Texas - Houston and San Antonio
Texas - Houston and San Antonio. Continuing our journey of visiting the 50 states in the USA; Spring Break 2017 would take us to Texas. Houston and San Antonio specifically. Alex had told me that he wanted to see a Rodeo so Houston seemed like a great place to start and I'd heard how cool San Antonio was so I knew I wanted to be able to visit that historic town as well.
Welcome to Houston
We spent the first day exploring Houston. At breakfast that morning at the hotel we asked a manager for some tips... where to eat (someplace local), how to navigate the parking at the Rodeo, etc. She told us that there was a taco restaurant local to Texas, originating in Austin, called Torchy's Tacos. She said that that was a really good place to get authentic tacos, so we found the closest Torchy's to have lunch. Let me say, she was right - the taco's there were delish! Alex liked the "old fashioned" coke bottles.
After lunch, we drove around a little to get a feel of Houston. Where we live in SW Florida, it's a very pristine, well-kept city, so I like to really try to get a feel of how others live while traveling. We happened by the baseball field where the Houston Astros play - the Minute Maid Stadium.
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Alex and I - Minute Maid Stadium -
Minute Maid Stadium
New Uber User
Another tip the manager at the hotel gave us was to get transportation to the Rodeo, rather than drive our car. She said it would be less hectic trying to park and make the long walk up to the arena. She mentioned Uber. Well, I had not used Uber yet. Of course, I knew about it but had never had a need for it. But, if that was the best way to get around, especially in new towns, I figured it was time to give it a try.
I downloaded the app and began using it that afternoon. This provided a teaching moment for my son at the end of the evening - more on that soon.
Houston Rodeo
The Arena where the rodeo was was very cool. I had no idea what to expect. I'd been to a rodeo one other time, more than 20 years ago in New Orleans, but this place was nothing like that in New Orleans. This was a complete event.
There was a carnival, games scattered throughout the walkways, a huge building with vendors selling everything from cowboy hats to toys to vehicles and farmers showcasing their cattle. We'd never seen anything like it.
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Alex trying the bean bag toss -
Horse Statue -
Horse Statue -
Enjoying the scenery -
Alex trying on cowboy hats
Following the Rodeo was a concert by Sam Hunt. I was shocked. The Rodeo ticket price included the concert. The tickets were reasonably priced so I was surprised it included a concert by a current, popular singer. I like Sam Hunt - Alex, not as big of a fan. So, we stayed for a few songs and headed out.
Uber Teaching Moment
While walking out of the Rodeo complex, using my Uber app I requested a driver. I confirmed a driver that was a few minutes away. I was waiting where I had been told the transporters would pick up.
After a few minutes, I called the driver to find out where she was. She described her location which was on the other side of the parking lot so we started walking. When we got to the lot where someone else told us the Uber and Taxi drivers waited she told us she was across the street in a restaurant parking lot. This was quickly becoming a debacle. And now Alex had to use the bathroom - none in sight.
The driver said she'd head over to where we were. In the meantime, a young man approached us and asked if we wanted a ride. I told him that we'd called an Uber but she'd gone to a different location and was trying to make here way to us. He said that he'd be happy to give us a ride.
When I asked how we could manage this, since I'd already completed the ride request (with automatic payment), he said that we could just pay him cash. He didn't suggest canceling the other driver, which probably would have credited my 1st payment. But, he proceeded to tell me that he was new to Uber and didn't actually have his credentials yet. He wasn't set up on the App. My radar went off immediately and I told him, "No thank you, I'd wait for our driver!".
Is Uber a SAFE transportation option?
So, I requested another driver. She was there within 2 minutes. She was very sweet and told us she'd been a school bus driver in Houston for the past 30 years and shared with us some of Houston's history on the drive back to the hotel. Alex was dying to use the bathroom when she picked us up so she pulled into a restaurant and let him use the bathroom.
