Riverwalk Trail -- San Antonio, Texas

One of us had a programming conference to attend in San Antonio, so the other one tagged along. Accommodations were at the Drury Plaza Riverwalk hotel.

It's in the former Alamo National Bank building that was built in 1929.  A bank built in 1929? Wild.

Super cool Art Deco ambience. 

Even the elevators are vintage

The view from our room looked over the Alamodome.

It seems like the weather has been following us on our trips lately.

Enjoying our 5:30 kickback courtesy of Drury. 

A Cape Cod for her. 

Warm beer for him. 

After imbibing our "free" beverages, dinner with the conference group was at the Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse. She had the wedge salad and a very tasty grilled sirloin. 

On Friday afternoon since the weather was a beautiful 80 degrees, we decided to go for a bike ride using the B-cycles rented from the "Flores at Cesar Chavez" station.

We rode along the Mission Trail. 

Historical marker along the trail.

This house was right across the river from this marker.  Guenther's house? We have no idea. 

Part of the trail runs along the abandoned MKT (Katy) railroad line ....

.... in an area called Southtown where condos and apartment buildings were being built around the old grain elevator and silos.

 The old grain elevator is the red brick building.

 Down the hill a little ways from the Southtown apartment area the trail when under this active railroad.

See the active train?  After snapping this picture I proceeded on with my ride. Note to self: Let's not ride under railroad trestles while trains roll along overhead, because rocks fall from trains sometimes.  Luckily it was off to the side of the trail.

Lone Star Brewery

We Biked down to Steves Avenue!  

Random riding pictures.

We turned around at Concepcion Park and rode back to the B-cycle dock. Had a nice 7-1/2 mile ride.


Next day it was time to head home. I just had to take a picture of this cool sculpture made from suitcases at the San Antonio airport.

According to a friend of mine who is knowledgeable about vintage "stuff", this is a wheel of Samsonite Streamlite. And she approves.
 

Waiting to board our plane.

Eating at TGI Friday's during our 3-hour layover in Dallas.

Right beside the Levi's sign was this little gem which caused a lengthy conversation between the two computer programmers at the table.  (Hint: I was not one of them.)

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Galveston Seawall surrey ride -- Galveston Island, Tx

What was originally suppose to be a spring break trip for the family ended up being a trip for just me and my son Josh and his girlfriend.   Daughters had too much to do for school and athletics.  Other son had to work.  Wife had the flu.    So we went and spent 4 days on the beach.  Ate way too much, saw some dolphins and did some bike riding along the beach.

Lets start off with the house we stayed in.  It was a nice little cottage with 3 bedrooms that was only a couple of blocks away from the seawall and beach.   It had a deck on the back that prior to them building a hotel would have had a clear view of the ocean. 

 

 

It was way more house than we needed for just the three of us, but recall our original plan when we booked it was for the whole family to go on the trip.  Here are some pictures of what the inside looked like. 

Here we walked down to the seawall immediately after arriving so the kids could see the ocean.  You can see the boardwalk lit up behind them.

First day there we rented one of these for all three of us to ride along the seawall.  It was interesting having all three people pedaling in rhythm.  We rented all the bikes we used from Island Bicycle Company(http://www.islandbicyclecompany.com/)   We had rented from them on a previous trip and found them to be reasonably priced and very helpful. 

 

Famous Galveston Boardwalk we saw all lit up the night before.

After spending the day riding and walking along the seawall we chose to go to the other side of the island and have seafood at the Fisherman's Wharf. 

Cool view of the bay from our seat in the restaurant.   

Pondering what to order! 

I had the shrimp combo and it was scrumptious!  

 The kids shared a Mixed seafood grill!

The second day started kind of cloudy and rainy so we decided to go take the Dolphin boat tour.

Started out passing the Fisherman's Wharf restaurant from the bay side!

We saw lots of birds fishing in the bay!

Watching anxiously for some Dolphins! 

Our captain who knew right where the Dolphins would be.  We also got a history lesson on Galveston Bay. 

There be Dolphins! 

For the afternoon the kids wanted to go explore by themselves so I rented a bike to ride along the seawall. 

Was looking for items for that month Bicycle Ride and Seek, needed a picture with a Red building as I recall.

Another Ride and Seek find along the Seawall.  Something Gold! 

 

Condo at the end of the Seawall

The far western end of Seawall! This combined with a previous visit to Galveston finished up riding the entire seawall. 

Met up with the kids for dinner at Miller's Seawall Grill!(http://millersseawallgrill.com/)  We ate there both times we have been to the Island and very much enjoyed the food each time! 

The Seawall Special! Yum!

The final day we were there we woke up to rain and fog again so we decided to head back early.  On our way thru Dallas it was necessity to stop and eat here!

Had to have the Double! Yum!

Had a fun trip with just my son and his now fiance! 

VIDEO of our trip: 

Map of my Seawall bike ride!

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