A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesdays - San Antonio

One of the people I follow on Instagram is in San Antonio right now. I've been to the city a few times for conferences. Here are some shots from my last visit.

Wandering the San Antonio River

One of the things that amazed me in San Antonio was the changes I noticed in the river. You would expect that a river flowing through the downtown core of America's fastest growing city would be lined with concrete, litter, and invasive species. I took the opportunity to walk along the river beyond the touristy riverwalk to see what was happening.

Apparenlty progress in the city's massive ecosystem restoration project was hard to detect until recently, when seeded wildflowers bloomed and native grasses took hold alongside some undesirable varieties that appeared on their own.

As egrets, hawks and ducks linger nearby, the riverbanks are splashed with color from bluebonnet, horsemint, Indian paintbrush, and primrose flowers. Thousands of native trees will be planted soon.

It'll take several decades for the 320 acres of riverside land to become riparian woodlands again, with mature pecan, cypress, oak and cedar elm trees along with shrubs and grasses, but the process had to start somewhere.

Given the scenes in these pictures you can see that the ripparian habitat is quickly returning to the oncebarren andpolluted river!

Pearl Brewing District

After my conference finished up on Wednesday I decided to head up to the Pearl Brewery complex located about 2 miles from downtown. I was struck by the similarities to the Toronto Distillery District where old turn-of-the century adult beverage making facilities were repurposed into food/shopping destinations.

The Pearl Brewing Company was a famous local brewery, established in 1883 along the banks of the  San Antonio river where fresh, clean water was available for beer making. The beer it produced was popular with the areas German and Czech population.

In 1985, Pearl's parent company purchased the Pabst Brewing Company and assumed the Pabst name. In 1999, the Pabst Brewing Company began transferring its production to Miller Brewing, on a contract basis, and closing all of its breweries. Pearl beer is still in production at Miller's Ft. Worth, Texas facility, but the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio was closed in 2001. After 118 years of brewing along the San Antonio River, the doors to the Pearl Brewery closed.

Since then the area has undergone a significant rejuvenation and is now an area full of shops, restaurants, and condos. The Culinary Institute of America has a campus on the site of the former storage shed.

Of course I couldn't help put to compare things to the similar facility in Toronto. Whereas the Distillery District has more of a focus on the arts and has preserved more of the historic buildings the Pearl Brewery District had tons of free parking and many condos which would make the community seem vibrant and alive after the shops were closed. I also loved the fact that the area food culture was being enriched by the CIA and their wide selection of food programs. I also loved how the Pearl complex was well connected to the natural environment - the San Antonio river - whereas in Toronto you have little sense of what the pre-development environment must have looked like.

All in all it was a brilliant place to spend a late afternoon!

Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo

The other day, after my sessions finished for the afternoon I hopped into the car and headed south along the river to the original settlement in the area. Founded in 1720, the mission Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo was named for Saint Joseph and the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo, the governor of the Province of Coahuila and Texas at the time. It was built on the banks of the San Antonio river several miles to the south of the earlier mission, San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo).

Its founder was the famed Father Antonio Margil de Jesús, a very prominent Franciscan missionary in early Texas.

San José, as it became known, was the largest of the missions in the area. At its height, the community contained about 350 Indian neophytes, sustained by extensive fields and herds of livestock. Viewed as the model among the Texas missions, San José gained a reputation as a major social and cultural center. It became known as the "Queen of the Missions." Its imposing complex of stone walls, bastions, granary, and magnificent church was completed by 1782.

So rich an enterprise was a natural target for Apache and Comanche attackss. Although they could not prevent raids on their livestock, the mission itself was almost impregnable. In his journal, Fray Juan Agustín Morfí attested to its defensive character: "It is, in truth, the first mission in America . . . in point of beauty, plan, and strength . . . there is not a presidio along the entire frontier line that can compare with it." The danger was when working the fields or during travel to and from the ranch or other missions. With technical help from the two presidial soldiers garrisoned there, San José residents learned to defend themselves. Already proficient with bow and arrow, the men also learned the use of guns and cannon

Having fallen into disrepair and partial ruin over the years, the San Antonio Conservation Society and the Federal Government among others, undertook to restore portions of the mission community in the 1920s and 1930s. The church, which had lost its dome, bell tower, and a wall, was rededicated in 1937.

