The Riverwalk’s Museum Reach

TRAVEL THERE: ON THE MUSEUM REACH OF THE RIVERWALK

So, on a bright Saturday morning, we strolled from the Hotel Contessa to the point where the Riverwalk connects with Museum Reach. We took a flight of stairs to the River level and made a right.

Morning on the Museum Reach

To our surprise, we pretty much had the Museum Reach all to ourselves.  We saw a few bicyclists and joggers, but in a tourism city like San Antonio we were amazed more travelers weren’t enjoying the river. (Maybe the others went to the VIA Informatiaon Office and were on trolleys.)  Forget tourists, why aren’t the residents flocking to this lovely pedestrian thoroughfare.

It was cooler down by the river.  An occasional River Taxi offered to take us further, but we were minding our pennies.  By walking we were able to enjoy the lock and dam.  We saw the VFW post I’d read about, but I guess it was a little early for their libations.  Gardens graced each side of the river and there were a number of interesting art installations, including some sort of grotto.

Lunch at The Pearl Farmer’s Market

It wasn’t a hard walk, but we were certainly happy to arrive at The Pearl when we did.  There’s a big hotel under construction right by the Riverwalk, so we had to do some maneuvering to get past, but I’m sure it will be great when the hotel is finished.

First, stop was the NAO taco stand.  NAO, the Culinary Institute of America restaurant, is one of my very favorites in San Antonio, but it’s not open for lunch.  However, they do serve tacos from a stand at the Farmer’s Market.  My research indicated that we had plenty of time to get our tacos, but we were hungry, so we headed on over there.  We didn’t find it right off, but we should have known, it was the booth with the big, long line.

We grabbed a bit of the sidewalk and shuffled along with the slow moving line.  You might assume that tacos from a food booth would be fast food, but there was nothing fast about the service.   They were making some sort of beverage by hand and the aroma of cooking meat was amazing.  The folks in line were both patient and congenial.  We wished for some shade, but were otherwise happy to be there.

Then someone announced there were only a few orders of left.  Five to be exact.  There were more than five people in line ahead of us, so I was terrified we were going to miss this treat.  Thankfully, in one group ahead, only one person wanted tacos.  Everyone else was there for the beverage.  Then the pair immediately ahead of us got an order of tacos to share and some beverages.  WE WERE IN!  We ordered our tacos and white sangria, paid the rather hefty price and were given a ticket for our tacos.  We approached the grill and traded small pieces of paper for heaven.

We found a table on the plaza, but were still wishing for shade.  There was a sort of arbor, but the vines they are trying to grow on it haven’t made much headway. (Note to self: bring parasol next time.)  Then we bit into our tacos and sipped our sangria.  All other thoughts disappeared.  It was suddenly well worth the trek to have the delicious treats.  There were only one or two orders left when we picked up our tacos, so we were grateful to the Riverwalk gods for getting us there in time.

There was a Farmers Market going on and I had planned on checking it out, but our stroll along the Museum Reach had used up our shopping time.  We decided to head back to the San Antonio Museum of Art, which was right across the river and catch a trolley there.  We still didn’t know when it would arrive, but we had all of the SAMA to enjoy while we waited.

Don’t Miss Dessert!

On the way back to the river we did make one detour – Lick!  This little shop offers what they call “honest ice cream”.  Everything is organic, vegan, non-GMO, etc. and some of it is even gluten-free.  They use honey instead of sugar.  I’m not that big of a fan of ice cream (which is a good thing or I’d have more weight challenges than I do), but they did have chocolate, which I love.  Deb on the other hand adores ice cream and she assured me this was equal to if not better on the ice cream scale as the NAO tacos were on the taco scale.  I’m sure you can trust her opinion.

Next up?  The SAMA!  Will we or won’t we connect with the trolley?  Come back next week and find out!