I went to San Antonio, Texas last summer and it was a very thrilling experience. We did many things while we were there and I must say it is a very pretty city. There is a river that runs right though the city and our hotel was only about 100 yards away. The nickname of the city is “American Venice” and it is very obvious why it’s called this. Many of the stores and restaurants are built right on the river. There are also gondolas you can take so you can get a tour of the city and some of the buildings and history of the city is very interesting.  Activities are in no shortage when visiting this great place.

First off, it was the first time I had flown in an airplane. Liftoff was the only scary part but the rest was ok. As the plane was taking off, I felt nervous and gripped the sides of my seat.  I found it very cool how when we got to the highest altitude, the clouds were closer to the ground than they were to the plane.  Looking out the window it kind of made me feel light-headed.  When we got there, we rented a car and drove to a hotel. It was called the Drury Plaza Hotel and it had an indoor pool which was very nice. This hotel is one of the oldest in the city and is a historic landmark.  To get to most places around the city, we usually just walked because they were right there and it was easy to navigate.

Now it’s time to describe the actual things we did. The first day we were there, we went to the Alamo. It looks nothing like it did back during the battle (it’s more of a big garden now) but it still has a lot of the cool, old infrastructure as well as drinking wells and courtyards. The guides that were there basically walked you from the beginning to the end of the battle. For the rest of the day, we got onto a gondola and rode on the river through the city. We saw many unique, old buildings and lots of strange looking artwork as well as amazing architecture.  There was even a weird building that looked flat on one side and deceived my eyes- it actually looked like it was two dimensional.  Riding through the water way at dusk was a site to see with all the activity going on around the river street area.  People were eating at restaurants, watching street performers, and working at the various businesses around the town.  Riding on the boat made was a great way to really see the entire city.

My favorite part of the trip was when we tubed down the San Marcos River.  It was extremely cold and made me thankful we did not choose to tube down the Frio River.  There were lots of cypress trees jutting out from the banks and into the water.  Lots of long grasses were below us as we traveled down river, but I could always see the bottom.  The river winded through the city at a very relaxing pace.  It was sort of sad when the trip down river came to an end and we had to board the bus to take us back to our car.

San Antonio, Texas is a great place to visit.  I wish we had had more time there to really take in even all of the sites like the various museums and city attractions.  Traveling to new places is a favorite thing my family does together and this was well worth the money and time.