Texas - The Lone Star State
Archers Holidays, June 2014
It was the driver's day off today (well, from driving, instead he spent three hours cleaning graffiti off the side of the bus - thank you that lovely person in San Antonio).
We had an included boat trip booked at 9am so we met Patrick in the lobby and went down to the basement of the hotel where there was access to the Riverwalk. There were two boats arranged for us all so we piled on for our trip through the Riverwalk. What a great surprise it was! Below right is our hotel from the boat.
There is a lot of greenery and shade installed along the Riverwalk, with maintenance folks taking care of the vegetation every day.
There are all kinds of little alcoves and tucked away water features along the riverside. Below centre is one of the river taxis (not much different from our boat apart from the flag!) You also see the buildings of the city from a unique perspective.
You never know when you are going to find a piece of art or interesting architecture.
We even spotted cute ducklings - good job they knew how to swim fast! We passed a restaurant-y area with some riverside dining - it looked like a good place to come back to that evening, we thought.
We saw the Chamber of Commerce (below left), the Convention Center (below centre) and the Lila Cockrell Theater (below right).
We passed more artwork, the Tower of the Americas (more about that later) and more bridges - it's weird being below the roads yet on a river!
We reached as far as the Rivercentre Mall (more about this shortly too) before the boat turned around and headed back for our hotel. By this time it was starting to rain. Excuse me? Isn't this Texas? I thought it was supposed to be sunny. Fortunately, I had my new Disney poncho so I was kept nice and dry, but my assistants hadn't brought coats. Oh dear. We spotted the ducklings again on our way back - so cute.
Sadly, I didn't get to drive the boat until we arrived back at the hotel and everyone had disembarked! Boo! However, our driver, Tarek, was kind enough to let me take a picture. The compass rose mosaic (below right) is the starting point for the north and south mileage markers along the River Walk. It was chosen as it is on axis with the San Fernando Cathedral considered the historic heart of the city.
As we headed inside we took a closer look at that bank vault in the basement - the hotel building used to be a bank - before heading up to our room to sort ourselves out for the rest of our free day.
Our plan for the day started at the Buckhorn Saloon and Texas Rangers Museum.
We started in the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum. There were a lot of stuffed animals and stuffed animal heads in this place - a LOT! I'm not sure I approve, but I guess the animals have been dead a very long time. There were a number of chairs made out of animal horns too, as well as a few bears!
They had the skull of an African elephant, a stuffed polar bear and this otter, who was giving me a funny look!
They have a moose, another bear and a selection of fish.
After all the animals they had something of a freak show exhibit - an end of the pier kind of side show event. They had exhibits of those famous showmen, Buffalo Bill and PT Barnum.
The final side show was a skeet-shooting machine, and it was free! We all had a go, and mostly we were rubbish, though at least one time Di got a direct hit and the skeet didn't explode so we reckon it was rigged. Or we could just be sore losers. Done with the side shows, we headed back down to the first floor where I bumped into the boss, Teddy Roosevelt.
We headed into The Texas Rangers Museum. There was quite the crowd going in. Okay, so these guys kind of live there! The Texas Rangers were formed in 1823, to protect pioneers on the Texas Frontier from renegade Indians.
They have a car on display here. It's a Ford V8 and is the same model that Bonnie and Clyde drove. They have a letter on the wall that Clyde once wrote to Henry Ford, complimenting him on Fords - the vehicle of choice, when he could steal one of course!
They have a jail set up there - I suppose my assistants think this is funny!
Check out this mock up of a saloon! With the push open doors that swing both ways. I had to give them a go, but being a bit light, these doors can be tricky! Inside there was a bar, with a big picture mirror behind. It's like being in a western!
My flattie pals (those that couldn't be here with me) spread out on the bar, though a couple were more fascinated by the spitoon. Classy guys! One more photo in the gun store and we were done. This is not a huge museum, but it has a few artefacts with names we know (at least from the movies) such as Bat Masterton.
We took a look in the gift shop. They had quite a lot of stuff, but not much grabbed me. There wasn't much representing the Texas Rangers Museum part, which was more my thing than the stuffed guys, but we did find a few bits of Texas Tourist Tat to buy!
We had already planned to have a drink in the bar on our way out, but when we saw the weather outside, it was pouring with rain. At least the assistants had picked up their raincoats at the hotel, but it was so bad, they weren't gonna stay dry for long. We decided it was time for lunch!
We ordered some burgers and a grilled cheese sandwich. We even remembered our 10% off discount with our entrance ticket! We also ordered some beers - Shiner Bock and an Alamo Golden Ale, from the Real Ale Brewing Company. They had more of those heavy goldfish bowl glasses - are these just a tourist thing or what? They take two paws to lift! Maybe they'd have a straw? The flattie (picture of the bear with antlers) is my buddy from Twitter, Buckster Bear - he likes a good beer, so (like many other flatties) joined me on this trip!
By the time we'd finished lunch and beers, the rain was easing off, so we set off for the Alamo. Turns out we were able to get through the gates and make our way through the grounds to the gift shop. While it was mostly expensive, they had some reasonably priced stuff and a pretty good range of something for everyone. In the grounds they have some exhibition boards set up that gave us a little history of the Alamo. Check the photos - by the time we were out you wouldn't have known it had been raining!
We headed over to the Rivercenter Mall to pick up a few bits and pieces, like magnets and such. There were a few tourist tat shops, but they were all mean and had signs saying no pictures with the big silly hats they had on display! Spoilsports. It was then time to head over to the Tower of the Americas. On the way we passed the Torch of Friendship monument (below right).
We walked through a plaza dedicated to Henry B Gonzalez, Congressman for San Antonio, after whom the Convention Center is named. He is credited with bringing the World's Fair to San Antonio in 1968. We even got a closer look at the Palacio del Rio Hotel.
We headed into Hemisfair Park, where the 1968 World's Fair was held. This bear chap was donated by the City of Berlin for the Fair. Around the base of the Tower are some fountains.
Tall isn't it? This is the Tower of the Americas. There's a gift shop and cafe in the base of the tower, as well as a 4D theater we'd be trying later.
We bought our tickets (well, wristbands, below left) and headed for the lift/elevator. The tickets included the Observation Deck and the 4D show. Once we got up there in the lift (phew!), there was a great view of the city - we could even see our hotel (below right).
We spotted those record-holding hotels again and, in the distance we could see the roof of the Alamo.
We saw the Alamodome. The round building is part of the Judicial Training Center. I was able to get an even better view through this telescope [well, two eyes so binocular-y thing!!] It was a little windy outside so we headed inside - there was a little history of the Six Flags that have flown over Texas, and there was also a little snack bar. When we got to back to the bottom of the Tower, we visited the 4D theater.
It was time to head back to our hotel. After the rain it had really become hot. We decided to walk back along the RiverWalk as we knew it would end up at our hotel (once we headed the right way!)
On our way back to the hotel, we had spotted a Rainforest Café and, as Dave had never eaten there, we decided that was where we would have dinner. I have a priority card after all, may as well benefit from it! We'd come back later, though, as we had our kickbacks back at the hotel. We made the most of our three drinks, but skipped most of the food as we were going. Not all of it though - this is me!
Then we headed back to the Rainforest Café. There would be a wait - no surprise - so we headed to the bar. We had a few issues with my points, but the Manager soon got it sorted. Good job as we were called to a table in only about twenty minutes. Colin and I ordered cocktails - BIG ones!
The service was a bit slow (dropped Ted) but we enjoyed our food in the animal ambience. I even managed a slide down their rustic bannister on the way out. Watch out for splinters!
We walked back along the Riverwalk back to our hotel for the night.