ARKANSASNURSE

Planning a Springbreak trip to San Antonio, and visit my son who is stationed at Ft. Sam Houston. We will see Riverwalk, Alamo and Sea World. Would like info on where to stay, places to eat, and other things to see. I have been to the websites, but want advice/info from those in the know!! Thanks in advance.

ChristieP

If your son is at Fort Sam, you'll probably want to stay along I-35 instead of in downtown so you won't have to keep driving back and forth to see him. Also, the I-35 hotels have free parking, while the ones downtown do not. The hotels along I-35 in the vicinty of Wurzbach Pkwy. will probably be fine. The nicer ones are chains but they are clean and comfortable. (I've stayed in the La Quinta and the Holiday Inn on I-35 several times.)

Forewarned: Sea World is great if you have children under age 10 with you, but it is extremely expensive and adults may get bored with the shows. If you really do want to go, see if your son can get discunt tickets at the MWR office on post.

If you are into history at all, take the time to do the Mission Trail just south of downtown. These 5 missions are the ones built by the Spaniards that founded San Antonio, and the Alamo is just one of them. Start at the Visitors Center at San Jose, and work your way around. You'll need a car for this, and bring water to drink as there aren't places to stop nearby.

Another fun thing to do is tour the Hill Country that surrounds San Antonio. The LBJ Ranch in Johnson City is usually full of gorgeous wildflowers in the spring! Other fun cities to see are Fredricksburg (personal favorite), Gruene, Boerne, and Bandera. There is a lot of German heritage in the Hill Country, and Bandera is a rnachiong and cowboy town. Each town is easily do-able in a day trip, and they all have great shopping and cafes.

My personal favorite Mexican restaurant in San Antonio is Tomatillo's on Broadway. Rudy's and County Line BBQ are also good. DON'T go to any of the Bill Miller BBQ stores (yuck).

If you want to do some more serious shopping, have your son take you to the PX on post at Fort Sam. It's one of the biggest ones in the area, and there are always great bargains!

Tandoori_Girl

About 15 yrs. ago, I stayed at La Mansion del Rio on the riverwalk for my sister's wedding. It was lovely then and I'm sure it still is. Since then I attended a conference in San Antonio and stayed at what I think was a suites hotel, Marriot or the like. It was about halfway btwn. riverwalk and the Alamo. It was nice but there's nothing like staying on the riverwalk.

The restaurants on the riverwalk seemed overpriced for the quality of food -- and way too crowded. There are probably exceptions to this, which others might be able to highlight for you. I went to a great Mexican restaurant in downtown but alas, I don't remember the name. It was a humble place, nothing spectacular, just really great Mexican food (not Tex-Mex which has lots of chile and beans poured all over it).

TxTravelPro

You don't mention whether you son is young, single and living on post.
My son has been stationed all over, currently at Ft Bragg. When we visit him we take him away from the post so he gets a vc, too.
Possibly you can stay at the Riverwalk and he can stay with you over the weekend? If he is in a position to take a few days off, maybe you can go do something he wants to do.
Stay an extra day or two to do the things you want to do that may not interest him.
And also, if you are into military history Ft Sam is beautiful!
We are 4th generation military lifers and Ft Sam is up high on our favorite installations... just behind Ft Sill and Ft Vancouver.

wsoxrebel

The absolute highlight of our recent trip was the ghost tour. We met near the Alamo at dark and walked around with a ghostbuster for 2 hours. It was fun and not scary. http://paranormal.about.com/gi/dynam...ers/ghosttour/

Depending on when your springbreak is, you might hit some Fiesta events: http://www.fiesta-sa.org/

Or you could go to the Witte Museum and see their display of historic Fiesta gowns. The Witte is a charming family museum complete with a mummy. Also if you need an internet fix on your trip, their H-E-B Science Treehouse has free internet computers. http://www.wittemuseum.org

