Amtrak to San Antonio

This is a catch-up post about our May adventure on Amtrak’s Texas Eagle train to and from San Antonio, our two-night stay near the Riverwalk, and visits to the Alamo and other San Antonio landmarks. I am switching to my ranch computer with Windows 8.1 so several aspects of blog posting are different from my little netbook and its Windows 7 experience.  I want to make sure everything works well before we head out on our USA driving trip with its daily, or almost daily, blogging as we travel.

When Phillip and I made plans for 2014, a travel year for us, we wanted our year to be “Planes, Trains and Automobiles… and Boats,” although hopefully not with the mishaps that befell Steve Martin in the 1987 movie from which we borrowed our title!  The “planes” portion would be covered with the long flights to and from the Philippines, the “automobiles” part would be our USA driving trip, and “boats” would be several cruises. We needed a “train” segment, and the Trinity Rail Express (Fort Worth to Dallas light rail service) to the Texas State Fair in October didn’t seem exotic enough since we do that every year now. An Amtrak ride was therefore in the picture. We decided to test the waters with a short trip on the Texas Eagle service from Fort Worth to San Antonio, as San Antonio is a beautiful travel destination. Phillip found an excellent hotel deal at a Hyatt on the Riverwalk and I made the train reservations for us, leaving on May 6 and returning on May 8.

  

The Fort Worth Convention Center, two blocks from the Intermodal Transportation Center (the downtown bus and train station), allows overnight parking in its garage ($15 for 24 hours), even if the City website doesn’t make it clear. I know this because I emailed the City Public Events folks to find out. The ITC was clean, had plenty of seating, and was populated with fellow travelers, not homeless folks. We boarded our train at 2 pm, and the train began moving at 2:18 pm, only 8 minutes behind schedule. However, and this is a big “however” and the reason we may not take a longer train ride, that 8 minute delay was the closest we would be to any scheduled time on the remainder of our journey to and from San Antonio. The train moved about four city blocks south from the station and stopped. We had a nice view of Lancaster Avenue and downtown Fort Worth for the next hour. That scene of rushing trees, blurring past our window did not occur for another two hours!

We did wait in comfort. We were amazed at the room we had on the train. Our seats were fantastic – so much more room than an airline seat! I could barely touch the footrest when I snuggled back into my wide, cushioned seat. To accommodate short-legged passengers, a padded seat extender swung up to various positions so I could basically stretch out in my seat. Each seat had tray tables with extender arms and more than ample space below the seat and above the seat for carry-on luggage. The aisle between the pairs of seats was wide enough for two people to pass without touching each other. This part of the trip exceeded our expectations.

Our train finally began moving again at 3:15. The ride was quieter than I expected, no clanking as we rode down the tracks. The side-to-side swaying motion and a slight bouncing sensation as we picked up speed were not unpleasant and fairly minor. I brought snacks and oven fried chicken in a cooler, as I knew we were traveling thru dinner time. We went to the sightseeing car, glass-enclosed with tables, and ate and played cards. The train stopped to pick-up and discharge passengers in several cities, including Cleburne, Killeen, and Austin. The view of the sunset was fantastic from the train.

We arrived in San Antonio at about 11:15 pm, ninety minutes behind schedule. The train station was much smaller than the ITC, and the two waiting taxis scarfed up passengers quickly. I knew our hotel was less than a mile away, so Phillip and I walked. The route was well lit, with colored LED lights under the interstate bridge, and we encountered no transients or even mildly alarming people. The San Antonio Spurs had just won some play-off game, so the streets had a fair amount of celebrants in their vehicles with banners and horns honking, but not very many actually walking. Our stroll to the Hyatt Riverwalk was just what we needed after the 9 hour train ride. And the Hyatt was quite nice – complimentary cold bottles of water when we checked in, a refrigerator in our room, and a comfy bed.

Wednesday morning, we began a quick tour of San Antonio. The hotel was just a block from the Alamo, so that was our first stop after coffee. I hadn’t been since before Leslie was born, and Phillip’s last visit was even before that. We listened to the presentation and walked thru the grounds, amazed again at the bravery of the folks who stood their ground there.

After the Alamo, we walked to the Buckhorn Saloon and Texas Ranger Museum for lunch. After lunch, we took the tour there of both the historical Texas Ranger displays and the animal displays. FYI, I’m referring to the lawmen, not the baseball team. We weren’t impressed with the Ranger collection. Although it had some displays about the formation of the Rangers, the collection basically consisted of letters and memorabilia of a few Rangers who served mainly during the 1940s thru 1960s. 

