Greetings From San Antonio!
Lady at a writing desk
That’s right! I’m in sunny, and sometimes rainy, San Antonio, Texas as I’m writing this post. It’s been nice to get away for a while. I’m taking in sights and sounds and filling up my well of experience for future writing projects.
I’ve been to the city a couple times before, but my first visit was for a church related convention and our time and schedule were strictly regulated. We visited Sea World, the wax museum, the Alamo mission, and the shopping area. My second visit was for a specific event on one of the Air Force training bases. My husband’s original career field was celebrating it’s 100th class graduation. He wanted to attend, so we were in town long enough to attend that, then headed directly to another town to visit some friends of ours. Whirlwind trip sums that one up nicely.
On the agenda this week was:
Find acceptable places to eat. My diet being what it is makes this quite difficult. Found this gem of a place I’ll hate to leave behind - Bakery Lorraine. If you’re ever in the area, do check it out. It’s amazingly good.
Work while husband is working at the convention he and his coworkers attend annually.
Swim while we can, in between the rain showers.
Find sites to see which don’t break the bank. This is difficult, but not impossible.
I picked out several brochures to choose from:
Historic Market Square - A shopping area - free to get in but don’t expect to exit with the wallet unscathed…
Tower of the Americas - A super nifty venue with a purportedly amazing view
Go Rio River Tours - I took a river cruise on my first visit and it’s really nice! Being on the water has always given me a measure of joy, especially on lakes or rivers. They’re just so peaceful, even in the middle of a busy city.
San Antonio Missions World Heritage Site - If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ll know I’m crazy about World Heritage Sites. This one offers a driving tour and free access into five different mission churches, including the Mission San Antonio de Valero (or the Alamo). We’ll also check out the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials while we’re in the Alamo area.
The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum & The Texas Ranger Museum - A whammy combo of the oldest saloon with the oldest original bar and historical memorabilia of iconic Texas Rangers, all in one place. Even if we miss this one on this visit, I do want to catch it at some point.
The Twig Book Shop - I was so excited to find an indie book shop downtown. It makes me sad that these little shops feel like they have to be political, though. I mean, offer the information within the books and let readers form their own opinions, yeah? It’s what makes our country truly great! My daughter and I found a couple of fun books, one of which I’ve been wanting to read for a long time. This was not on a brochure, by the way. We just happened upon it while walking to the bakery.
Caverns of Sonora - I so badly want to take a guided tour of some caverns somewhere. It won’t happen on this trip, though. Sonora is out of the way. The website offers a virtual tour…but all the sensory stuff would be missing, except maybe sound, but even that would change.
Natural Bridge Caverns - We passed this one on the way into San Antonio, so we won’t be able to hit this one at all this time. We aren’t going home the same way. But maybe it’ll be something to do in the future.
As I’m writing this, waiting for my husband to return from the convention, I’m trying to plan how we’ll tackle the driving tour of the mission churches. We hope to do that and also stop in at the Historic Market Square. By the time this post goes out on Friday, I might have pictures uploaded to show you some of these places.
It’s really important to get out and see new things, hear new sounds, and just see how the world is working and changing around us. All these things make for better writing in the end.
What do you think?
