Everything I know about San Antonio...
...I learnt from Cloak & Dagger.
This time last week, that was true. Since I arrived a few days before the APA/AIA and made my usual exploratory forays around the city, by the time the conference came around, I was practically a local expert. I got my boots in the end, never found a place to buy a gun belt, didn't have a chance to check out the hat shop, completely forgot to look for a belt buckle, considered a bolo tie semi-seriously, and browsed cow skulls with much amusement and little intent.
San Antonio has no centrally located supermarkets, so I ate out a lot, and it was a conference, so there was a fair amount of drinking. My recommendations? Tito's and The Friendly Spot in Southtown. The first is simple, tasty and reasonably-priced Tex-Mex, the second had the best range of beers of all the places I tried: mostly bottled, but a small, respectable line of taps. The lobby bar in the Marriott Riverwalk had a decent selection of tap beers as well, and made a damn good gin martini. In downtown, Schilo's German deli just down from the Marriott Riverwalk was a late discovery; again, reasonably-priced and tasty. Boudro's on the Riverwalk was the most interesting restaurant I tried, again a late discovery. Their lunch menu featured the usual sort of prices of restaurants I frequent in Los Angeles ($12-16 mains) but the dinner menu looked more than I would have been happy with. It's a touristy area though. The menu had a lot of duck, as did, for some reason, the APA guide to local restaurants, perhaps displaying the preferences of the local organising committee.
Flying from Vegas to Burbank is much like flying between Christchurch and Wellington: up, scramble to serve drinks and a snack, down. Props to Southwest for a very pleasant set of flights; the best US airline that I've flown with for short trips like these. The clear-skied flight back was particularly good, but I can't credit Southwest with that. I luckily managed to get a window seat and with it, fantastic views of North Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, the Hoover Dam and the snowy San Bernardino Mountains. Many bits of ground to visit.
341
This time last week, that was true. Since I arrived a few days before the APA/AIA and made my usual exploratory forays around the city, by the time the conference came around, I was practically a local expert. I got my boots in the end, never found a place to buy a gun belt, didn't have a chance to check out the hat shop, completely forgot to look for a belt buckle, considered a bolo tie semi-seriously, and browsed cow skulls with much amusement and little intent.
San Antonio has no centrally located supermarkets, so I ate out a lot, and it was a conference, so there was a fair amount of drinking. My recommendations? Tito's and The Friendly Spot in Southtown. The first is simple, tasty and reasonably-priced Tex-Mex, the second had the best range of beers of all the places I tried: mostly bottled, but a small, respectable line of taps. The lobby bar in the Marriott Riverwalk had a decent selection of tap beers as well, and made a damn good gin martini. In downtown, Schilo's German deli just down from the Marriott Riverwalk was a late discovery; again, reasonably-priced and tasty. Boudro's on the Riverwalk was the most interesting restaurant I tried, again a late discovery. Their lunch menu featured the usual sort of prices of restaurants I frequent in Los Angeles ($12-16 mains) but the dinner menu looked more than I would have been happy with. It's a touristy area though. The menu had a lot of duck, as did, for some reason, the APA guide to local restaurants, perhaps displaying the preferences of the local organising committee.
Flying from Vegas to Burbank is much like flying between Christchurch and Wellington: up, scramble to serve drinks and a snack, down. Props to Southwest for a very pleasant set of flights; the best US airline that I've flown with for short trips like these. The clear-skied flight back was particularly good, but I can't credit Southwest with that. I luckily managed to get a window seat and with it, fantastic views of North Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, the Hoover Dam and the snowy San Bernardino Mountains. Many bits of ground to visit.
341