Day 2 (2018) - Segways, Scooters and Automobiles

We woke up early today for a 9am Landmarks Segway tour around San Antonio. Not sure if it's always like this at this time of year, but when we finished breakfast (boring, at the hotel) and headed down the street to the Segway office it was pretty cold outside. It wasn't one, but it was in the 40s. We didn't bring truly winter clothes, and Ethan packed like he was already on his way to Turks & Caicos, so we were all a little chilly. Only Ethan had ever ridden a Segway before, so some of us were a little nervous about figuring out how to do it (I say "some of us" loosely). But after a few lessons from our tour guides Robert and Joseph off we went.

Let's Roll

Livin' on the edge

We buzzed all over San Antonio, going by The Alamo, the Riverwalk, the Alamo Dome and other parts of the city. Everyone (yes, everyone) got the hang of it and with the exception of needing a bathroom break and time to warm up, there were no issues. To warm up we stopped at an area called La Villita for hot chocolate and the much-needed break. Unfortunately, the hot chocolate was more like warm chocolate, but nonetheless it was a good break.

Having fun, but cold

How cool are we?

For whatever reason I can't add videos directly on here, so here are some links to the Segway tour:

Debbie rolling along

A Little Bit of Everyone (but me)

We wrapped up the Segway tour around 11am, then headed back to the hotel for a little bit just to warm up before heading to The Alamo. After yesterday's Battle of Texas experience we were primed and ready to see the real thing.

Remember The Volks

You could take a guided tour but we opted for the self-guided tour, which was fine since I am not sure how interested everyone really was. We did learn that most of what you see when visiting The Alamo is not original to the time of the battle in 1836. About 25% of the walls are original and 85% of the church is original, with the rest having been restored later. We did learn that for a time in the late 1800s to early 1900s the site was used as a supermarket, until it was reclaimed as a Texas monument.

After zipping through The Alamo the troops were hungry, so we headed back to the hotel to pick up the car and head to a BBQ place I had found. Again conjuring up a previous experience, this time at the Cozy Corner in Memphis, this place needed no reservations. The restaurant, Barbecue Station, was created in what was a former gas station, and the menu is short and delicious.

Hungry just reading this again

Now I'm even hungrier

Basic decor

In hindsight, we didn't mix up the orders enough, as Brisket and Turkey was a popular choice, with Amanda going outside of the box and getting a taco and Debbie and I also sharing an order of ribs (any Kosher readers please avert your eyes - we ordered beef ribs but they were out so we got the pork ribs, and they were so good). Debbie actually liked the turkey the most, and did her little "I like what I'm eating dance" all the while eating it.

Kosher pork ribs

Who needs fancy?

The popular order

Have I mentioned how much she liked the turkey,
especially when adding cole slaw?

After lunch we again headed back downtown, dropped the car off at the hotel and headed to Escape The Room. We had recently (successfully) escaped the room in Philadelphia and had fun doing so, and thought it would be a fun afternoon activity. When we did it in Philly we booked all 10 spots so we would be the only ones in the room. But since we had not planned ahead to do this, we ended up with another family of 5 as our partners. They had never done this before, so we explained how it worked on the fly and they turned out to be decent partners. After some ingenuity (and a few clues from the house), we again successfully escaped, at the end thanks to Amanda randomly figuring out how to disarm the lasers in the Bond themed room, with about 7 minutes to spare.

Winners!

San Antonio is a very scooter friendly town, with scooters from Lime, Bird and Razor literally scattered all over the place. Brian uses scooters quite a bit to get around WashU and the surrounding areas and had been itching to use them here. So we all downloaded the Lime and Bird apps and once again spent time motorizing ourselves around San Antonio, but this time without lessons on how to use them, other than Brian's help. Eventually we all (mostly) got the hang of it and zipped around for about a half hour.

Alert the media, I'm a scooter pro

Bird is the word

We scootered back to Alamo Plaza where we checked out the famous Menger Bar then did what we always do - eat. The Segway tour guides had told us about a great dessert place that was across the street from our hotel, and when we saw the place earlier in the day the line was out the street. By the time we got there around 4:00 there was no line, and for a good reason. They were basically out of food, but still had a few desserts left and we ordered one of each kind, because, why not?

Dessert is not just for dessert

By late afternoon everyone was wiped out, so we headed to the hotel to rest before dinner. After everyone had time to relax, we headed to dinner at a place called Whiskey Cake. This is one of those "farm to fork" places that also happens to have a large variety of whiskeys (well, that seems obvious). Unfortunately, since no one other than me drinks, and since I am currently avoiding drinking, we were unable to get the full whiskey experience. The food experience, however, we did well with. Everyone got something different and each meal was a big hit. 

I know, stunned right? She ordered a burger.

The "before" photo.
The "after" would have just shown an empty plate.

Before we had eaten the last morsels of food from our plates, our lovely waitress asked if she should put in our dessert order of a whiskey cake. Since the place was named after this dessert who were we to say no? And I know what you are thinking - did you guys just have dessert? Yeah, and so what? We had another dessert, deal with it. And this one was even better than the first round earlier. Once again, Debbie did her little "I love this dance" and there was no part of the cake, homemade whipped cream or locally made ice cream left on the plate.

It would have been rude not to get one of these

Our waitress mentioned the lights on the Riverwalk this time of year, so when we got back to the hotel the youngins (Debbie and me) took a walk to the Riverwalk while the tired puppies retired to their room. The Riverwalk was hopping, even on Christmas Eve, and the lights were very nice (pictures were too dark). We walked around for a little while then headed back to the hotel, walking by The Alamo at night, which was all lit up.

For you, Mom

So ends our Segway, Scooters and Automobiles day. Tomorrow is a travel day, heading to Houston by way of Austin, with some side trips to see some more wacky Texas stuff.