MARCH 29: SAN ANTONIO – DAY 5 (Part 2)

After lunch we visited various landmarks downtown including the Bexar County Courthouse, San Fernando Cathedral, City Hall, Spanish Governors Palace, and Market Square.

On our way back toward the hotel, we visited the Briscoe Western Art Museum.  We almost skipped it but were glad we didn’t.  The collection was especially interesting to the kids with some unique collections including saddles, spurs, guns and photographs of American Indians.

A river cruise was next on deck.  The tour guide was funny and gave some history of the Riverwalk and surrounding buildings.  We enjoyed the boat ride but if tourist trap boat rides aren’t your thing, you could easily skip it.

Dinner followed at the popular Casa Rio, the oldest Mexican Restaurant on the Riverwalk. Two-thirds of all restaurants in the area are Mexican or Tex-Mex so we thought we ought to try what appeared to be the busiest.  It was very good.

Downtown San Antonio was a fantastic way to spend several days.  We were not overly impressed with the rest of the city, but to be fair we did not spend much time in the surrounding areas.  Tomorrow we head northeast to the state capital, Austin.

MARCH 29: SAN ANTONIO – DAY 5 (Part 1)

Today was spent in downtown San Antonio.  We started, of course, at the Alamo.  Cole had recently studied the Alamo and Davey Crockett so he was extra excited.  I was impressed with how much he remembered.  The Alamo was interesting.  Before planning the trip, I did not realize it was downtown surrounded by tall buildings.  It was crowded but manageable.  All in all it is not an overly impressive structure but it was a must-see for the historical importance.

We returned to the Riverwalk Area for lunch at The Republic of Texas.  We enjoyed eating riverside but the food and service was barely above average.

The Alamo

MARCH 28: SAN ANTONIO – DAY 4 (Part 2)

As we entered San Antonio from the south we stopped at the Mission San Jose.  Originally we had planned to follow the Mission Trail to see four Spanish Missions but we were short on time so we chose to stop at the most famous one.  I am always amazed at the complex and ornate structures that were built so many years ago in the middle of vast unsettled lands, and Mission San Jose was another good example.

We finally made our way to our hotel in the Riverwalk Area of San Antonio.  We enjoyed walking along the man-made riverwalk and had dinner at County Line BBQ.  Everyone loved the food.  It might need to be considered for a top-10 ranking although restaurants in St. Louis and Kansas City are still holding down the top spots.  County Line is a chain that we had previously heard about.  We had planned to stop at one during our 2013 Big Trip but never made it.  After dinner we continued to take in the area and do a little shopping before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Mission San Jose

San Antonio's Riverwalk

MARCH 28: CORPUS CHRISTI – DAY 4 (Part 1)

Our first stop in Corpus Christi was the USS Lexington, a WWII era aircraft carrier ship.  Cara and the kids enjoyed it even more than I could have imagined.  At one point I suggested we needed to leave to stay on schedule and they insisted we stay to complete the final leg of the tour.  The kids could not decide which was their favorite part of the trip so far, Johnson Space Center or the USS Lexington.

From there we headed south to the Padre Island beaches.  We took a short walk on the beach and then turned back north toward San Antonio.  Before we left Corpus Christi, we stopped at a local fast food chain, Taco Cabana.  The kids first noticed them in Houston and have been singing their version of the Taco Cabana theme song – think Copacabana by Barry Manilow, but about Mexican food.  Everyone thought it was fine for a change, but no need to go back.

Corpus Christi Shoreline

USS Lexington

MARCH 27: HOUSTON – DAY 3

Easter was a day of exploration for us.  The Easter Bunny left two small sparse baskets in the hotel for us, slim pickings but better than nothing.  Before we left for the Gulf, we went to downtown Houston.  We walked through the Historic and Theatre Districts as well as a small part of the Buffalo Bayou Park  Not far from the Aquarium we found monuments to George H. W. Bush (#41) and James Baker.  The downtown area was nice.  We enjoyed the public art sculptures and fountains that Raleigh certainly lacks.  Since it was Easter morning, the city was a ghost town which made it easy to get around but we missed the vibrancy of the hustle and bustle.

We love “cheese”.  If your town has a “World’s Biggest ____”, we are going to get our picture in front of it.  So our next adventure started innocently enough... to get a picture of Mount Rush-Hour.  Driving into to town it is visible from I45 / I10.  There are, what we thought were, four President’s head statues similar to Mount Rushmore.  You cannot, safely, get a picture from the highway so we exited and hunted on the side streets.  Before we found it, we found... well, we weren’t sure what we found.  At 2401 Nance Street there is a rundown industrial building and a fenced yard adjacent to the interstate and train tracks with salvaged President heads (I assume) from President’s Park on Deer Mountain, Lead, South Dakota.  Oh, and there was also a 20 foot Charlie Chaplin too.  It was bizarre, sort of creepy and sort of fascinating.  In our own mind it was a huge find.  We were looking for four and we found dozens!  Several U-turns later, we eventually found the four heads (1400 Elder Street) visible from the highway and got the coveted picture.  Later we did some research and learned more about the history of the American Statesmanship Park (aka Mount Rush-Hour) and Presidents Park.  The four heads were President Washington, President Lincoln, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston.  It appears Houston artist David Adickes created most of them for parks in Virginia and South Dakota (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidents_Park_(Virginia)).

With this final adventure, we hit the highway and headed south to Galveston.  We stopped at a Saltgrass Steakhouse for lunch and a view of the Gulf.  Afterward we took a long walk on the beach past Pleasure Pier.  Before leaving town, we stopped to visit the Ashton Villa House, Sealy House, and Moody House.

We decided to take the “scenic” route from Galveston to Corpus Christi – Rt. 6 / Rt. 2004 / Rt. 288 / Rt. 35  What we found is there was very little scenery.  The long flat fields of grass and bush were green this time of year with occasional ranches, small towns, and large oil refineries along the way.

We checked into our hotel upon arrival in Corpus Christi and walked to the neighboring Outback Steakhouse for a late dinner.

Downtown Houston

Mount Rush Hour and Presidents Park

Galveston Beaches near Pleasure Pier

Galveston Landmark Buildings