This ride with her was like being on a tour of Houston with all of the stories she told and the information she provided. I decided to explain to my son how that night COULD HAVE turned out very differently. The young man who offered us a ride could have been completely innocent, just trying to make some money - but I needed my son to know that he could have potentially been someone with ulterior motives instead and to NEVER accept a ride from anyone without proper credentials AND identification.
The following day, we headed to San Antonio. It was a nice drive, nice scenery. On the way to San Antonio, my husband called to check in on us. He asked what our plans were (he really doesn't know what our itineraries are when we travel).
We realized we didn't have a whole lot planned, just tour the city and see what we find. He asked about seeing a basketball game. He said he wasn't sure if the Spurs would be at home while we were there, but if so, it might be fun to go see a game. So, I stopped off at an exit and looked into it. As luck would have it, they did have a home game the following night so I bought tickets.
Underground Caverns
The first thing on our agenda was walking through the Caverns outside of San Antonio at Natural Bridge Caverns. I really didn't know what to expect with this tour, but was excited to check it out. This was a really cool experience. The reality that we were 60 feet underground was unreal. And it was beautiful. What an interesting thing to experience. I would definitely recommend this if traveling in the San Antonio area.
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Waiting four our tour to begin -
Starting to decline into the Caverns -
Natural Bridge Caverns -
Natural Bridge Caverns -
Natural Bridge Caverns
Welcome to San Antonio
After the Cavern tour, we headed into San Antonio to our hotel. I didn't realize it when I booked the hotel, but we were less than a block from the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. We were able to walk to this beautiful area of San Antonio. This too was really beautiful.
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Lunch on the River -
Lunch on the River
The shopping, the restaurants... the riverboat rides that took us along the river with a guide that provided history to us about the architecture, famous and infamous people of San Antonio. I love the different ways of touring these cities we're visiting. The riverboat tour was a unique way to learn about this city.
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Lunch on the River -
Riverboat Tour, San Antonio
We decided to use Uber to take us to the Spurs game. The driver taking us to the game took us through an undesirable neighborhood, and I had a moment of uncertainty with this whole "UBER" thing, but - it turned out that it was a shortcut and we were delivered safely to the Arena.
San Antonio Spurs Basketball Game
This was the first pro basketball game either of us had seen. Alex is a basketball player and I've always loved watching him play... this was fun to watch the pros play, and fun to experience what takes place during commercial breaks. We were very close at one point of catching a Tee-shirt thrown into the stands.
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A T & T Center -
San Antonio Spurs game
Touring San Antonio
The following day we took a double-decker bus tour. This is typically a great way to tour a new city. Their hop-on, hop-off so you can jump off and take some time to explore, then jump back on and continue the tour. We were able to see the Tour of the America's, the Alamo (no pic), Rivercenter Mall, the Market Square and more.
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Tour of the America's
We headed back to Houston with another day to explore. We had scheduled another bus tour and a tour through the Johnson Space Center. The bus tour through Houston was very interesting. The architecture and history of the growth of downtown Houston was cool. It was very pretty.
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Bus Tour - Houston -
Houston, Tx
Johnson Space Center
The Space Center tour was very cool. We got to learn about the research that takes place underwater in the gigantic indoor pool.
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Johnson Space Center -
Johnson Space Center -
Johnson Space Center
After returning from the space center tour, we were walking back to our hotel, passing the convention center which had a huge open area for people to come and picnic, watch entertainment and enjoy being outside. There was a skating rink and Alex insisted on skating. It had been a while since he'd skated so he struggled a bit.
Houston - San Antonio - Houston
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Skating in Houston -
Skating in Houston
After skating, we were hungry and decided to have Torchy's Taco's one last time before heading home the following day. We found one close to the hotel and enjoyed dinner at Alex's favorite taco joint.
Time to head home... this was another great trip with my son. Slowly chipping away at all 50 states.
Have you visited Texas? Comment below...
With Serenity,
