Viva San Antonio, Part 1
by Rebecca on 2008-06-15
A few months ago, William told me that he had never been to the Alamo. Of course, I was aghast, immediately thinking that the Texas public education system had somehow failed him by never taking him on a field trip to San Antonio, which was a staple of my early years of schooling. One thing that I have wanted to do since high school is attend the Texas Folklife Festival, which is put on every year by the Institute of Texan Cultures. And so, I thought that I might kill two birds with one stone by planning a weekend trip that would incorporate both of our needs.
So, I decided that I would surprise him by planning a weekend getaway to San Antonio, filled with all of the touristy staples: dinner at the Tower of the Americas, a walk along the Riverwalk (Paseo del Rio, if you want to be fancy pants about it), a stop at the Alamo, and a good part of the day at the Texas Folklife Festival. I found a great hotel downtown, the OʼBrien, and got a good deal on Travelocity. We pre-ordered tickets for the Folklife Festival. I made a dinner reservation. All of our plans came together to make for the perfect weekend.
We both were able to leave work early on Friday, so we made it to San Antonio in great time. As I was checking into our hotel, I met some very friendly people from Las Vegas who had spent the afternoon drinking cocktails, and one of whom introduced herself as part of a “drinking club with a diving problem.” (Apparently, this group gets together every Friday the 13th and goes diving somewhere in the country. And this weekend they were in San Antonio.) We had a bit of time before our dinner reservation, so we watched The Simpsons. And then we dressed and headed over to the Tower of the Americas.
The Tower of the Americas was built for the Hemisfair in 1968, and now itʼs just a distinguishing feature on the San Antonio skyline. Thereʼs a restaurant at top, the Chart House. For those who donʼt want to pay for dinner, they can pay to take the elevator to the observation deck. However, as we figured out, I donʼt know what would stop you from declaring an intention to eat at the restaurant, taking the elevator up for free and then “changing your mind.” Anyway. The other thing about the restaurant is that the tower rotates slowly (approximately one revolution per hour). So, you get a panoramic view of San Antonio while you eat — very nice! We had a delicious dinner. We had this gooey crab, shrimp, and cheese fondue for an appetizer and then I had red snapper, and William had halibut. So, so tasty! I need to learn how to make fish like that.
Then we went up to the observation deck and got completely windswept and giggly. The wind blows so hard up there! At one point, I even had to check to make sure my rings hadnʼt gotten sucked off. We tried to see the San Antonio Temple off to the north, but the sky was too hazy. Maybe if it had been darker …
I must add that the only thing that marred our evening was the fact that I chose to wear my hot gold shoes to dinner and had to walk all the way to the Tower and back in them. By the time we got to the Tower, my feet were already starting to blister, and I knew that walking back to the hotel would be difficult. In fact, at one point during our walk back, William suggested that I take my shoes off and walk barefoot. It was more comfortable to walk on burning hot pavement barefoot than it was to wear those shoes. But I still looked really hot. So.
We made it back to the hotel, slipped into the complimentary bathrobes, and watched the end of Pride and Prejudice on the Oxygen channel. It all felt so luxurious.