sarge56

I'm taking my granddaughter for a special quick trip to San Antonio next month. We are in just for the weekend, arriving Sat am and departing Sun afternoon.

I already plan to pick up a car and we are driving to Fredericksburg for Christmas shopping and fun day. Then back to our Riverwalk hotel early evening. Probably doing Alamo on Sunday morning.

Looking for any other ideas for what might be fun/cool/unique for 12-yr-old girl. We don't have a lot of time and so places like SeaWorld and SixFlags are out. (We live 10 mts from Six Flags in Arlington, TX anyway!)

Also interested in suggestions for cool/fun place for dinner on Sat on/near Riverwalk and/or lunch place on Sunday near Alamo.

Thanks for all replies!

AnnMarie_C

Sarge, the Botanical Gardens comes to mind--they have a special exhibit extended through January entitled Big Bugs that looks intriguing,

http://www.sabot.org/?nd=home

Not far from downtown and the views from the overlook are terrific. It's a neat place, one of the few gardens I've been to that has a sensory garden.

Alternatively, friends of mine have enjoyed taking their kids to the Witte Museum's Science Treehouse,

http://www.wittemuseum.org/exhibits/hebtreehouse.html

kansasmom

We were in San Antonio last March with two 11-year-olds. Two of their favorite activities (other than Six Flags and Seaworld) were the boat ride on the Riverwalk and a Segway tour of downtown. I highly recommend the Segway. Very fun, and you go past the Alamo and all over the surrounding area. We also enjoyed the IMAX movie about the Alamo.

sarge56

AnnMarie- that Witte musuem looks awesome! Thanks!

kansasmom- do you happen to remember the name of the tour company or have a website?

Thanks!

Seamus

Even though it's kinda tourist hokey, when I have taken kids about that age to the Mexican Market (El Mercado) they loved it.

The Segway tours are operated by www.segcity.com/sanantonio. Can't comment as never did it, but we loved the Segway tour in Paris (which is run by a guy from Austin!).

sarge56

Thanks, Jim~! Do you think a 12-year-old is old enough to Segway? Hell, do you think I can manage a Segway, being totally uncoordinated and the one last-picked for the softball teams?

sarge56

Oh, and PS Jim... Where is the market? And would it be better to hit that on Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon?

Paula

Seamus

The Segway tour we did in Paris started with a brief orientation. It really was pretty easy after the first couple minutes. In our group of seven only one person actually fell off the darn thing (yes, it was me) but no injury resulted, only my embarrassment and others' amusement. Not sure if they have a minimum age, you might check with them.

El Mercado is on the western side of downtown. There is a trolley that circulates through downtown that will take you there, or you can walk. Saturday or Sunday would be fine, mot sure what time the shops open Sunday morning. www.marketsquaresa.com