On the River Walk

A few days ago my lovely bride had a birth day. Not just any birth day either. She's 66. In celebration my bonus-son provided the two of us with two nights at the Hyatt Hotel on the RiverWalk in SanAntonio.

We timed our travel to avoid heavy traffic. During the best of times InterState 35 between Austin and San Antonio is nasty. It's a good thing we did. To get to the hotel we had to merge from I-35 to I-37 then take the next exit. Little did we know that it was a left merge and a right exit. When we merged onto I-37 we had a very SHORT distance to cut across many lanes of traffic. If the traffic had been heavy it wouldn't have been possible. It's a good thing I have white hair. If it hadn't been white before it would have been afterwards.

After that it was a piece of cake getting there. She drove right up to the front door of the Hyatt, the porters unloaded our luggage, and valet parking took the TrailBlazer away. The porters carried our luggage inside, waited while we checked in (we had a reservation) and took our luggage to the third floor. Pretty neat set up. The elevators required a room 'key' to go up. (not to go down).

We settled in..then decided to look around.

Pretty nice place. The hotel had glass faced elevators. We got to lookit stuff as we went up and down. There was even a river INSIDE the hotel lobby.

We went out side...sit a while...and walked around a bit.


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It might seem dull and boring to the younger set but we both enjoyed it.

That night we ate at Landry's SeaFood. It was right next door to the hotel my stepson, (I call him my bonus son because when I married her he came with the deal...a bonus), had made us a reservation for dinner. We were a little early so we had a drink at Dick's. It was right next door on the other side. I dunno what the real name of the place is...
but it's known informally as "Rude Dicks". The waiters are rude, crude and socially unacceptable. They take great pleasure in being insulting. That's their thing. If you don't like it...don't go there. They always seem to be fairly busy. The waitress thought she could shock me by being rude, little did she know that I was a retired trucker. She had NO CLUE as to how a truckstop waitress could hold her own with a bunch of rowdy yahoos. I gave her a few tips. She'll do ok..she just needs some practice. I had a BoilerMaker (whisky and Beer). She'd never heard of it and watch wide-eyed as I poured a glass of whiskey into a larger glass then pour in a beer (Pedernales Dark Lobo...pretty good beer...now it had a KICK)...it was good.

We tipped her...as we walked away she said "I hope you old people enjoy being old".

I turned and grinned and said "it beats the hell out of the alternative." Everyone laughed. It was good clean fun.
Well...maybe not so clean...I mean with a name like "Dick" you can imagine some of the things that were said..

OH.

Well.

We went to Landry's and we each had the SeaFood Platter.

When we were done were wished that we could call a porter....to carry US back up to our room. That was a LOT of seafood. Good stuff too.

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Instead we decided to go for a walk.
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Later we found a table beside the river and watched people come and go , the ducks, and the riverboats.

After a while we got tired and called it a night. I wanted a ‘nightcap’ so we stopped at the hotel bar. I ordered a doubleshot of house whisky and four beers, to put in the room’s refrigerator. I almost dropped my teeth when I saw the price...$45!! I took the whisky up to the room and sipped it slowly. It didn’t taste any better than the house whisky from Dicks...

The room was ‘alright’.

The view from the room was....interesting. You’d think they’d have hanging balconies. The apartment complex we live in does. This place cost more for a few days than we paid for a month...but they didn’t have them. It didn’t have a view of the river either...we looked out and saw...the roofs of other buildings...

....odd, strange looking buildings..

but mostly just roofs..

Next morning we decided on breakfast. We didn’t know if any of the little Cafe’s along the river opened that early to we decided to eat in the hotel.

Something simple...I had an omelette with hash-browns, she had two eggs and toast. We both had coffee. It wasn’t very good food actually.

When we got the Bill it was a repeat of the night before . HOLY MOLEY....the prices.!!

We were in shock as we walked along the riverwalk. Soon we got over it and ...we did more of the same. People watching mostly.

That night we went to the “Republic of Texas”, a small outdoor cafe on the river,for supper. It was pretty good...and no sticker shock.

We wandered around a while, then went back to the Hotel. Right next to it was “The Wurm”...and outdoor bar.

They allowed smoking...so I lit up a ceegar, ordered some whisky and we sat, watched people, duck and barges....we had a good time.

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Some interesting people. I saw some cops,or possibly private security. I didn’t stare. Drawing the attention of those guys can be ....interesting.... but they didn’t bother anyone...mostly. One lectured a homeless guy. Something about ‘begging’. That was true. The guy bummed a cigarette off my wife. I can understand why the riverwalk (a private corporation...NOT paid for by the city) didn’t want beggars...it’s bad for business.

I saw some other homeless guys. They blended in. As long as they didn't’ hassle the tourists the cops ignored them. I got to thinking that the river walk would be an EXCELLENT place for the homeless. It was safe. After the tourists went to bed there were a lot of places to sleep...even out of the weather...kinda.

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It beat sleeping under a bridge...

Actually it was under a bridge...but it was a nice one. I couldn’t even hear the traffic.

I learned a new thang. It makes me truly appreciate the guberment. It seems that in Texas it’s ok to serve a ‘double-shot’ of whisk but not a triple. I could order as many doubles as I wanted or order a double and a single...but NO triple, quads, or any other amount from the bar. The BarTender told me it was the law. So I ordered a double, a single, then poured the single into the double and took it to my table to sip on. The whole thing cost about ten dollars. It tasted every bit as good, better actually, as that high priced booze in the hotel.

Incredible.

We spent two nights there...had a good time.

When we were ready to go WE hauled our own stuff down to the lobby. The Valet parking brought us our car...then we drove away.

Easy.

On the way back we stopped for dinner at what used to be RipGriffin’s in New Braunfield. It used to be a cool place. I remember it had an old coot who drove an old time cadillac convertible in the parking lot, picking up truckers and taking them to the building. (Parking lots in truckstops are pretty big...) he wore a cowboy hat and is caddy had bullhorns. He insisted that you ride with him. If you said no he’d follow along behind in case you changed your mind. He did it for kicks...he didn’t even want a tip.

I miss the old guy...he was a hoot.

Today it’s just another TruckStop...TravelCenters of America bought it out.

(may we have a moment of silence...bow your head...part of america is dead... sniff)

Anyway...we ordered breakfast. I had an omelette and hashbrowns and she had two eggs and toast. We both had coffee.

We got three times the food for a third of the price that we got in the hotel. It tasted better too..and we could understand the waitress. The waiter at the hotel was some kind of foreigner.....I couldn't’ hardly understand a word he said.

Heh...this gal had spunk too..she could-a taught the gal at Dicks a thing or two...

Then we went home.

It was time and past time to clean out the Cat’s litter boxes..