We took a fantastic pre spring break trip to San Antonio, Texas in March. It had been almost 14 year since my last visit to the area and it was just as much of a hit as it was the first time. I will do a more detailed post later but for now I just wanted to share a few highlights of our trip. We spent 4 day in the Area. One full day was pretty much devoted to the Riverwalk area, one for SeaWorld, and the other two days we divided between a few different places.
First up, the Riverwalk. We arrived super early. I am talking 10 in the morning. There is not a whole lot going on at that time of the day but we enjoyed walking without fighting the crowds and the coolness of the morning was nice. Because, San Antonio, even in early March can get pretty HOT! My first visit was in summer and I remember burning up. That was one of the reasons I wanted to go in early spring. The weather was perfect.
We walked the walk, took a boat tour, and had a late lunch at one of mexican restaurants right on the river. We were eating so close to the river that we even made friends with a few of the ducks. This was after the kids started feeding them chips - even though I told them not to! One duck was very persistent. He pecked me on the leg every minute to let me know he needed more food. When he gave up on me moved on to the next table.
First up, the Riverwalk. We arrived super early. I am talking 10 in the morning. There is not a whole lot going on at that time of the day but we enjoyed walking without fighting the crowds and the coolness of the morning was nice. Because, San Antonio, even in early March can get pretty HOT! My first visit was in summer and I remember burning up. That was one of the reasons I wanted to go in early spring. The weather was perfect.
We walked the walk, took a boat tour, and had a late lunch at one of mexican restaurants right on the river. We were eating so close to the river that we even made friends with a few of the ducks. This was after the kids started feeding them chips - even though I told them not to! One duck was very persistent. He pecked me on the leg every minute to let me know he needed more food. When he gave up on me moved on to the next table.
We explored the Alamo and then discovered that we had indeed forgotten where we parked. After walking about 15 miles ( 5 of it was trying to locate our car!!) we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel for a few hours to rest before returning that evening to checkout the beauty that is the riverwalk at night. I parked at the Tower of Americas this time - I did not want to waste time trying to find my car in the dark! Lesson learned: pay attention to where you park- especially if you park far away in the cheap parking. The Tower of Americas parking was a ridiculous $11 but after the parking issue earlier I was completely okay with finding it. Bonus: you can't really lose your car when it is parked near something so tall!
Day 2: The Natural Bridge Caverns were on our to do list for the day! We drove out and got an early start only to discover that even though we had beat the spring breakers there were 160 students on a field trip at the Caverns. Our tour took 1 hour and 45 minutes instead of the advertised hour because we had to wait for the school groups ahead of us to move on. Our guide did a great job educating us and entertaining us. It was quite a physically exhausting trip but we all enjoyed it. We also visited the some of the Missions.
Day 3: We grabbed sandwiches from Subway and headed to the Japanese Tea Garden. This is my absolute favorite place to go in San Antonio. It is free and breathtakingly beautiful. The kids enjoyed the large koi fish and ducks while I wandered around taking enough photos that I ran our of storage on my phone. After that, we did some wandering around the Brackenridge park area. It was to late to visit the Zoo but we did grab a ride on the train that goes around the park. The trip itself was not exactly breathtaking but the train was super cute and it was fun.
Day 4: This Day was dedicated entirely to Sea World and it took all day. We arrived before they opened and left well after closing- thanks to my oldest daughter getting stuck on one of rides after someone threw up. I will have a whole post dedicated to Sea World but for now I will just share our favorite parts.
We got the All Day Dining and ate at several places onsite. I feel it did save us some money. The shows were my favorite part. I really enjoyed seeing my older kids get smashed in the splash zone at the Shamu show. The Pets Ahoy show was the biggest surprise. I was not expecting much but it ended up being my favorite part. My oldest daughter and younger son loved the Sea Lion High show and the roller coasters. My four year old and I spent most of the morning in the Sesame Street play area and it was a hit.
We also had several disappointments. The dolphin area was under construction and we did not get to feed them or see them close up. Some of the food lines was slow beyond belief. Overall, we had a great day and I am glad we got to experience it.
We got the All Day Dining and ate at several places onsite. I feel it did save us some money. The shows were my favorite part. I really enjoyed seeing my older kids get smashed in the splash zone at the Shamu show. The Pets Ahoy show was the biggest surprise. I was not expecting much but it ended up being my favorite part. My oldest daughter and younger son loved the Sea Lion High show and the roller coasters. My four year old and I spent most of the morning in the Sesame Street play area and it was a hit.
We also had several disappointments. The dolphin area was under construction and we did not get to feed them or see them close up. Some of the food lines was slow beyond belief. Overall, we had a great day and I am glad we got to experience it.
We also got to eat a few great places and one terrible one. I will post more about our food experiences in another post, but just let me leave you with this teaser. 3 pound cinnamon roll. Yes. We did. Yes. It was Awesome. Yes. I gained weight. Yes. I have had dreamed about that cinnamon roll!