mexican adventure: San Antonio

September 26, 27, 28
The drive from Baton Rouge was a real contrast. In the Louisiana swamps and Bayous there is water everywhere. In Texas it is positively arid and everything is crispy.

This double bridge runs for approximately 20 miles over the bayous between Lafayette and Baton Rouge.

In Texas there is a severe drought. In the last 12 months this part of Texas has received only 23% of the normal rainfall. We pass brown, dry fields that look like no cattle could survive.

The trees in the background look like they have fall colors but they are conifers and are likely dead from lack of moisture.

We are making good time so we drive through Houston without stopping. We have been there before.

We had not stopped for hours and when we did get out of the car it was like a furnace, 105 degrees Fahrenheit.. Worse than the record setting hot day in Toronto last summer.
We set Miss Maggie (what we call our GPS system) to the La Quinta Hotel near the center of San Antonio. We have found this hotel to be clean and reasonably priced. In New Orleans we stayed in the French Quarter for $73 per night (with our seniors discount).

We had heard that San Antonio was one of the most beautiful cities in the USA. We wanted to have some Texas beef for dinner so we catch a trolly car and are off to the Riverwalk Area.

The Riverwalk is what makes San Antonio so unique. The San Antonio River, which meanders its way through San Antonio, flooded the city in the early 1900s. Business owners wanted to put the river underground. A young architect, Robert H. Hugman, proposed to control the waterflow and create a walking path along the river. The lower floors of the building close to the river could become offices, stores and restaurants. Hugman, to prove his point, made his office in the lower floor of a building on the river. After much debate, the the idea was adopted in 1929. However, because of The Great Depression work did not start until 1939.


It is so hot that restaurants mist their patrons with fans

Today there is over 2 1/2 miles of beautifully landscaped waterfront that runs through the city. A convention center was built with a man made river that seamlessly connects up to the river. The convention center is fully booked until 2020. The Riverwalk is a beautiful and very active area. It MAKES this small city!
I could not help but think that this is what the Don River in Toronto could be.

The Hyatt Regency Hotel fronts onto the square opposite The Alamo and backs onto the river. To get approval to build, the Hyatt had to connect the two major attractions of San Antonio. They created a waterfall on the square and the water flows through the 16 story high atrium to the river.

The Alamo is located in the center of San Antonio. This has almost become a shrine for Americans. The gardens and museum on the sight of The Alamo are well done and interesting.

San Antonio shows what good urban planning can do in keeping the center of a city vital and alive.We leave about noon for the two hour drive to Laredo.