Remember The Alamo!
My family and I took a quick trip to San Antonio, TX a few weeks ago and, as always, the place didn’t disappoint us at all. We arrived late in the afternoon but had enough time to venture to the Alamo, where Texian and Tejano soldiers and numerous volunteers from the United States of America (of which Texas was not a part of at the time) bravely died defending their belief in a Texas free of Mexican control. Estimates of the actual number of those that died vary between 150 and 250 brave souls. If you’ve never been to the Alamo, I highly recommend visiting it at least once in your lifetime. It is a truly moving experience to visit this place.
Outside of the front doors of the Alamo is a great monument to the defenders of Texas. It is a massive monument and does well to honor those that fought at the mission. Across the street are a number of stores, restaurants and tourist venues.
After a brief visit in downtown San Antonio, we headed to our hotel, the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country. I highly recommend staying in this hotel as it is located near SeaWorld San Antonio. It offers a shuttle to and from the park and also has nightly attractions for the entire family. You can roast marshmallows and make s’mores in the campfires located in the courtyard at night. You can also watch a family movie, play basketball, eat hamburgers and hot dogs, or swim in one of the three pools or relax in the jacuzzi. There’s also a restaurant on site and a gym with ellipticals, weight machines, and other exercise equipment. This is our favorite hotel in the area and have stayed here on multiple occasions.
On our second day in San Antonio, we visited SeaWorld San Antonio. We rode all of the big coasters including the Steel Eel, the Great White, the Wave Breaker, and the Shamu Express. We watched a few shows as well. My personal favorite was the Beluga Whale/White-Sided Dolphin, and Macaw show, Ocean Discovery. I also enjoyed the Animal Conservation Center. There we got up close and personal with an owl and learned about animals that are cared for at the park that aren’t necessarily of the aquatic persuasion.
Since it was July, it was very hot at the park. Luckily we found the Chill Out Bar located next to the Great White roller coaster. The bar offered liquid nitrogen frozen ice cream and a number of cool adult beverages including frozen Jack & Coke. The best part of the bar is that you get to keep the cup that your drink is served in when you’re done! Oh, and it’s one of the few places in the park that serves drinks with straws. The straws are paper, though, and completely biodegradable.
We also went to Discovery Point, located just outside of the entrances to SeaWorld San Antonio and Aquatica, the SeaWorld water park. There, visitors are given the opportunity to have experiences with dolphins, beluga whales, and sea lions. There’s also Explorer’s Reef, home to a number of sharks and exotic fish.
SeaWorld San Antonio offers both education and fun. My entire family enjoyed the day at the park and plan on returning again in the future. There’s still plenty of things left for us to explore at the park, and I recommend allowing at least two days to really take in many of the attractions.
We left early on Sunday morning after attending Mass at Prince of Peace Catholic Church near our hotel. We then made an unexpected trip back to Austin (but no sightseeing this time) and then headed home later that evening. Our trip naturally included a few stops at Buc-ee’s Travel Centers across Texas and when we got home, we immediately wanted to return to San Antonio.
As always, thanks for reading. I’ll have a post about the latest Hurricane Pro Wrestling event that I attended in Beaumont, TX in the very near future. I’m still hoping to check out Ant-Man and the Wasp and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom before they leave theaters, and I also want to see Teen Titans Go! To The Movies. If by some miracle of fate I get to see any of these films, I’ll post a review.
Ken's Alternate Universe! 