San Antonio - Austin

[ClickMini]

I am planning a short visit at the end of the month in order to see my son graduate from basic training and spend some time with him before he starts tech school.

Would like to know if there are some "must see" things in the area, other than the big hitters like the Alamo and the Missions, something very cool that Must be visited! I will have hubby and son, so they will not be amused if I fill the days with horse farm visits, so this is strictly tourist point of view! Although I would like to drive thru the horse country of Austin on Sunday afternoon/Monday morning, please point me in the right direction!

Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[minimule]

I don't live there YET! I have spent an awful lot of time there though.

The Alamo is cool. The Riverwalk is nice, year round! They have walking paths on both sides of the river with shops and resturants. You can take a gondola river tour and they will point out some of the historical things about that area. Pretty interesting.

Lackland Air Force base has a neat Airplane display. They have some very unusal planes you can walk around and "fondle". It is open to the public.

There is a Six Flag amuzement park in San Antonio. I can't think of the name right now. There is also a nice SeaWorld with an amuzement park also (some cool roller coasters)

There is a Space Needle kind of thing that you could go up to the top and see all around San Antonio but I think it is closed down for remodeling.

Alamo Miniatures is in that area!!!!!

Fredricksberg is an interesting city. It is an old German town with lots of little tourist shops and good food!

Austin:

I can tell you some awesome resturants to eat at here!

OK Lake Travis is really pretty. There is a resturant on the edge of the lake called The Oasis. It's kind of like one point in FL, at sunset they ring a bell. VERY pretty spot.

They just finished the new Cabela's Outdoor store in Buda summer of 2004. It's a major big boy toy store!!

Little America miniatures is there. Tony makes it interesting even for non-horsey type folks. He is amazing.

6th street in Austin is cool. They close the streets off on weekends and most of the clubs have live bands. Some very interesting artists show up there too.

The Capitol building is there with some neat sculptures around it.

I think there is a flower garden there too that was Eisenhower's (not positive on that part)

Oh yeah, Austin has a really fun Pitch N' Putt park if you like golf.....or not. It was fun!

The river there has a nice trail all around it. Lots of folks run, walk, bike around it. It goes on forever but there are loops all around. There is a park there with a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn. They have "Duck Tours" where you ride around in amphibious vehicles and go in and out of the river. Haven't done that part yet.

 

[tuffsmom]

Oh! If you're going to San Antonio (we live about 45 minutes from there), you have GOT to do the Ghost Tour at the Alamo. The Alamo is neat and all, but you will learn SO MUCH more and appreciate everything if you do the Ghost Tour.

It's in the phone book under Ghost Tour. What it is, you sign up and meet right before the sun goes down. There are so many things in the Alamo that you don't get to see when you're just walking through. They show you where there were secret doors, there's actually a 666 in the rock wall (you would never notice it just walking through), it takes you through all the surrounding fancy hotels, it shows you were the ACTUAL walls of the Alamo were, people have even reported seeing an acutal ghost in one room where they take you to on the tour.

I have to say, it was the coolest thing we have done in San Antonio. Wasn't expensive, either. Riverwalk's fun, too. And Fredericksburg! And Bandera (come see me!!)....this is just such a neat area.

 

[Al B]

In San Antonio you could go see the house where I grew up and the high school where I went.

You need to come on over to Houston.

PS I've visited Monroe several times. Nice town, I really like it.

 

[ClickMini]

Well, Al! If you ever come thru Monroe again, you will have to visit US! Our little farm is in the Skykomish River valley between Monroe and Sultan, very scenic!

Thanks for the info everyone, keep it coming! I am really looking forward to our trip! Especially the info about stuff like the Ghost Tour, that you wouldn't normally know about!

 

[Secret22]

Lol sorry but I live all he way over in New Zealand!

 

[wildoak]

Minimule gave you a pretty good rundown of the area - can you tell she's anxious to live here LOL?

There is also a huge outlet mall in San Marcos if you are inclined to do any shopping, and a wonderful D&D store (major horsey supplies) in Seguin on I 10.

San Antonio is a great city, lots to see and do around the Riverwalk area.

Some pretty drives in the hill country northwest of San Antonio too, lots of horse people out there.

We are on the north side of Austin, if you venture farther afield.

Jan

Edited to add - I stand corrected.

Al says D & D has been closed for a couple of years, shows how often I get down there to shop. It was a superstore though LOL.

Jan

 

[minimule]

Edited to add - I stand corrected. Al says D & D has been closed for a couple of years, shows how often I get down there to shop. It was a superstore though LOL

Hmmmm....... they were open and doing a bang up business when I was there in 2004..........when did they close?

 

[Al B]

Don't remember the exact date but its been well over a year. They built a really nice store near me and one up in Dallas. Then some company bought them and within several months closed them down. I only went to the Seguine store once but the problem I saw with the local store was that there were an overabundance of sales people all standing in little groups talking. You had to ask one of them to leave their conversation to wait on you. Also they were a bit pricey.