Seamus

Christie mentioned the I-35 places, but this Texas Nurse doesn't recommend the area, as it is a pretty seedy part of town. Ft. Sam is fairly close to downtown so I'd stay there. Whether you are right on the Riverwalk or just close to it (not much in downtown is very far from the Riverwalk) it will be better than the ambience of I-35 (around Wurzbach Pkwy you'll be right next to the highway, surrounded by adult bookstores, little strip centers and not a lot else.) Several decent moderately priced downtown properties have opened in the last few years, including several suite type locations that provide a kitchenette, sometimes a cooked breakfast. You might try Priceline. Be forewarned that if yo are coming during Fiesta (April 16-25, 2004) you should make reservations STAT.
As for places to eat, San Antonio abounds with these. Tomatillo's is close to Ft. Sam, not the best but certainly OK. Right up the street from Tomatillo's, across from the Witte museum on Broadway is Picante Grill, with a less polished atmosphere but much more authentic Mexcian food. A little futher north on Broadway (just past the HEB Central Market grocery store, worth a visit itself!) is Cappy's and the more informal Cappycino's (try the club sandwich with pepper bacon and home made potato chips.) The same family owns La Fonda on Main (beware - there are other places in town named La Fonda that are nowhere near as good) that serves great Mexican food in a nice environment, moderate prices. Also right off Broadway and close to Ft Sam is the Liberty Bar, a great informal place for food (home made bread and desserts) and drink at reasonable prices in a historic building that looks like it is leaning to the side because it is!
On the Riverwalk, Budro's is rated highly for its bistro food (make reservations); Paesano's (Italian) and Presidio are upper moderate in price and good in quality. Avoid Casa Rio like the plague - it's the quintessential tourist trap and should be entered in red on your travel kardex under allergies! On the southeren edge of downtown is Rosario's for trendy but absolutely delicious Tex Mex and Mexican food. Martha Stewart was reported to have taken a couple of their chocolate flans back to her hotel room.
If you enjoy Mexican things, do stop by the Market Square / El Mercado. There are shops selling all sorts of Mexican items, from dishes to dresses. It's like visiting a market in Mexico without the trouble of traveling there. The restaurants there, Mi Tierra and La Margarita, are also something of a tourist trap but not as bad as Casa Rio. If you like (or woould like to try) Mexican pastry, the bakery at Mi Tierra is excellent.
As for tourism, check out the Mission Trail, wander through the King WillIam historic neighborhood, and maybe even drive out into the hill country (I-10 West or 281 North) which in April should be full of wildflowers. If you want to make a day trip out of this, you can visit the LBJ library.
Enjoy!

ARKANSASNURSE

Thanx to all so far! My son is not single but the wife is not with him, he is young. I failed to mention we will be travelling with a small dog and if anyone has ever read any of my posts before, I prefer a Days Inn type hotel. We do not want to stay near anything like town, Riverwalk etc. In fact a few miles out of town usually is our choice. As a 4th generation military family as well, we find the discription of the I 35 area (seedy) typical for any areas near a military base. Ft. Benning was awful. DH says thats because there are so many young bucks with cash, no supervision, and freedom to do as they choose.
My younger son wants to know if there are any sushi bars in SA?

ChristieP

Haha! The area around Fort Sam is NOTHING like the area around Fort Benning! It is not nearly as seedy! I've been to both, several times, as my husband is Infantry. I agree that Benning has more younger and wilder soldiers that Fort Sam!

You definitely DO NOT want to stay at the swanky hotels downtown with a dog!LaQuinta tends to be a very pet-friendly chain. I have friends who are professional dog beeders, and they always stay at LaQuinta when they travel with the show dogs.

I am sure that there are sushi bars in SA, although I don't know where to point you sice I have never done sushi there. Central Market grocery store WILL have fresh sushi to go.

Seamus

The I-35 area near Wurzbach Pkwy isn't exactly like the strips I recall from my own service days - it's too far from post. There used to be a typical "strip" just outside FSH South Gate on New Baunfels avenue but after 9/11 that was closed and some of the business are struggling. If it is still there, a restaurant called Two Peppers was pretty good.
Here are a couple lodging options convenient to FSH that might work for you:
San Antonio Days Inn Northeast - 3443 Interstate Highway 35 North
San Antonio Travelodge - 3645 North Pan Am Expressway
San Antonio Alamo Travelodge - 405 Broadway
Quality Inn & Suites Coliseum - 3817 N. I-35
Yes, there are most cerainly sushi bars here! Zushi Sushi is quite popular, and there are others, too. There are also several chinese restaurants with sushi on the menu or buffet; closest to FSH is Summer Palace on Austin Highway. Exit post onto Harry Wurzbach - which is not the same as Wurzbach parkway - to Austin Highway, turn left and go about a mile or so, it's on the left in a shopping center. If you son knows the area there are shortcuts but this will get you there.

jor

I was stationed at Fort Sam not long ago. All of the above advise is very good and more details than I could ever give! The only other thing I can add is there are lots of references to a road called "Harry Wurzbach". Do not confuse this with another road called "Wurzback" (not near Fort Sam) if you are looking at hotel addresses.

