The San Antonio Riverwalk and Boot Scootn’ The Texas Way

Yesterday the sun came out!  I had almost forgotten what it looked like! There was plenty of blue sky so we dressed warmly, it was still cold, and headed to downtown San Antonio to walk along the Riverwalk.  We did that when we were here in 2008 but it is so nice that we wanted to do it again.  We parked in a public parking lot and then walked the few blocks to the stairs that led down to the river.  Our amazement was the fact that there was hardly any traffic at all on the downtown streets.  Where was everybody?  Even down on the Riverwalk there was practically nobody around.  We had the place to ourselves.  We liked that!  So it was just a nice quiet pleasant walk up and down the river bank among pretty overhanging trees and fun to watch the resident ducks.  Tables and chairs were all along the banks to entice  tourists to eat at that particular restaurant.  We didn’t take the boat ride this time like we did before. But that is a nice treat when seeing the Riverwalk for the 1st time.  The boat goes around the whole canal with a narrative on the history of the river and the surrounding buildings.  A dam was built to control flooding and the Riverwalk was created.  However. we were very disappointed that the Riverwalk wasn’t all decorated for Xmas.  You could see Xmas trees in some of the restaurants but the only decorations outside seemed to be lights hanging from the trees that are only turned on at night.  I am sure it is pretty but we don’t like to be out at night.  The first picture is our visit in 2008 in the Spring when the Riverwalk was busy and the flowers were blooming. Then there are pictures we took yesterday.

 

 

How about boot scootin’ in 40’ high boots?!!!  These are the largest boots in Texas!  They say everything is big in Texas! They stand at the main entrance to the North Star Mall.  They  are also wrapped in star lights for Xmas and light up at night.  I’d hate to meet the cowboy that wears THEM boots!!

   

Now we know why there was nobody downtown! They were all at the North Star Mall! There is a large 4-5 story parking garage at the east and west side of the mall.  The mall itself must be one of the largest in the country.  Some parts of it are 3 levels high.  It was HUGE!  There were just so many people shopping!  I guess it is just the Xmas crowd. But we were wondering why there were so many younger people out shopping instead of working!  Where are they getting all this money to spend?  What do they know that we didn’t know when we were younger!?!   We only walked through the mall for a short while and had a late lunch before getting out of there before rush hour traffic.  San Antonio is just such a very large city!