Road Trip 2008: Day 12 of 17 (San Antonio)

Rooftop pool at the Drury Plaza hotel

Looking down on the RiverWalk

Relaxing on the RiverWalk

Checking out the Alamo

The boys liked to hang their cowboy hats on their bed each night

Tuesday June 3

We decided at breakfast that we would just go ahead and stay another night in San Antonio. We really liked our hotel, the Drury Plaza, and the RiverWalk. It was nice knowing we didn't have to rush around. After the nice free hotel breakfast buffet we went for a swim on the roof top pool. We got a really nice view of the city and the kids thought it was cool swimming on the roof.

After our swim, we got cleaned up and went for a walk on the RiverWalk to the Rivercenter Mall where we saw the IMAX movie, "Alamo...The Price of Freedom". The movie was well done and gave us a good background about the Alamo before actually seeing it.

We walked a couple blocks from the mall to the Alamo mission. We were surprised to see that the Alamo is right in the heart of the tourist district. There was a nice museum\gift shop and the grounds are very nicely landscaped - they don't seem too worried about maintaining historical authenticity. We bought the boys copies of the Davey Crockett autobiography and inscribed it with some memories of our trip.

We were torn between stopping for lunch and getting to the Schlitterbahn Water Park. Adam really wanted to stop and eat and Derek wanted to get to the water park. I wanted to do both, but was inclined to let Adam have his way since he's usually just dragged along. I was letting it play out, but Helen was getting overwhelmed by me not jumping in and forcing a decision. Adam finally decided to forego the lunch and head to the water park so that Derek would "quit whining".

The water park is actually in New Braunfels, about 30 minutes north of San Antonio. We decided to go when we found out that it had been rated the world's best water park 10 years in a row. We didn't get to the park until about 4, which only gave us 4 hours. The park is actually spread across 2 locations and you have to take a tram between the two. It looks like one of the locations was the original park and the other is where the park expanded. We rode quite a few slides, but the boys spent most of the time in the lazy rivers. Who cares about all the fancy schmanzy stuff - just give them a lazy river and they're happy. Again, just like a buffet, I question whether the boys are getting the most bang for our buck. I'm sure a park with just a lazy river would cost a lot less than the parks with all the fancy rides.

After the water park, we went back to the hotel and got cleaned up and then went out for dinner at Rita's on the RiverWalk. Adam's choice. It's a tex-mex place. The food was good and the margarita's were even better.

Road Trip 2008: Day 11 of 17 (South Padre Island\Mexico\San Antonio)

View from our hotel room on South Padre Island

Me and the boys walking on the beach on South Padre

The Rio Grande river on the Mexican border (border patrol truck in the distance)

Drury Plaza Hotel in San Antonio

Late night walk on the River Walk

Monday June 2

In the morning, we enjoyed the free hotel breakfast and then the boys went for a swim in the pool. After the pool, we went for a walk on the beach.

We checked out of the hotel and then drove around South Padre some before heading into Brownsville on the way to Progresso. The ladies at the visitor center in Port Aransas suggested Progresso as a nice place to cross into Mexico.

In Progresso, we parked our car and got the OK from US Customs to cross into Mexico without a passport. However, they warned us that a passport will be required in 2009.

There was a nice pedestrian bridge over the Rio Grande river which separates the US and Mexico. We were expecting the Rio Grande to be more, well, grand. It was more like a creek. When I mentioned to someone how we were surprised by how un-grand the Rio Grande is, the person replied, "Why do you think so many illegals cross it?"

The security on the US side was present, but more like the security at an airport or a large event. However, the security on the Mexican side consisted of soldiers with automatic weapons and at least one tank looking vehicle. When we asked one of the US customs people about the discrepancy in the show of force, they just shrugged their shoulders and said it was a different country.

We did notice quite a border patrol presence in the area. As we were driving, we would see these white official looking trucks in the distance along what looked like lightly traveled dirt roads. It took us a while to figure out that it was border patrol. We were even stopped at a border patrol road block on the way north to San Antonio.

The ladies at the visitor center in Port Aransas told us that Progresso (Nuevo Progresso on the Mexican side) was a cute little town. We didn't think so. There were shops on both sides of the street with a flea market type atmosphere outside the shops along the sidewalks. It reminded us of a cruise destination, where all the merchants descend on the fresh tourist meat. The most popular types of shops were pharmacies and dentists. There must have been 5 of each in a 2 block area. Men would stand outside the doorway of the shops and try to get you to go in as you passed. Nothing threatening, just sleazy.

The ladies at the visitor center also recommended a restaurant called Arturo's. We were very happy with their recommendation of Snoopy's in Corpus Christi, so we were looking forward to Arturo's. We were picturing an authentic Mexican dive type of restaurant with great food and atmosphere. Instead, it was a white tablecloth restaurant with waiters in ties. The food was good, maybe a notch above the usual neighborhood Mexican restaurant in the US. I ordered a margarita, expecting it to be something authentic and special. Instead, it was small and very average. And to top it off, the food was more expensive than Mexican food in the US.