In 1941, Mission San José was declared a State Historic Site, and later that same year, a National Historic Site. When the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park was established in November 1978, the Spanish colonial mission was assured of protection in cooperation with the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the parish.

Texas Pride BBQ

Texas is known for its BBQ...especially the Central Texas area between Austin and San Antonio. Some of the best BBQ in the country comes from this area of the state. I was bound and determined to try as many different ones as I could in my time here.

You may wonder...what makes Texas BBQ different from BBQ around the country? For one thing, BBQ sauce is optional...and the meat is seasoned simply and smoked low and slow, until the meat is fall-apart tender. Texas BBQ sauce tends to be on the thin side, with lots of pepper and vinegar. And it's always served on the side to be added at the table. Texas BBQ purists shun sauce, but I like it...especially on brisket.

One of the places I had read about was Texas Pride located in Adkins, about 25 km SE of San Antonio.

I arrived early, hoping to beat the crowds, and the smell of smoky goodness greeted me in the parking lot. That's always a good sign when you arrive at a BBQ joint! I stepped inside, got in line, and placed my order. I ordered the three meat special with brisket, house-made sausage, and ribs. It came with two sides so I ordered cole slaw since vegetables have been a missing quantity so far in my Texan adventure and the cheesy potatoes because, well, cheesy potatoes - what more needs to be said?

The portion of smoked meat was piled high on butcher paper, another Texas tradition...some places don't even offer knives and forks, so you have to eat with your hands. I stopped by the condiment bar to pick up the requisite pickles, onions, and jalapenos to make sandwiches. Bottles of sauce -- regular and spicy -- were waiting at the table.

This was amazing BBQ! The pork ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender, the brisket was smoky and juicy, and the sausage was perfectly spiced and not the least bit greasy.

If you find yourself visiting San Antonio, make sure to put Texas Pride on your list of "must visit" places to eat. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Travel Tuesdays - Wandering San Antonio

It has been a brilliant time so far in San Antonio. Since I am here right now it seems as if a good spot to feature for Travel Tuesdays.

Be sure to pop on over to Sandi's blog to see what else is happening on Travel Tuesdays!

Gruene

My goodness, yesterday was what I like to call a 'full day'.

Here's how it went - travel to a dive in New Braunfels for what were called the best breakfast tacos in the area (they were amazing, breakfast cost 5.47 and the place was a DIVE), visit Gruene, head to San Marcos for the third biggest outlet mall in the world, back to San Antonio and a search for a new Smashburger restaurant for a late lunch, back to the hotel (after a fight with the GPS), rest, ead over to the conference centre for the conference opening and keynote address, set a group world record during said keynote, dinner at a food truck park, sleep.

See what I mean? A FULL day!

I'm going to focus on Gruene - a lovely, sleepy village on the banks of the Guadalupe River. I had briefly visited Gruene when I was last in San Antonio but my trip was marred a bit by a work crisis which had me spending a good 45 minutes with a hysterical colleague on the phone. Yesterday I was determined that work would NOT interfer.

Arriving in Texas in the mid 1840s, German farmers became the first settlers of what is now known as Gruene, Texas. Ernst Gruene, a German immigrant, and his bride Antoinette, had reached the newly established city of New Braunfels in 1845, but acreage was scarce. Thus, Ernst and his two sons purchased land just down river, and Ernst built the first home in Gruene in early fachwerk style. His second son, Henry D. Gruene, built his home (now Gruene Mansion Inn) and planted his surrounding land with cotton. Having become the number one cash crop, the cotton business soon brought 20 to 30 families to Henry D.'s lands.

Henry D. built houses in various styles -- a Victorian cottage (now Lone Star), a large brick home, and a frame house (now Gruene Haus) for the foreman of his farm. The first mercantile store (now Gruene General Store) was built in 1878 and a cotton gin (now Gristmill River Restaurant and Bar) powered by the Guadalupe River was added soon after. Further construction during this profitable time included a dance hall and saloon (Gruene Hall), which became the center of the community's social life.

