Humanities Travel Narrative - A trip into Beauty and History

I awoke from a small nap to a wide open road of nothing but darkness as I look to my left I see my boyfriend with hazy brown eyes hanging over the steering wheel like a gorilla with a cup full of hot coffee to keep him driving on our adventurous trip to San Antonio. “are we there yet” is the first words that popped out of my mouth in my raspy half asleep voice, I was surprised to hear his answer that we were about five minutes away. Excitement rushed over me and it gave me a small burst of energy  and for that short ride into downtown I was awake and anxious to see our room in the hotel. About five minutes later we arrived in the hotel parking lot as we pulled in I looked up at a large neon sign that felt to me as it was one hundred feet tall and glowing with a warm welcoming light calling to me bragging about the comfort it held inside its heated rooms.

                It was a light rain outside and the weather was very chilling on my skin I stepped out of the car and ran into the lobby with my hands pulling over my hood to keep my face dry, As I walked up to the counter and asked the hotel front desk attendant about our room and she handed me our room key I was sure the first night of our vacation had just began. We slowly walked down a long hall towards a big elevator as I look to my left and my right I notice beautiful paintings, paintings that took me to a warm summer field with just one glance. As we entered the elevator I noticed the lighting had changed the elevator felt dark and creepy, as it lifted us to the third floor it creaked and whined. I felt frightened little so I reached for my boyfriend’s arm it was so warm and comforting. We finally made it to our rooms I swiped the room key and we stumbled into our comfortable king size bed, I slept like a baby.

              

          The next day I was awoken by my boyfriend gently shaking me and whispering to me “wakeup sunshine, were burning daylight baby!” we headed down to the lobby for some breakfast. As soon as we stepped off the elevator the smell of waffles filled our nostrils, and these were no ordinary waffles these were Texas shaped waffles. The Texas shaped waffles gave our vacation the real” San Antonio feel” and they tasted amazing with that smooth and rich maple syrup drizzled all across every inch of that golden crispy waffle. After our nutritious breakfast we headed out on to the streets of downtown San Antonio headed toward the Riverwalk. We walked two or three blocks until we found an entrance on to the riverwalk the scenery was absolutely beautiful! Ducks swam up the river in groups

of two or three and it seemed as if they were swimming with us guiding us on our path down the river. We stopped to look at our small map that we grabbed on the way out of the hotel lobby after breakfast, first on the list was the Alamo and we were determined to get there before lunch. I left the navigation up to my boyfriend who sounded very assuring when he told me “ive got it babe” needless

to say we ended up on the other end of the river walk and after some recalculations and myself stepping up and taking charge of our small map we finally made it close to the main strip of the riverwalk. On top of the river walk in downtown was a large government building the front had massive arches in the entrance and made out of beautiful red and brown bricks. I later learned it was the Bexar County Courthouse it was completed in 1926 my boyfriend and I had stumbled upon some rich history and it didn’t end there. In front of this enormous building was a bell standing it looked very heavy and strong looked as if it was
made of good material reminding me of freedom and endurance the kind of endurance that the soldiers showed at the Alamo winning our freedom from Mexico against Santa Anna’s mighty army.

              

     

             We continued on into downtown right around the corner from the Alamo and realized that we were about to be in the middle of a large veterans day parade, As we stood there looking around at all of the soldiers young and old gathering in groups I look up at another beautiful building. This was a post office its walls were an elegant white standing tall were large columns holding up the top of the building. These columns were perfectly placed and organized in distance apart just like the type of organization it takes to run a post office. I was staring up at the post office and my boyfriend pointed out to me that a small tent was being set up by the Wounded Warrior Project. The wounded warrior project is a group that donates and helps soldiers who are injured fighting for their country and takes care of their families. My boyfriend has enlisted in the coast guard and leaves December 17^th and we both love everything that the wounded warrior project does for our “brothers in arms” so we donated the cash we had in our pockets and thanked them for all they do and have given for our country.

                We walked down the street to a corner directly across from the Alamo were we decided we would watch the parade during our wait for the parade to start, I noticed a beautiful hotel. I don’t have much information about this hotel other than it took my breath away with its tall beautiful vintage style architecture. It had so many windows I could only imagine looking out one of them into the city, it was like a dream. The outside sidewalk of the hotel was busy with hotel customers and valet employees the hustle of the hotel service seemed like something out of a movie centered in downtown New York City.

                The parade was beautiful and extremely long. After enduring the long veterans parade my stomach was screaming at me to fill it with delicious and nutritious food. So we wandered back down on to the riverwalk and found a nice Mexican restaurant to eat at. After our yummy lunch we headed off to the river theatre the scenery was extravagant. I could only imagine the beautiful sounds of a mariachi band flowing through the theatre that was full of rich Mexican history.

                Later after all of our adventures we go back up on the streets of downtown to wander some more. We walked up and down the streets going to various shops with all kinds of merchandise. Only one store really stuck out in this trip that grabbed my attention like no other shop I have ever entered. It was a small antique shop filled with so much history and delicate items from at least one hundred years ago. One of the items that really touched my heart was a mint green uniform with just a few patches and a small beret style hat, a Girl Scout uniform. This Girl Scout uniform really meant so much to me because I myself am a Girl Scout and have been for a number of years. I stood in front of this uniform for at least ten minutes in awe.

                My vacation was filled with amazing adventures and rich history that I brought home and shared with family members like my baby sister who is also a Girl Scout. I enjoyed every second of my vacation and would suggest to anyone they take some time to visit San Antonio and venture out not just focus on the main attractions. So much history lies hidden in San Antonio go find it!