In mid-January Amanda and I scooted down to Texas to visit Rob, Tara and family. We had a blast visiting them, of course. We also, despite bringing Maryland winter temps south, were able to enjoy some of the great Texas outdoors. Before heading to Rob's in Austin we buzzed south to spend a couple days in San Antonio. We had heard great things about the city and figured if we were that close we better check it out. Upon arriving in San Antonio, however, I was quite sure we had made the wrong decision.
When we left the expressway to hit downtown San Antonio we were surprised to find it was a ghosttown. Granted it was Sunday night and the Cowboys had just lost to the Giants, but we saw only one other car for blocks. I half expected a tumbleweed to blow past. We arrived at the hotel which was eerily quiet. The hotel was very nice, but it was literally on the wrong side of the tracks. It was surrounded by vacant lots and the buildings across the street, the ones that weren't burned out that is, had iron bars on the doors and windows.
This is always the danger of booking over the internet in a city to which you've never traveled. Even though the hotel was in the shadows of the Alamodome and a mere five blocks from downtown's world famous Riverwalk, the neighborhood looked like the part of Detroit that Robocop cleaned up. I could probably win a war correspondent photo Pulitzer if I had snapped some shots of our immediate surroundings. And I might have had the desk clerk not said straight faced, " If you are going to walk at night, don't go that way.", as she pointed up the street. Awesome. For those of you familiar with Baltimore, it was like booking a hotel in the "inner harbor" and the hotel ends up being under the overpass behind the Raven's stadium.
Surely the light of day would reveal a new view giving me a new outlook. Not so much. The sunshine revealed that across the vacant lots stood more grafitti covered buildings with boarded windows. This, however, is the last of the negatives regarding our brief stay in San Antonio. We really played tourist-eating fantastic food, being serenaded by mariachis, walking the neat Riverwalk and, of course, investigating the Alamo.
I found the Alamo fascinating. From years of hearing how small it is in person I carried low expectations. Covering a city block or so, the Alamo sits squarely in the middle of downtown. The curators and museums on site provide excellent info for a history buff like myself and reminded me of just how boastful, I mean proud, Texans are of their heritage.
San Antonio also has an entertaining homeless population. Within minutes we passed one gentleman 3 or 4 times, yet he hit us up every time we passed. I'm not saying he should catalogue every target, but, damn man, remember a face for a few minutes. Then there was the guy who, upon seeing us taking photos with our digital camera, asked us which tv show we were with. After a short, confusing conversation he finally decided we were not tv producers and began to walk away. After a few steps he turned back to us and announced, "Just so you know, I'm a cop." I choked back laughter as he turned and purposely strode away. So, FYI, next time you are in San Antonio and see a man in flip flops and deperately in need of a comb, beware-he's the fuzz.
Upcoming in Part Two: Good friends and good times in Austin.
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