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Remember the riverwalk

Well, Dallas has dropped down at least one spot on the rankings for favorite city in Texas since we have now visited San Antonio. Sorry, Dallas! We drove down the "scenic" route - which basically meant lots of farm country - arriving in the evening to find a downtown full of people walking around. Seemed like a good start, and it kept getting better. Nice hotel with a porch that had a view of the riverwalk, some nice restaurants, nice neighborhoods to walk around in, lots of historic buildings and landmarks, lots of friendly people. It was definitely touristy, but it was easy to go a little beyond the hard rock cafes and rainforest cafes and wax museums to find something more distinctive. It was nice to see a city that took pride in its history and was able to find a way to use it as the basis for bringing in tourists and keeping the downtown area exciting. I would definitely go back to try to see more of the rest of the city. On the way home we stopped at a historic German town (Gruene) that was not particularly exciting, the outlet malls to get a few things for the upcoming major trip, and a quick stop in Lockhart to try the barbecue at Black's, which was very tasty. Overall, a very nice weekend getaway and a nice chance to relax after the wedding stuff and share some quality time together with my wife (still not used to this idea, but I am liking it!) and explore a few new things. Traffic wasn't even too bad on the way back, except for the accident on the freeway once we made it to - of course - Dallas.