The restaurant was only a couple blocks from the border and we didn't bother going any further. We bought Adam a cowboy hat on the way back to the US. Derek didn't see one that he liked.

After Mexico, we drove north to San Antonio. We got into town at dark and drove around a little before looking for a hotel. We settled on the Drury Plaza. It's in an old converted bank tower in heart of the city. As part of the conversion from a bank, the hotel extended the River Walk so that the hotel would be on the River Walk. It was a really neat hotel and we were glad we stayed there.

Overall, we had good luck getting a hotel room without reservations. There were several time where I balked initially at the rate and they substantially lowered it. This was one of them. Sometimes, it was obvious that the hotel clerk had no authority to negotiate, but we never felt like we were being gouged either. I would use the hotel computer to do a price comparison and found that the walk up rate we got was as good, if not better, than the reservation rate.

We checked into our hotel and then went for a walk along the River Walk. It was almost 10 o'clock, but the place was still hopping. We had heard that the River Walk was nice, but I was skeptical. I figured it was just another tourist trap with shops, but I was impressed. It's very nicely done and bigger than I thought it would be. You can walk a long ways in the city along the River Walk with easy access to and from the city streets via nice bridges and stone staircases. Most of the hotels and restaurants are accessible from the River Walk or the street level.

We stopped in one of the shops and Derek picked out a cowboy hat. The boys were very cute in their cowboy hats and got lots of comments. They wore their cowboy hats whenever they would go out for the rest of the trip. Adam would always ask for the room key and then keep it in his hat, along with some of his other valuables. When we would get to our room, he would dip his head forward and take off his hat and produce the room key.

Road Trip 2008: Day 10 of 17 (Corpus Christi\South Padre Island)

Packing up on Mustang Island

Lunch at Snoopy's in Corpus Christi

Adam and his Herbie car

USS Lexington

Corpus Christi waterfront

Sunset on South Padre Island

Sunday June 1

After the refreshing sponge bath at Mustang Island State Park we headed towards Corpus Christi. We stopped at the Port Aransas vistor center where we were helped by a couple of really nice ladies. It's so nice when you "click" with a customer service person and there's a back and forth rapport. We told them that we were going to tour Corpus Christi before heading to South Padre Island. They gave us some great suggestions and told us that we would be able to cross over into Mexico without passports. They suggested to cross at a little town called, Progresso.

The visitor center ladies suggested a place called Snoopy's for lunch. It was a dive on the water. We were a little early for lunch so the place was almost empty. We were surprised to order at the counter and even more surprised that they didn't take credit cards. We scrambled to get just enough cash to pay. The restaurant opened onto the water, which made for a great atmosphere. It wasn't long before the customers came streaming in and the place was packed. Lucky we arrived when we did. It's mainly fried seafood, which isn't really our thing, but we thought it was terrific! All the seafood - fish, crab, shrimp, and oysters were big and fresh.

After Snoopy's we crossed the bridge to the mainland and Corpus Christi. Our van would have been dirty enough just from our normal travels, but after driving onto the beach at Mustang Island, we thought the van really needed a wash. We found a wash pretty quickly, but it was temporarily closed due to an electrical problem. We figured we would come across another wash soon, but when we didn't we got off our planned route and had to ask around. We eventually found one of the do it yourself places and got the van all nice and clean.

We went to the waterfront in Corpus Christi where the USS Lexington Museum and Texas State Aquarium are located. The area seems to be the major tourist area for Corpus Christi. There are a lot of restaurants and shops and the area is very pedestrian friendly. They also have a popular "water taxi" that takes you to the various attractions along the waterfront. We didn't actually tour the Lexington or the aquarium, although we walked in and around both and got a feel for the attractions. The aquarium looked really nice and we probably should have toured it, but we were in the habit of skipping the usual museums\aquariums. The Lexington was different from the other ships we had seen in that it was an aircraft carrier. It was huge.

There was a "wave breaker" rock pier that extended into the bay alongside the ship. We walked to the end of the pier and got great views of the water, the ship, and the Corpus Christi waterfront and suspension bridge.

We stopped and had some ice cream at a cute little shop where there just happened to be a vintage car show. Adam was excited to see the special "Herbie" car. He's always loved Volkswagen Beetles and points them out whenever he sees one.

We headed south for South Padre Island. On the way, we stopped by the King Ranch, the largest ranch in the United States at 825,000 acres. As usual, we were too late and the Visitor Center was closed.

The highway travels through the King Ranch for a long way. We drove for over an hour without seeing a town or an exit. It was definitely the most desolate feeling we had on our trip. We actually had expected more of those kind of stretches during our trip and were surprised at the general availability of services.

