Back from the River Walk

Got home at midnight yesterday. It was a long day back but much better then when we left for San Antonio on Thursday. The security lines were short at the airport which was great. Last year, when I went to Hawaii, it took over an hour to get through the lines. This year, we flew American Airlines and both flights were late. Spent 4 hours in the airport waiting for our plane and then spent another 4 hours at the Dallas airport waiting for late flight crews. Our plane was there but no one to fly it. We got to our hotel at 2:30 in the morning.

Aside from that, my gang was up at 7:30 am so that we could be ready to leave for Sea World at 10. After we visited all the relatives, we made it out by 11:30. It was fun but really hot and muggy. My parents came along so I hung out with them while the rest of my family went on the rides and saw some shows.

What was nice too, since we got into the airport late, there was no choice of rental cars left so we ended up getting a large SUV that could seat 8 people for the price of a large sedan. We were able to drive my parents around and they did not have to navigate the city themselves.

We did a little bit of the River Walk and that was really a neat place, and spent time in the RiverWalk mall. It was a pretty mall and right on the water too.

The kids and the cousins did Ripley's and they had a blast. Especially the Haunted Adventure. There was a trolley that you could take around for a $1.00 so we took that to Market Square where they have a Mexican Market. The market was OK but one thing that I didn't care for was that all the stores carried the same items. I think if there had been more variety that would have made it more interesting.

Since my mother is not very mobile, we took her and my dad on the river cruise. The cruises were not too expensive at $7.75 for adults and $5.00 for seniors. The cruises last about 35 to 40 minutes and the driver gave us the history behind the building of the River Walk and also the historical significance of some of the buildings that line the waterway. I think it was worth the money.

Of course, we had to hit the Alamo. We didn't pay $5.00 for the self guided tour so we just went around and looked at some of the exhibits. It was nice and cool inside which was a relief from the heat outside but we didn't get much out of it just because we didn't do the tour.

It was great to see my relatives. Some I had not seen in 4 years so those kids had changed quite a bit.

Next year, it will be my brother's and my turn to organize the reunion and we are looking to do a cruise so that should be a fantastic time.