As the town continued to prosper, a new mercantile building (now Gruene Antique Company) sprang up in 1904. However, the death of Henry D. in 1920 marked the downfall of Gruene's development and good fortune. In 1922, the original cotton gin burned and was replaced by a modern electric model down the road (now Adobe Verde). Yet, the economic disasters of the boll weevil and the Depression were too much for the family businesses and they went under, except for Gruene Hall, which never closed.

Today, Gruene is once again a thriving community, but for decades it was little more than a ghost town. This changed the day that Pat Molak, frustrated with big-city life, wandered into town and began to breathe life back into this piece of Texas history.

Molak purchased Gruene Hall in 1975. A few unavoidable repairs were made to the Hall, but little else was necessary. Left uncorrupted, the 6,000 square-foot, open-air dance hall became a virtual magnet, a starting point for many of Texas' up-and-coming performers, and once again, the heart of Gruene.

With the help of his friend Mary Jane Nalley, he worked to preserve the authentic, turn-of-the-century look and feel of Gruene by purchasing and repairing several of the town's most notable structures and transforming them into thriving businesses. These developments seemed to rekindle the spark of Gruene, and soon the town's familiar charm began to shine again.

Gruene itself has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, and many of the buildings that were rescued by Molak and Nalley have been awarded a Texas medallion from the Texas Historical Commission. It has also been recognized by the Texas travel industry as a premiere attraction for visitors, which is no surprise to its merchants and guests.

Back to San Antonio

It has been close to 5 years since I was last in San Antonio for a conference. I had enjoyed my time in the city so much that when I spied another conference I wished to attend located there I quickly put in my application. With the hectic pace of work and life this year I hadn't done much more but book flights, hotel, conference, and a car. Really, what more did I need?

Yes, I know. It is me talking.

The flight was god awful - I left Toronto at 6:30 am, connected through Chicago, and arrived in San Antonio early at 11:00. I always curse myself for booking those early flights but in this case I saved ETFO $ 300 so it seemed worthwhile. Mind you, when the alarm went off at 3 am I wondered about that.

When I arrived in Texas my luggage was first off of the belt. I walked out and a shuttle bus (AKA the freezer - I have never l felt air conditioning like that) to the car lot was standing by the curb. I had booked a mid-sized car, the attendant looked at me and said 'sir, we don't have any of those itty bitty cars here in Texas, take whatever you want for the same price.'

OK

Now I am tooling about in a brand new SUV. They had LOTS of SUVs in Texas.

I was hungry - it had been 9 hours since I had had anything to eat (not including the Garretts popcorn at O'Hare)  so the first stop needed to be lunch! I had read about a BBQ pit located near the airport so I plugged it into my GPS and I was off!

Texas brisket - pit cooked over oak + a beer = happy Jerry!

After the pit stop (pun intended) I hopped back into the car and headed to the hotel. I was booked in the Plaza Marriott which is about 2 blocks from the convention centre on the edge of the historic King William district. It is a lovely hotel with a huge garden where peacocks wander. My room is on the main floor with a terrace overlooking the garden.

Later, I was to discover that peacocks are freaking loud during the night.

After settling in I popped over to the convention centre to register and get my bearings. The downside of these huge convention centres is that you can generally not find a single place you need to be by the time you need ot be there. If things go as they normally do I'll finally find my way around on the last day - just in time to come home!

On the way back to the hotel I decided to wander about La Villita. Located on the south bank of the San Antonio River, La Villita was San Antonio's first neighborhood. It was originally a settlement of primitive huts for the Spanish soldiers stationed at the Mission San Antonio Valero (the Alamo). After a flood in 1819, brick, stone and adobe houses replaced the earlier structures. In 1836, La Villita was the site of General Santa Ana's cannon line in the Battle of the Alamo and a map from early that year showed the village to be of considerable size. 