 I recommend the real Texas Ranger Museum in Waco over this one. The taxidermy collection at Buckhorn was a different story – it was huge with all kinds of animals on display. The picture shows just the mounts in the dining area. The entire second floor of the building had rooms of full mounts of all sorts of critters and a carnival side show area with a sloping floor (where I looked taller than Phillip).

After the Buckhorn, we walked to Market Square, an area with vendor stalls similar to what we’d find in Mexico, but with prices twice as high as those we’d find in Cozumel or on the cruise ship pier in Progresso. Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything there. After that, time for the Riverwalk and its cool shade and peaceful water. The sun had come out, so the three blocks to the first set of steps down to the Riverwalk was a bit toasty. We walked along the river until we came to the boat ride vendor. We had never been on the boat tour, and the price, $8.25 each for a 35 minute narrated tour, was reasonable. This was worth the money, as our tour guide told us of the history of the channel and stories of the building and structures we passed.

Because it was mid-week, the area was not crowded and at times, our boat passed thru areas where we didn’t see any other people – but there were always ducks! The ducks have learned to paddle quickly away from the tour boats, but apparently enjoy the calm water of the channel and the handouts from the tourists. The landscaped areas next to the water also provide habitat for the ducks.

After our boat tour, we continued walking back along the Riverwalk to our hotel. We considered swimming in the roof-top pool, but the pool was really small with no shade, so I just took some pictures from the roof, including one of this brightly colored art deco building we had seen from the water during our boat tour. The rear entrance of our hotel opened right onto the Riverwalk, so we went back to the Riverwalk to find a restaurant for dinner. We had lots of options to choose from, as most of the buildings that line the Riverwalk are restaurants, or hotels with restaurants. We finally stopped at Casa Rio, a Mexican reataurant that had available seating outside near the water. Although our chili rellenos were good but not great, the view was quite entertaining.

 

Pigeons, sparrows and ducks vied for leftover tortilla chips. The bravest of the ducks would walk up to seated diners, including us, then cock their head and just watch. They never pecked at us but their request was clear. I did not use a telephoto nor did I even crop this picture. I just held my camera beside my chair and got this guy, waiting for a tortilla chip. Actually, the ducks wanted only a small piece of a chip. If the chip was too large, the pigeons would rush over and snatch it away from the duck. And the sparrows… they came after a duck/pigeon tussle over a chip to clean up the little crumb pieces. Because I’m sure the wait staff did not want to clean up duck and pigeon droppings, the staff very promptly cleaned each table as diners left, although not before the pigeons flew in to steal chips left in the basket. And for the squeamish of you…the wait staff used bleach water to wipe off these outdoor tables and we never saw a bird near an unoccupied table.

 

Final note about dinner, I had a Texas pale ale called “Weekend Warrior” which had definite hints of grapefruit in the flavor. Interesting, different, and quite enjoyable. We walked around a bit more and stopped for ice cream at CVS. Yes, the pharmacy. Instead of $5 for one scoop from a vendor, we got a pint of Blue Bell and two spoons for $3.69. Back to our room for dessert!

We got up early Thursday morning and walked back to the

train station to catch our return ride to Fort Worth. It was overcast and almost drizzling rain. Our train, scheduled to leave at 7 am, pulled out of the station around 7:15 am. Since we had arisen at 5:30 to catch the train, I almost fell asleep as we left San Antonio. If I would have brought my travel pillow and a blanket, I probably would have. Phillip and I had picked up bagel sandwiches from the hotel restaurant for our breakfast. I also had snacks still left to eat, including the dried pizza peas I had bought in the Philippines.

 

As we rode north, the rain increased and the train slowed. We passed over the Brazos River.

At one point, we stopped on a siding for a long time. The conductor finally announced that we were waiting for a freight train ahead of us to move. The crew on the other train was waiting for their relief to arrive and their train was blocking the tracks.  While on this return trip, we ate dinner in the dining car. The food reminded me of Chili’s, both the quality and price. In other words, not bad on either count. The snack bar below the sightseeing area, however, was expensive and had  a limited selection. This train had more passengers than our southbound train, so a table in the sightseeing car was not always available. We finally pulled into the ITC at just about 5 pm – 2½ hours later than scheduled.

To summarize what we learned: Amtrak is a comfortable way to travel, but expect delays and be patient. Take a DVD player, book, cards, pillow, blanket, and snacks. San Antonio is a wonderful destination for which good deals can be found that put you right on the Riverwalk – and take the boat tour!