time.  The Cabrillo National Monument is also there.  Climbing out of his boat and onto shore in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo stepped into history as the first European to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States. In addition to telling the story of 16th century exploration, the park is home to a wealth of cultural and natural resources. From both places you have fantastic views of the cities of San Diego and Coronado.  www.nps.gov/cabr/historyculture/old-point-loma-lighthouse.htm

A day at Sea World is certainly a fun thing to do while visiting our city.  How can you go wrong when you have Shamu, the killer whale doing several shows a day.  There are quite a few shows as well as some fun rides, lots of aquariums, and places where you can touch sting rays, dolphins and other sea creatures.  www.seaworldparks.com/SeaWorld-SanDiego

USS Midway in SD Harbor

The USS Midway was an aircraft carrier, the lead ship of her class and is currently a museum ship in San Diego.  You can go aboard and experience what life was like aboard ship.  There are over 60 different exhibits and 27 restored aircraft on board. http://www.midway.org/ 

Seaport Village is a shopping area on the harbor-side of San Diego.  It is a short walking distance from the Midway and has many different and quaint shops, as well as restaurants.  There is also a boardwalk area and a park behind the village where you can watch the boats on the water.  It is a pleasant place to spend an afternoon.  http://www.seaportvillage.com/

Besides the places I listed as my top ten, there are so many other areas to visit here.  The Gaslamp area downtown is also a historic area, and there is a great walking tour that tells the history of the area.  There are many great restaurants and antique shops in the Gaslamp. 

And there is of course the Zoo Safari Park, known to the locals still as the Wild Animal Park, which is about an hour drive out of San Diego in the Escondido area.  I didn’t put it on the list, because technically it is not in town, but certainly worth the drive.  You see the animals in their natural habitat, with much more freedom than they have in the zoo.  There is a train that takes you through a good portion of the park, but to see it all, there are walking paths that will give you good views.

Old Globe, San Diego

Starlight Theatre, Balboa Park

San Diego is full of culture, with some great museums and lots of theatre.  We have lots of little local theatre groups, and you can find a play to attend almost every day.  The Civic Theatre downtown puts on traveling Broadway plays.  The La Jolla Theatre and the San Diego Repertory groups are quite active, and both have great reputations.  The Lambs Players have theatres in both downtown and in Coronado.  And my favorite, The Old Globe, has 3 theatres in Balboa Park.  In the summer, I love going to the Old Globe's Festival Theatre to see a Shakespeare play.  The Festival Theatre is outdoor, under the stars, and it has a natural backdrop of trees behind the stage.  You can hear the animals in the zoo at night, in the not too far distance.  It is a wonderful way to spend a summer evening.  And nearby is the Starlight Theatre, which does strickly musicals, and is also outdoors in Balboa Park.  It is directly under the path of the airplanes landing in San Diego.  They have a person who watches for the plane, and as it gets close she turns on a red light, and all action on the stage freezes until the plane passes over, then the actors start up where they left off, even if it was the middle of a dance number, which can make for interesting theatre. 

fish tacos

I’m not going to cover places to stay, or restaurants - there are so many great ones in San Diego, but I will say that when you come to San Diego there is one thing we are quite famous for, and that is fish tacos.  So make sure you have those at least once while you are here.  Rubio’s is the home of the fish taco, and you will find them in various locations, and you can't go wrong with their food.  Pt. Loma Seafood also does a great fish taco.

*See my article about kayaking in the January archives.