Late in the 19th century European immigrants from Germany and France moved into the area. These pioneers became San Antonio's business leaders, bankers, educators, and craftsmen. The cultural mix that occurred at this time is best illustrated by the variety of architectural styles reflected in La Villita's buildings. The architecture portrays the evolution of buildings from palisado to Victorian Houses. 

The first part of the 20th century saw La Villita decline into a slum area. In 1939, as ground broke on the San Antonio River Walk development, city fathers led by Mayor Maury Maverick acted to preserve this colorful part of San Antonio's history. Today La Villita is a thriving art community that stands as a monument to San Antonio's past.

After wandering about for a few hours I headed back to the hotel where I relaxed in the gardens until dinner.

In addition to a BBQ feast one of the things I wanted to enjoy when I was in San Antonio was a Mexican feast! When I was last in the city I enjoyed an amazing meal at Rosarios so I headed back there for dinner last night.

It was every good as a remembered . . .

the salsa made with roasted jalapenos had a wonderful smoky taste. . .

The Margaritas a happy kick  . . .

and the carnitas were brilliant!

I was in bed by 8:00 San Antonio time but after a day of travel, adventure, too much sun without my hat, two margaritas, and a 2 hour time change it was a well-deserved early night!

Travel Tuesday - San Antonio

I'm off again - flying out to San Antonio on Saturday to attend the International Society for Technology in Education 2013 Conference. I've wanted to go to ISTE for years but the timing just sucks for us here in Canada coming right at the end of the school year like it does. I was adamant that I would go this year so I worked hard to organize work in life in such a way that attending wasn't too great a burden . . .

I was in San Antonio for another conference about 5 years ago. Here are some shots form then.

Wonder what trouble I can get into this time when I am not busy learning about new technology . . .?

San Antonio Japanese Tea (Sunken) Gardens

When I mentioned that I was heading to San Antonio my slowtravel friend Barb e-mailed me to tell em a bit of her family history. She was born in San Antonio and her family was closely associated with the Japanese Tea Gardens in Brackenridge Park. She said that I should pay a visit if I could.

My session finished at 12:30 yesterday. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. It was 80 degrees. All-in-all a perfect day to visit the park!

In 1915, the city requested a Japanese immigrant and his wife to transform an old rock quarry into a Japanese-styled garden. Mr. Kimi Eizo Jingu agreed to the task. He started with a rock house, which still stands today (although it is under reconstruction and scheduled to reopen in the summer) and is surrounded by winding pebble walkways, stone bridges, a waterfall and tranquil pools.

His work transformed the old rock quarry into a garden filled with lily ponds and lush green vegetation. Together he and his wife raised eight children in that house. In addition to raising a family and creating a beautiful garden they opened the Bamboo Room, where light lunches and tea were sold.

After Mr. Jingu's death in the late 1930s, his family continued to operate the tea garden until 1942, when they were evicted because of anti-Japanese sentiment during World War II. After the way the Jingu family gradually left the San Antonio area.

A Chinese-American family operated the facility until the early 1960s, and it was known as the Chinese Sunken Garden. The imposition of the chinese culture on the japanese likely explains the somewhat schizophrenic nature of the gardens. Is it Japanese or is it Chinese??? Nonetheless, it was a lovely, serene place to spend some time on a lovely San Antonio afternoon.

In 1984, the area was rededicated as the Japanese Tea Garden in a ceremony attended by the Jingu's children and representatives of the Japanese government.

The garden underwent a renovation beginning in May 2007 in which the ponds and waterfall were repaired, along with adding a recirculation system to provide a safe habitat for new Koi and aquatic plants. This phase, which cost $1,587,470, was a public-private partnership with the City of San Antonio, the San Antonio Parks Foundation and the Friends of the Parks.

A grand reopening ceremony was held on March 8, 2008, which was attended by the Lambert family, descendants of Park Commissioner Ray Lambert, as well as numerous members of the Jingu family, including Mabel Jingu Enkoji, who was born in the Jingu House and lived at the garden as a child. It was neat to see the photos of the reopening and see Barb in the pics!