Downtown Report: War Memorial, Main Plaza, Gumby...

My wife had seen a news story on a small memorial created to commemorate the many fallen soldiers we have lost from Texas. It seems that some veterans have assembled this memorial and are showing it here before going to Austin with it. She wanted to zip down to Alamo Plaza to take a look, and I thought this might be a good day to do just that, and take a quick look at the new Main Plaza redevelopment project.I know for those who happen upon this site from other cities and states, you have seen the image of The Alamo, taken from an angle that takes advantage of our lack of any skyline behind it. This allows us to continue to sell post cards, and get a spiffy view when sporting events head into commercial breaks.But how many of you have ever wondered what the Alamo looks like from behind? This view is from Crockett and Bonham streets.How about inside the yard? I bet you had no idea the Texans had vending machines to keep them cool during the big battle.

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Just outside the shrine in Alamo Plaza, we found the small memorial to the fallen soldiers of the current conflict.Without saying it, my wife and I both looked for a picture of our young friend, Dane Balcon who was lost in Iraq. Although he attended high school here, because he transferred to Colorado to finish school, they did not list him. I'd like to say we didn't know of anyone on the memorial, but two other fallen had connections. A kid my son competed with in drill attended John Jay, and as it turned out, his mother attended Jay with my wife. They figured out the connection at the funeral of all places. Another young man had worked for my wife for a few years before he joind the military.It was nice to see a small tribute like this, but it would be nicer if the rest of the tiles could remain blank.

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Having paid 10 bucks to park, we decided to walk over to Main Plaza rather than drive. It really isn't that far, but note to all people who walk in mid day: There are two sides to the street. One side will have full exposure to the sun, the other will be shaded. Stay on the shady side of the street.Anyway, I have been wanting to see this Main Plaza deal ever since they had the grand opening. Hello? What got opened that was so grand? The place looks fully under construction, only half or less of the pavers are in place and the landscaping is far from complete. Call me gullible, but they had the grand opening months ago; I just assumed that meant they were done working on it.Anyway, I guess it will be nice once it is more than open. There were already people sitting around on tables and chairs and there was a band of some sort getting ready to play. The public restroom aren't open yet but there was a kiosk selling ice cream.We did go into the air conditioned restrooms behind the gift shop next to San Fernando Cathedral which makes one side of the Main Plaza. It was nice to get out of the heat. A smelly homeless guy asked me for two dollars but sadly, I only had a debit card with me, and he didn't have any of those credit slips with him. Anyway, if I was homeless, I'd live in these restrooms.My wife took a picture inside the ladies restroom. It shows San Antonio is concerned about saving water. Flush up if you go number one. Flush downward if you go number two. What if you do both?Finally, on our way back from Main Plaza, we came upon the big sculpture given to San Antonio as a gift from Mexico. We like to call it Gumby. I didn't like it at first, but it grows on ya.

Did you venture out into the fireball today? Slather on some sunscreen and tell me about it.

Trip Report: Houston Street Market & Fair...

I had heard about this little event that takes place once a month in San Antonio called the Houston Street Market & Fair, and thought my wife and I ought to take a little investigative trip downtown to see what all the hullabaloo was about. We went, had a grand old time, and I present to you the pictures we took.This event takes place the last Saturday of every month along a portion of Houston Street and extends to in front of the Alamo. Think of it as a place for the city and the the county to set up informative booths for the purpose of educating citizens, then, combine that with performers doing things like singing or doing some reenacting of old times, and then add in a mix of vendor booths so you can purchase stuff, or pretend that this is a mini-Fiesta, and get a few beers or Margaritas to chase down some funnel cakes and flautas, and you've got yourself the Houston Street Market & Fair.The price was right - free. We paid $7.00 for parking on the next street over, and walked around, enjoyed the sights, took pictures and such, then (what else would you expect) went to eat.Oh, and were you aware that the COSA now has an official mascot for Code Compliance? I had no idea until I met up with, The Enforcer. I suddenly had the urge to mow my yard and get the truck on blocks off the front of our lawn after seeing this spirited fella.

Here is an interesting tidbit. Have you ever heard that expression about "Getting hit by a bus"? You know, people tell you to plan for your family or train co-workers to do your job because you never know, you could step off a curb and get hit by a bus. Then what?So my wife pointed out this little seal placed in concrete above a sewer drain on Commerce Street. She tells me I ought to take a picture of it. I have to tell you that when I am downtown looking for things to look at, I am often just in my own little world. So, I stepped off the curb into the street, pointed the camera at this little disk and took the picture, then stepped back up unto the sidewalk. As I looked up to continue walking, this huge tour bus was maybe three feet away from me and the driver gave me the official look of, "You sir, are a complete and utter dumbass, and they have a saying for people like you and it involves getting hit by a bus."

Those were his exact words, (had he said them), given to me with his grumpy bus driver look. Do you suppose he sees this type of thing often? My question is, why didn't he blast me with the horn so I could have had a heart attack and fallen beneath his tires? Who knows?

Oh, the seal was some sort of warning not to pour oil down the drain. Geeze, I hope we didn't spend a lot of money on that. A person could get killed.Okay, I'm sure you have either been to the Alamo or at least seen it via Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The basement is a must see. What you not have seen was a bunch of actors recreating life around the Alamo back during the times that it was getting famous.Sure enough, as part of the HSM&F, they had a bunch of period actors living it up amongst the tourists and locals. Good stuff. Feeling somewhat cheated, what with me having a special moment with "The Enforcer", my wife took a moment to pose with some of San Antonio's finest. I like to see a large police presence downtown. They do a good job during Fiesta, so handling the small and well behaved crowd here was not even worthy of a good tasering. Good times, either way.