We reached South Padre Island at sunset and pulled over along the beach to watch the sun dip below the horizon. We drove around South Padre some before looking for a hotel room. We saw a really nice Radisson, but they wanted over $200 a night. We ended up at the La Quinta for $79. We had an ocean view room, the pool was nice and overlooked the beach, and a free breakfast. You can't beat that.

Supposedly, South Padre is a huge Spring Break destination for high school and college kids. MTV Spring Break has been there. We found the place to be just that - a Spring Break destination more than a nice family resort island. However, the beaches were beautiful, although different from the usual powdery Florida beaches that we're used to. The sand was a mocha brown color and much more packed - almost muddy but not and very pleasant to walk on. The water was nice and a very pleasing shade of blue against the mocha brown sand.

Road Trip 2008: Day 9 of 17 (Houston\Corpus Christi)

Saturday May 31

We looked around for something to do in Houston before heading to Corpus Christi. We headed towards the bay along the east side of the city. The close proximity of the ocean to Houston surprised us. There's Galveston less than an hour from the southern part of the city, but the ocean comes way up on the east side of Houston as well. Again, we tried to find things that were specific to the area, rather than the usual children's museums, etc. We decided on the Battleship Texas and San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Sites.

The battleship was neat in that it was the only battleship to be active in both World War I and World War II. It didn't look as tough as the USS Alabama we saw in Mobile, but it must have been one tough ship for WWI. Having already toured the USS Alabama, we didn't actually take an on board tour.

The San Jacinto Battleground site was just across the street. We really enjoyed learning about the area and the history. San Jacinto was the site of the 1836 battle where the Mexican Dictator\General, Santa Anna, was defeated and signed over independence to Texas. Santa Anna had recently overrun "The Alamo" mission in San Antonio and was in the process of hunting down the remaining Texas independence fighters. But, "The Alamo" fighters delayed Santa Anna long enough for Sam Houston's army to set up an ambush for Santa Anna at San Jacinto.

There were many influential Mexican families that sided with the Texans for freedom against Santa Anna. The "Republic of Texas" was annexed by the United States in 1845 and eventually split into the states of Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The annexation led to the Mexican-American War the following year - I guess Mexico planned on getting that land back.

We stopped by a Kroger for supplies and had a quick lunch at Subway before driving along the bay and heading south towards Corpus Christi. We stopped in Alvin to see the Nolan Ryan Museum, but we were too late, as usual, and it was closed.

We passed through a number of cute towns. There were fields of maze that went on forever. It seems that corn is too expensive now, so maze is grown as the primary agricultural feed. And what's up with all the RV parks? We saw RV parks all over the place - many times in the middle of nowhere. There didn't seem to be any attractions nearby or anything special in the RV parks, but they were usually packed? Another misconception we had is that we would see Texas Longhorns everywhere, but we saw very few - and the few we did see were only in touristy settings.

It was dark by the time we took the ferry to Port Aransas and Mustang Island. We were tired and it was almost 10 pm when we drove into Mustang Island State Park to see about camping for the night. The sign at the entrance said that the gates were locked at 10 and by the time we drove out onto the beach looking for a campsite we were pretty sure the gates were closed. The sand was soft and we were concerned about getting stuck.

The wind was whipping and Helen and the kids were not happy about the situation including the fact that they had not eaten since the lunch at Subway. I positioned the van so that the headlights gave us some light to setup our tent. The wind was blowing so hard that we weren't sure we were going to get it up. We also didn't have any nice neighbors that came to our rescue this time with some heavy duty tent stakes, so we were stuck with our short stakes. Helen was beyond even complaining - she was like a zombie on cruise control. Derek complained that this was the worst experience of his life. Somehow, we got the tent up.

I pulled the van in front of the tent to try to shield it from some of the wind. I guy came by - not to help us, but to kind of enjoy our struggle. He told us that most of the tents had blown down the previous night. We left the rain shield off of the tent and opened the tent flaps in order to let as much wind as possible blow through the tent netting to keep the tent from blowing away like a kite.

We ate some breakfast bars for dinner and piled into the tent and tried to get as comfortable as we could with all the sand that had blown in and covered every possible surface. Somehow, Derek rolled right over and went to sleep. Adam, Helen, and I laid on our backs staring up at the incredible star filled sky. The sand was only a problem if you moved. Eventually, we all fell asleep, but Helen and I were awaken at various times during the night by the violent flapping of the tent in the wind. The boys didn't seem to be bothered. We woke to a beautiful sunrise.

The beach campsites were primitive camping only, which means outhouses and no showers. Helen chose to hold it. In the morning, we drove to the RV sites where there were restrooms with showers, but there were 2 other women in line so we went to find some other showers. The other showers were closed. When we went back, there were 6 other women in line. In a show of solidarity, we all settled for a sponge bath in the sink.

