How long can you tread water.

I went away for a week and come back to a some serious ark building. Last night we got 7 inches of rain, that beats the whole previous 4 months. Roads were closed, public transportation was throttled and commutes were outrageous. Boy am I glad I go away from most of the local traffic.

So, my trip was interesting. Not bad but not my best trip destination. Sadly San Antonio appears to have blown their wad on the riverwalk which has left streetlevel looking pretty darn ugly. Lots of empty storefronts and dirty sidewalks. And the riverwalk itself is mostly restaurants so unless you want the totally generic american mall the only choice is La Villita which had maybe 10 shops. Nothing much to spend my money on.

I knew ahead of time the Alamo was in the middle of the city. I was amused that the main "touristy" attractions nabbed the prime turf right across the street. Of course travelling with a 9 year old meant we saw them all. Also bemusing were the other historic sites in town. It's almost a miracle they were saved at all. The spanish govenors mansion is behind city hall, next to a police station and backed up against an empty store front, the Navarre family homestead is between a highway on-ramp and a multi-story prison, and the O'Henry house on the nasty little street between the two.

My impression of the area outside of town is former grocery and department stores turned into churches, all of which have huge highway signs directing you where to find the Lord. There were hundreds of them and they were all HUGE.

The hotel was ok but not great. The convention tours were plagued by annoying blunders. The weather was 90+ in both degrees and percent humidity. Not the most relaxing vacation but definitely an experience.