We, of course, waived in the general direction of H1/DIL1's home as we drove through Houston. DLG/MD and family were there for the holiday. H1 had repaired my tablet computer (he's the favorite) and DLG was bringing it home with them when they returned (she's the favorite) saving us from having to stop on this trip. Not that we wouldn't have enjoyed seeing everyone, but San Antonio is a 9 hour drive from NOLA!!! Even in H2's truck it's still a long haul!
We arrived in time to check in to our hotel and go to dinner with the entire group. We had a really excellent Mexican dinner. The food was great, atmosphere nice, and company awesome!
After breakfast we returned to the hotel, then walked to a couple of blocks over to the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. Wow!! Makes our Riverwalk mall here in New Orleans pale in comparison! We pretty much strolled along the river looking at vendors and into restaurants and admiring the architecture (San Antonio has done a great job of maintaining some beautiful old buildings in the downtown area).
The "U" shaped part of the river is apparently man-made. It makes for a nice, leisurely walk along the riverside with plenty of places to stop and rest or pop into an establishment for something to eat or drink.
After everyone had returned to the hotel, dinner was ordered from a nearby "family" restaurant that had been recommended by the front desk. It was not their best day, apparently, as the pizzas we had ordered took more than twice the "45 minutes" to arrive, although the place was only a 5-minute walk from the hotel! While waiting on the pizza a few of the group ran out for some Mexican takeout to add to the pizzas. We all sat in the hotel lounge area and had dinner.
After dinner it was back to the Riverwalk. This time we took the river cruise. It was fun, and informative, and while not exactly cool, at least it wasn't HOT!!! While on the cruise we noticed some lighted carriages on the streets above, so we decided to take a carriage ride, too. That turned out to be quite an adventure!!Our carriage ride started off well. We jumped a big line because we were willing to share a carriage. Everything was going well, and we were enjoying the ride until the driver, a very nice older woman, decided to give us our money's worth and took a longer route. We had just commented on the other carriages that had turned at the last corner, and she started to explain why she hadn't gone the same way when all of a sudden the horse, John (really Big J, that was his name), a 7-year old Percheron, reared up on his hind legs, then started trying to back up. The driver tried to get him going again, but that only agitated him more. He continued to back up and pull against his harness until the front wheels of the carriage were locked into a tight circle. We went around in a circle three times until finally Linda and our nephew, Tim, were able to get out of the carriage and get hold of John's bridle (that's why Tim's the favorite).
That seemed to calm him down, but by that time he was completely out of the carriage rails and had broken his harness. The rest of the evening was spent waiting for another carriage to come and take us back to the drop off point. The carriages are pretty, all lit up, and all pulled by small draft horses. No one was hurt, and we ended up not having to pay for the ride, so it all worked out.
Sunday morning we got up and joined everyone for breakfast, this time at the Magnolia Pancake Haus. This restaurant was crowded, and it was in one of the many small malls that are so common now. But the food was excellent, we didn't have a terribly long wait, and the company, as before was awesome!!!After breakfast we said our goodbyes to everyone, returned to the hotel, loaded up, checked out and headed for Del Rio. That will be another post!!
3 comments:
Sounds like super fun!
You're the only commenter... you're the favorite!!
Hope it would be a wonderful trip for you.
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