Sure, parts of the experience sucked, but looking up at the star filled sky and watching the sunrise over the ocean were wonderful. We will always remember the night we camped on Mustang Island.

Road Trip 2008: Day 8 of 17 (Galveston\Houston)

Looking towards the ocean from our campsite at Galveston Island State Park

Packing up

Fishing in the morning before heading to Houston

Space Center Houston

Taking the tram tour of Johnson Space Center

Mission Control for the Apollo missions

Space Center lab with life size replicas of the Space Shuttle and the Space Station

Me and the boys checking out an old Saturn V rocket

Friday May 30

We slept fairly well in the tent in Galveston Island State Park. The wind was gusting but not too bad. As usual, the boys ended up on our air mattress. Derek wanted to know why we got an air mattress. We told him that we were old, but they were young and their bodies were pliable so a sleeping bag would be just fine.

We packed up the car and said our goodbyes to our new friends and then went to the other side of the park to fish. The area where we went fishing was beautiful. It was nice and secluded. The boys had fun alternating some fishing and some playing and, as usual, Adam ended up soaked. I don't think we've ever gone fishing where Adam didn't end up soaked. We didn't catch anything, but it was still a beautiful morning.

After fishing, we headed for Space Center Houston. We had heard from one of the families at the campground that you could get discounted tickets online, so we stopped by the Galveston Visitor Center and had a very nice lady order tickets for us.

We really needed at least 5 hours to tour the Space Center, but we only had about 3 - thwarted again by attractions that are only open during regular business hours. It was a whirlwind. There are a bunch of movies\shows to see, but they all overlap so you have to figure out how to maximize the time.

Space Center Houston is just the visitor center for Johnson Space Center, so you have to take a tram tour to Johnson Space Center. We did that first. Johnson Space Center is definitely one of those places that give you goose bumps because of the history and significance of the place. The unfortunate thing is that the tour took about an hour and half of our time. Then the kids kept wanting to play in the giant kids area they had set up, so we let them play some and then would hustle to make some of the other stuff. We got to see some of the fantastic movies, but wish we could have seen them all. The sight and feel of a Space Shuttle blast off is incredible.

After the space center we ate at Mario's Pizza, a local chain, near the space center. We got a recommendation from one of the families at the campground. It was really good and we were glad that we went.

We weren't really sure what else we wanted to do in Houston, so Helen drove while I looked at some tourist info. We drove north through the city at night and enjoyed the city all lit up. It looks a lot like Atlanta - big and unwieldy. We weren't sure where we wanted to stay and finally settled on a Holiday Inn Express somewhere near the airport.

Latest road trip post

There's a newer road trip post below, but it's showing up after the "What else is going on?" post because I started it earlier.

What else is going on?

Blowing bubbles with Lindsay at Helen's parents

Berry picking

Father's Day

Pool picnic with Lindsay

With all the blogging about the road trip, I haven't had time to blog about anything else - so here's a quick update.

I had to go to work on Monday - the day after we returned. It was nice that Helen is off for the summer so she could handle all the laundry and stuff. The first few days after the trip were about getting everything back in its place. Helen also managed to get to the pool some.

The weekly summer outings with Helen's parents have also resumed. Last week Helen and the boys went to her parents house in Roswell for a visit. Helen's parents are keeping little cousin Lindsay since Helen's brother, Mike, is recovering from kidney surgery and his wife, Chris, is pregnant. Today Helen's parents brought Lindsay over for a picnic at the pool.

The boys had a week long tennis camp this week, so Helen had to be out of the house with the boys by 8:15 each morning. We've all been staying up too late to get up in the morning. We're used to the lazy summer mornings of cuddling in our bed together.

We stayed up until after 1 the other night watching City of God. Helen was exhausted, but couldn't pull herself away - she blamed me. We also watched two movies left over from our trip: Batman Begins and 3:10 To Yuma - all excellent films. The kids watched Batman Begins with us. There were some scary parts, but they didn't seem to be bothered.

I had rented about 10 movies for the trip to watch in the van, but we never made it around to "Batman Begins". The kids kept asking for it, but I would put in "Swiss Family Robinson", "Parent Trap", etc. The boys seemed to like the movies I put in, but they kept hoping each time it would be "Batman Begins". Besides wanting them to see some of the "classics", Helen and I wanted to see "Batman Begins" also and the person driving wouldn't be able to see it. They also watched "Indiana Jones : The Last Crusade", "Treasure Island", "White Fang", and "Enchanted".

We're also trying to redo Derek's bedroom this summer. It seems that, at 9, he's no longer appreciative of the hot air balloon theme. Derek's spent a lot of time figuring out what he wants to keep and what we can get rid of and now it's almost time to paint.