Have fun \/

sundowner

I'll add to the Wurzbach's - there are three major roads named Wurzbach:
Harry Wurzbach
Wurzbach Road
Wurzbach Parkway
They are all different, in different parts of town and have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Have fun!

Harry W is closest to Ft Sam.
W Parkway is the newest and is being built as a connection between IH35N and IH10W.
W Road is in the northwest area and near the hospital district.

MzPossum

La Qunita's are great places to stay if you have a dog. The town of Gruene (near New Braunfels) is very quaint, especially if you like antiques. The Grist Mill Restaurant there is quite good.

carrolldf

As far as the La Quinta (which you mentioned a preference for due to your dog), there are several, including a couple which are actually downtown (Market Square and Convention Center), there is a fairly new Inns and Suites at 281 and 410 wiith a hugh sign advertising free high speed internet, there's one on I-35 at Windsor Park. and just a bit further away (but still only 15 minutes from Ft Sam) is one at Toepperwein and I-35. You mentioned that you sometimes like to stay a few miles from town -- you may actually prefer the one at Toepperwein and I-35. This one is actually fairly close to Randolph AFB and may also be slightly less expensive than the others. It's also near a fairly new shopping area called the Forum.

Everyone has their own favorite Mexican Food place. Mine is El Jarro's at San Pedro and Bitters -- definitely not a tourist trap and excellent food. My family has been going there weekly for almost 20 years (since we first came to San Antonio) with breaks only when we were out of town.

I think the advice on activities is good, especially the caution from Seamus about availability during Fiesta. Fiesta is a GREAT time to visit San Antonio (especially if you like City-wide parties) but it does get busy then.

I guess one thing which wasn't mentioned is the San Antonio Spurs if you get here before the season ends. I'm not a big Sports fan but I know a lot of people are so this may be something you might be interested in or your sons might. Looks like schedule runs through mid April. http://www.nba.com/spurs/schedule/

carrolldf

Sundowner mentioned the three Wurzbachs however it's not correct to say that Wurzbach Parkway and Wurzbach Road have absolutely nothing to do with one another -- eventually, they will connect, it's just not finished yet...and probably won't be for a few years.

Gretchen

DO go to the Central Market--it is simply terrific!! Second Budro's especially. You San Antonio folk--what's the restaurant in the old house that doesn't have a square corner? Is that the Liberty Grill? Cute place. In Austin there is Lady Bird Johnson's wildflower preserve (someone fill in the right name).

ARKANSASNURSE

Son got a 48 hour pass and zoomed home, 800 miles. He is excited we want to visit, but now we will include wife and kids (3 girls ages 7 & down.)So we will definitely visit Sea World, Grandma wants to go. So all advice is welcome. Is there a kid friendly theme restaurant? Not Chucky Cheese. Then son said he may be transferred to Ft. Hood March 1.

carrolldf

Ft Hood is still fairly close to San Antonio, probably 2.5-3 hr drive depending on the way you go, time of day, and where you are going to. (It's 130 miles from Killeen to my house in the 1604/281 area using 281 instead of 35 -- and I live 22 miles from BAMC at Ft Sam.) You'll still want to visit San Antonio while he's stationed there since the Killeen area is not known as a tourist hot spot.

And despite what others have said about Sea World not being for adults, I must be a kid at heart because it's one of my favorite places.

But, not having kids, I'll have to let someone else give you ideas for kid themed restaurants.

ChristieP

Two kid-friendly restaurants in SA are Magic Time Machine and Crystal's Pizza. Besides those, there are many chain restaurants around town. The kids will likely enjoy the San Antonio Zoo, and the Hertzberg Circus Museum.

I wouldn't make a day trip to SA from Killeen, especially with small kids, but it would be a good weekend trip.

I'll definitely agree with carroll that Fort Hood and Killeen are NOT known as tourist hot spots. If you go there, watch out for the police speed traps in Copperas Cove!

Seamus

Christie, the Hertzberg circus museum has been closed for quite a while. Visitors and trip planners may get the mistaken impression that it still operates because some outdated info still appears on the web.
Magic Time machine - on northeast Loop 410 - is a great place for kids.