Posted by Jess
9 March 2011
Editor's Note: I created this post last week but did not get the pictures added until today. More posts to come about the current situation in Japan and our stories of Friday's earthquake.
This week I am in San Antonio, Texas for work from Tuesday-Thursday. And since I have a fabulous husband and a few extra airline miles, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see the state a little bit and asked my sister to join me a little early for sightseeing. On Saturday I flew to Minneapolis and had lunch with Jason's mom over lunch (thanks again!) and a little later my sister joined me and we flew down to San Antonio.
We got in late Saturday night and headed up to the room to unpack. After a quick stop at the spa on Sunday morning, we headed out to the Natural Bridge Caverns and took a tour of the area. It was our tour guide's 17th birthday and he told us some riveting stories about cave formations. The tour was a bit too long though since after about 15 minutes in it all started to look the same.
In the afternoon we headed to Target. Yay! I stocked up my suitcase of snacks and goodies to take back and had fun shoppping. I don't get to do that very often anymore. (update - my suitcases were too heavy...78lbs and 57lbs on the way back. Those were hard to carry back, especially with the long ride home I ended up having!)
On Sunday night we headed out for mexican food at a long standing San Antonio establishment called Jacala Mexicana. While the neighborhood wasn't the greatest, the restaurant was nice, the food authentic and margaritas were good!
On Monday morning we headed out to see the 5 Missions of San Antonio. The missions are within about 8 miles or so and are the ruins of old churches and fort areas from 1700's. These are forts where the Spanish friars worked to convert the natives to Christianity by providing them with consistent food and shelter. Some areas have been restored and some have not. The Alamo was the last one we visited and is in the middle of downtown San Antonio. This was my least favorite just because it was so busy and so commercialized. The other areas were so peaceful, this one was bustling. We went back later in the evening after it closed and were able to get some pictures without people in them.
After the missions, we went down to the River Walk, a pedestrian area on the San Antonio River with mostly restaurants and hotels. Its a very popular tourist destination - the 2nd in Texas - and only a short walk from the Alamo. The San Antonio River in this part is only about 3 feet deep and maybe 50 feet across. After walking around for a bit we decided to take a boat tour of the area. The tour was inexpensive and kind of Disney Jungle Cruise-ish, but did give some fun historic facts about the area.
During the tour the San Fernando Cathedral was pointed out to us. This is the oldest cathedral in the U.S. so we decided to walk over and check it out. After a brief walk through, we headed back down to the River Walk for some Bar-B-Q dinner. After some baby back ribs, fries and cole slaw, we headed back to the hotel to hang out and get ready for the next day's work and Kiki's flight. Kiki left early on Tuesday morning and I headed in to the office. I don't really feel like we missed a lot around here after only a day and a half of touring around. If we were going to go to Six Flags (right by the hotel) or Sea World, we would have needed more time but I think we hit the highlights and the weather was great!
Kanpai!
Jess
9 March 2011
Editor's Note: I created this post last week but did not get the pictures added until today. More posts to come about the current situation in Japan and our stories of Friday's earthquake.
This week I am in San Antonio, Texas for work from Tuesday-Thursday. And since I have a fabulous husband and a few extra airline miles, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see the state a little bit and asked my sister to join me a little early for sightseeing. On Saturday I flew to Minneapolis and had lunch with Jason's mom over lunch (thanks again!) and a little later my sister joined me and we flew down to San Antonio.
We got in late Saturday night and headed up to the room to unpack. After a quick stop at the spa on Sunday morning, we headed out to the Natural Bridge Caverns and took a tour of the area. It was our tour guide's 17th birthday and he told us some riveting stories about cave formations. The tour was a bit too long though since after about 15 minutes in it all started to look the same.
In the afternoon we headed to Target. Yay! I stocked up my suitcase of snacks and goodies to take back and had fun shoppping. I don't get to do that very often anymore. (update - my suitcases were too heavy...78lbs and 57lbs on the way back. Those were hard to carry back, especially with the long ride home I ended up having!)
On Sunday night we headed out for mexican food at a long standing San Antonio establishment called Jacala Mexicana. While the neighborhood wasn't the greatest, the restaurant was nice, the food authentic and margaritas were good!
On Monday morning we headed out to see the 5 Missions of San Antonio. The missions are within about 8 miles or so and are the ruins of old churches and fort areas from 1700's. These are forts where the Spanish friars worked to convert the natives to Christianity by providing them with consistent food and shelter. Some areas have been restored and some have not. The Alamo was the last one we visited and is in the middle of downtown San Antonio. This was my least favorite just because it was so busy and so commercialized. The other areas were so peaceful, this one was bustling. We went back later in the evening after it closed and were able to get some pictures without people in them.
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| Mission San Jose (1720) |
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| Mission San Juan (1731) |
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| Mission Espada (1731) |
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| Mission Concepcion (1731) |
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| The Alamo/Mission San Antonio de Valero (1718) |
After the missions, we went down to the River Walk, a pedestrian area on the San Antonio River with mostly restaurants and hotels. Its a very popular tourist destination - the 2nd in Texas - and only a short walk from the Alamo. The San Antonio River in this part is only about 3 feet deep and maybe 50 feet across. After walking around for a bit we decided to take a boat tour of the area. The tour was inexpensive and kind of Disney Jungle Cruise-ish, but did give some fun historic facts about the area.
During the tour the San Fernando Cathedral was pointed out to us. This is the oldest cathedral in the U.S. so we decided to walk over and check it out. After a brief walk through, we headed back down to the River Walk for some Bar-B-Q dinner. After some baby back ribs, fries and cole slaw, we headed back to the hotel to hang out and get ready for the next day's work and Kiki's flight. Kiki left early on Tuesday morning and I headed in to the office. I don't really feel like we missed a lot around here after only a day and a half of touring around. If we were going to go to Six Flags (right by the hotel) or Sea World, we would have needed more time but I think we hit the highlights and the weather was great!
Kanpai!
Jess
4:55 AM |
Category: |
1 comments
Comments (1)
so glad you guys are safe and you were able to get back to japan ok, jess! looks like TX was fun too :)