budgettravelwithkids

We visited Texas in November 2015. Here is a summary of our trip.

We enjoyed San Antonio the best of all our destinations in Texas. The Riverwalk was magnificent, both in the downtown area and along the Mission Trail. In downtown, the Riverwalk was just below street level which allowed us to escape the hustle and bustle of traffic above while enjoying a quaint urban setting with many shops, restaurants and tall pedestrian bridges while water taxis floated by. It reminded me a little of Venice. The Alamo is also located in the downtown area. The Riverwalk along the Mission Trail has a whole different feel. It gave us a view of the River, the vegetation that grows there and the birds that call it their home. We walked the Mission Trail for about 3 miles, from Mission San Jose to Mission San Juan. We drove to the other missions and the Espada Aquaduct, the oldest Spanish aquaduct in United States. Bikes are also available for rent along the Mission Trail and seemed like a popular choice. When we looked into it, bikes were only available for kids 10 years old and older.

Austin was another stop we made. We enjoyed a walk through downtown Austin with a stop by the Capitol building on our way to the Congress Ave Bridge for some bat viewing. Unfortunately the largest North American urban population of Mexican free-tailed bats decided against making their nightly flight that cold November night, though we could hear them. We weren’t expecting that they would, as we had heard that their nightly dinner flight usually occurs in the warmer months. We stopped by Westcave Preserve, just outside Austin for a quick 1 mile hike to a grotto and small cave. Our guide was very informative and we were glad that temperatures were cool that day (around 50F) – I wasn’t crazy about encounters with pit vipers. McKinney Falls State Park is another stop we made. We were surprised to see clusters of cacti growing in a relatively lush green environment here.

Our last stop was to Space Center Houston. We booked our tickets online to save time and money. Tram tours tickets are also offered online – no additional cost if buying tickets online. I would highly recommend the tram tours. Tram tours took us from Space Center Houston, essentially a visitor center, to Johnson Space Center – the famous “Mission Control” for so many of our space flights. There are two tram tours – one to the Astronaut Training Facility and one to Mission Control. We were recommended the Astronaut Training Facility tour since we had kids and were told that the training facility was more visual. We definitely enjoyed the Astronaut Facility. We were guided into a narrow hallway overlooking the training facility and were pointed out the different crafts used for training by astronauts. Replicas of International Space Station, Soyuz and Orion were all down below for viewing. Orion is the new craft slotted to land in Mars within the next 20 years. After the Astronaut Training Center, we were whisked off to Rocket Park where we saw Saturn V rocket (the type that launched the Apollo missions onto the moon) lying on its side. It really gave us a feel of how big this rocket really was.

My family enjoyed our visit to Texas. It was a fun way to spend 5 days. I wish we had one more day so we could have spent a day in Houston after enjoying the Space Center. Feel free to visit my blog for more details and pics at http://www.budgettravelwithkids.com/...antonio-texas/

Daniel_Williams

budgettravelwithkids--

Great trip report! Reminds me of a trip I took about a year ago which involved Austin, San Antonio and Houston. I felt just as you did about San Antonio. I found the plaques detailing the history of the Alamo fascinating and at times, very moving. I must make it to some of the other missions some time!

Best wishes, Daniel