Did you get a chance to do anything fun this weekend? Tell me about it, or leave a comment.

Dinner Report: Chirstmas Lights on the River Walk...

A few times a month, I have been taking pictures of the construction along the new sections of the River Walk because I think it will be interesting when it is completed to go back and see the different stages of progress. I think you can see from the outline of the walls being built that it will be a very nice place to visit, and hopefully, there will be plenty of new shops and restaurants to bring out of town guests for a visit.

But as residents of San Antonio, I find our River Walk to be a fine place for a visit, especially this time of the year with the lights and the cheery atmosphere. So my wife and I took our son down to take a look at the lights and grab a bite for dinner, and while there, I took a few pictures of the completed portion of the walk. We got downtown and parked just minutes before the lights would be coming on and before we hit the River Walk, we took a few minutes to enjoy the Alamo and the HEB Christmas Tree.I love HEB and I especially appreciate how they market themselves by doing so much for the community. I'm not silly enough to think that they don't gain from the exposure of such high profile community participation, but then again, I don't see anything wrong with it.Do you suppose the Spurs paid for this little tree ornament, or did the folks at HEB throw it in for free?Looking away from the tree and the Alamo, you can see the new big Grand Hyatt San Antonio hotel being built over by the convention center. This was sort of interesting - Woolworth's is no longer with us downtown but I get the feeling that nobody wants to be the guy to dig up the letters that marked the entry. Down on the actual River Walk, the lights were on and it was rapidly turning dark. Like most amateurs, I have no idea what to do with my camera settings when it starts to get dark, so you get what you get. I could tell you that I was going for some artistic style here, but that would be a lie. I point and shoot and this is what the River Walk looks like.I'm sure our visitors and conventions bureau will be thrilled with the national television quality of my shots. (But I do like this one).

So we walked up and down a portion of the River Walk, but in honesty, not even a quarter of it. I love seeing so many tourists from countries beyond Mexico (though they and their dollars are always welcomed), like Germany, Japan, UK and no telling where else. Unlike many of our own residents, they get it. The River Walk is a beautiful place and there are lots of different restaurants to try out. If you are going to visit one of the country's fattest cities, you need to waddle your ass into as many of these restaurants as possible during your stay so you can take home quite a physical souvenir from your visit - an extra 10 pounds!There are so many places I haven't tried, but we settled on Republic of Texas for a bite to eat.
Wait staff on the River Walk is usually pretty good. If I had to be a waiter, this is where I would aspire to do it at (unless I was a woman - then I'd be the waitress at a strip club). Great service leads to great tips from drunk tourists who are here to spend money and have a good time. But they should give us locals little badges or something to let the waiter know we just want to eat.

Our waiter seemed to be really experienced and he was definitely working the crowd in the small section we sat in. At first, I thought he had some sort of speech impediment because his voice sounded pretty unnatural. When he would tell the guests, Merry Christmas, he seemed to shorten the "Merry" but drag out the "Istmaaaaaaaaaassssssss" like Oprah seems to do when she is looking for excited applause from her audience.

You know the drill. Say Oprah is telling her audience that they have all won a trip to Las Vegas. She will say, "We're all going to Las Vegaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssss!" and then people in the audience will applaud wildly and hug one another and cry. But, our waiter was not Oprah and we were in San Antonio. My son finally figured out that he was doing a Carlos Mencia voice and I have to admit, he was sort of fun. Regardless, the service was fast. We ordered up some chips con salsa y queso (cheese). The chips were pretty light and flavorful and the salsa was standard, but for some reason, the queso seemed as if someone had emptied a jar of Velveeta into a cup and heated it in the microwave. It had a very movie theater nacho cheese taste to it, not what I would expect at any restaurant in San Antonio.
My son ordered a Judge Roy Bean burger which was big, covered in refried beans, jack cheese, guacamole and jalapenos. That'll put a giddy up in your step. He was able to wolf it down without having to use a fork and knife, but if you are gonna try this one, watch out for the beans falling out of the bottom.
My wife went with a Rio Grande Ensalade which in English breaks out to a big salad with chicken and avocado thrown on top. It was huge and she ended up only eating half of it. I must tell you that the croûtons were so fresh and fabulous that I sat there and dipped them in ranch dressing and ate them. When she busts out her salad from the refrigerator for a snack later, it will be without any hint of croûtons at all!
I always have a problem ordering and at first, I thought of doing the chicken fried steake (since there was no sign of a Reuben Sandwich on the menu). But I ended up choosing the Tacalado Salado or something. What it was was a taco salad with a really well done shell that was light and tasty - not too hard. I had asked for the beef but got chicken, but it wasn't worth mentioning because I like chicken too. Plus, who wants a pissed off cook spitting in your food? Either way, it was a great taco salad.

Overall, I don't really have anything to complain about other than to say, of all the restaurants on the River Walk, I have had better. Please don't take that as a slam on the place, and if you asked me if it was a good place to eat, I'd say sure - go for it. But would I make a special trip to San Antonio or even a special trip down to the River Walk just to eat there? No. It wasn't bad, just nothing special. So, take that how you want to take it.
For my wife, no trip to the River Walk is complete without a visit to the chocolate place for some chocolate covered strawberries.
And my son just needed a hug.

I'd love to hear about your trip to the River Walk or downtown SA. Tell me about it.