Day 100 – Friday, October 4, 2013

San Antonio is a great tourist city and we wanted to make sure we took in some of the things it has to offer. The people in the office gave us a bus schedule, directions to the river walk (or canal as Denise likes to call it) and the explanation to only take route 42 unless we wanted a 3 hour tour of the city. Off we went with our empty backpack carrying only our DSLR camera and a couple of guides and maps. Julie notes “‘Guides’ as in the written kind not as in the ‘Norman’ kind. And as predicted by the time we were headed home, the backpack was full of great stuff, that we ‘really’ needed. Lesson #100A Don’t take a backpack if you suffer from ‘fill the backpack with souvenirs and stuff syndrome.”

The bus driver welcomed us to San Antonio and asked where we were from. When we told him Alberta, Canada he said the ride was free. A good guy and a good ambassador. He made sure we got off at the correct location and pointed us in the right direction. We walked the river walk for a bit and found Casa Rio for lunch (rated #236 of 3,710). After a 15 minute wait for a table, we were seated right along the river (or canal for Denise). We both had the taco salad and it was a good choice. I also sampled the locally brewed Alamo beer. Julie ordered a sangria. Julie notes “The staff are all dressed in the traditional Mexican dress and we found use again for our ‘por favours’ and ‘gracias’.”

We then headed off for a boat tour on the river, er, canal to try and get our bearings. The tour takes about 45 minutes as the driver/guide explains various sites along the way. I found it difficult to get my sense of direction because everything on the river walk is a storey below street level. Julie notes “It was also odd for us to be driving through a tourist area and not getting stuck in crazy street traffic or just stuck in a crazy street, period. Not once did the boat driver ask me to get out and ask all the other boats to back up the river, er’ canal, while he made a manoeuver.”

After the boat tour we wandered around until we found the IMAX theatre in the Rivercenter mall that the guide had mentioned. There was a feature on the history of the Alamo. The next show was at 4:00 PM. That gave us some time to wander the mall. I was able to finally find a good fitting hat for my giant cranium. Julie notes “ladies, don’t be fooled by his giant head size!”

After learning the history of the Alamo, we decided to take a topless, hop-on, hop-off, bus tour of different city sites. I was especially looking forward to the topless part! Julie notes “So embarrassing! Sorry folks of San Antonio for having to witness that! Lesson #100B ‘Don’t take advertising at face value.’ And Lesson #100C ‘Carry sun screen with you if there is the slightest chance you’re going to expose those tender areas.’ Plus don’t take any wooden nipples. We breast move on, Brad’s getting a tit nervous about what I might say next.”

The Alamo. Julie notes “Are you sure? I don’t remember the Alamo? (oh I may get kicked out of Texas for that.)”

Street scene. Julie notes “Sure I can’t go topless but these guys can erect a rather phallic looking tower and brag about it. Typical!”

It was then back to the canals, or river walk if you prefer, to find a “nice” place for dinner; this time using Trip Advisor. We decided on Boudro’s on the Riverwalk – ranked #21 of 3,710. The service, atmosphere, and food were all great. We both tried their specialty prickly pear margarita and we both had the mixed shellfish plate; an excellent choice even if we’re not on the ocean. Julie notes “This is my almost truly happy face. My truly happy face was after the first sip.”

We had a great day today with lots of walking, touring, site seeing, and great food. I really like San Antonio. Julie notes “Day 100 made the previous 99 days all seem worthwhile!”

…over and out, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “A little exercise for those of you who enjoy brain teasers or who have ever had a spill in their camper or anywhere.”

Place in order of messiest to least messy the following spilled items that you found after a bumpy day on the road where the vibration can actually unscrew lids off of jars and plugs out of water bottles and crack eggs and bottoms of yogurt containers and…

• Sour cream
• Nacho cheese sauce
• Marmalade
• More sour cream (remember we kept buying it thinking it was coffee cream)
• Salsa
• Horseradish sauce
• Orange flavoured water
• Blueberry yogurt
• Large 20 L jug of water that we didn’t secure because we thought it was too heavy to fall over