Spring Break - San Antonio

The "Natural Bridge"

Over Spring Break (last week), we decided to go to San Antonio for a few days. There is always so much for the kids to do there, and we figured the weather would be much more pleasant now than in the middle of the sweltering summer. The kids were good as gold on our ~5-hour drive there.

Our first stop on our way there was at the Natural Bridge Caverns. These caverns are the largest underground rock formations in Texas. The largest room was about 250' high and there were rocks in all stages of being formed. We all got dripped on from the ceiling and the humidity by what the tour guide creatively called "cavern kisses"!

(l) You can see a person on the walkway in the background - some of these were over 12 feet.
(r) No, the arrow is not pointing at something on Aaron's head:)

Every single hotel in San Antonio was sold out for Spring Break. Luckily we had a nice double queen hotel room at the Hampton Inn which had been recently updated and had a great daily hot breakfast. The first night there, the hotel front desk manager recommended an authentic local Mexican restaurant. It was in an interesting part of town and both Aaron and I wondered whether the car would get broken into (the kids' DVD players were hooked to the back of the front seats in plain sight). Well, we kidded that the restaurant must have been the hangout of the local version of the Mafia, because when we were done eating and left, there were a slew of very high-end cars parked there that seemed very out of place in that spot.

On Day Two of our adventures, we went to SeaWorld-San Antonio for the entire day. We got two-day passes, so we can go back again in early fall. When we got to San Antonio, the weather was nothing like had been predicted the week before. We had expected it to be in the 80s. That morning, the wind was blowing hard and it was pretty chilly. Aaron had nothing warm with him, so we had to stop at the gift shop to get him a fleece jacket. Of course, being sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, the SeaWorld gift shops only had stuff with all sorts of beer labels on them. So, we picked out a nice red Budweiser fleece jacket for Aaron, and began our day at SeaWorld. We started at the dolphin pool and then hit all the main shows, winding our way back around the entire theme park.

(l) Naomi touching a dolphin (r) The Cannery Row Caper (with seal detectives)

After riding on the Shamu rollercoaster (l), we got to see the real thing (r)

On Day Three, we went to visit the San Antonio Zoo. I had read they had a miniature train across from the zoo and as everybody around him knows, Ethan is absolutely insanely crazy about trains. The Zoo was highly-rated too.

Most of the animals were out and about, so we got some good shots. Ethan's favorite animal is the giraffe, and Naomi's is the cheetah. The San Antonio Zoo recently added an East African section which they call the Rift Valley area, complete with a Treetops lookout.

(r) Red lemur - just look at those lashes, aren't all you ladies jealous?!

(l) The rare and mysterious two-headed parrot - just kidding. (r) Crane with live snack.

If you click on the crane's photo to see the enlarged version, you'll see it has a baby duck in its mouth. It had just flown over our heads back from the duck pond where I guess it picked up its daily snack. I thought they only ate fish. It kept shaking the duckling vehemently - I suppose to break its neck. Very sad!

After the zoo, we went across the street to ride the Breckenridge Eagle miniature train. We had to ride it twice, because Ethan loved it so much. I have to admit that after two days of non-stop walking, it was nice to just rest our feet for a bit.

While he liked looking at the engine from afar, he was rather apprehensive about it up close because of how noisy it was. Aaron managed to get him to put his hand on the engine, and this (above) was Ethan's best effort at a smile.

The girls & the boys.

After the Zoo, we went to downtown San Antonio and spent a few hours on the River Walk, where we had dinner. I absolutely love how peaceful the River Walk is. There's something very calming about the combination of cool stone, the greenery of climbing vines, and flowing water. The stretch we walked was very quiet too, with hardly any tourists.

On Day Four, we went to the San Antonio Children's Museum in the morning. This was also highly recommended. We loved the Children's Museum in Chicago when the kids and I were there a couple of summers ago, and the San Antonio one was great too.

Lucky Butterfly (l) and fur-trapping cabin dweller (r)

The Museum had a cute kitchen area filled with pots and pans and other kitchen items, including a mini-stove and mini-fridge for the kids, which they all loved. Ethan insisted on adding the crucial element of a chef's outfit (the hat) and went to work cooking us up a feast, with Naomi helping.

You want me to do what with the cow??!!

After the Museum, we went back to the River Walk where we had a late lunch, and then headed back home. Driving back we got stuck in Austin's horrible rush hour traffic which was the worst part of the entire trip. The kids were both so wonderfully patient and cheerful in the car both ways - we are very blessed.

All in all, we had a great time and would highly recommend San Antonio as a destination point for families as long as it's not in the middle of the summer. The last time we were there was back when Naomi was around two years old with Mom (Brady) and Rachel with temperatures in the high 90s. None of us forgot how sticky and hot it was!