OT: Headin' out to San Antonio [Archive]

Pork Chop

07-09-2008, 12:07 PM

This is a totally biased opinion of what's going on in this town...
I love the hill country and there's a lot to do.

Schlitterbahn - a waterpark about 40 min north of town up I35; you can go tubing down the comal river if you don't feel like paying the entrance fee.

Swiggs North - a pretty decent club on the north side of town (Stone Oak & 1604 - near 281 & 1604); another club named Dolce is in the same spot. There are martini bars & more grown up spots in the same general area like Silo. Lots of restaurants around here too.

The Quarry - neat place with shopping, movie theater, & restaurants on 281 inside of 410.

Malls - there are something like 6 or 8 malls in the area.

Fiesta Texas - I-10 north of 1604. Six Flags amusement park with a water park. La Cantera's a mall that's right around the corner, with Kona Grill in the same parking lot- a sweet little night spot that has decent sushi. Also close by is The Rim, which also has a movie theater, shopping, restaurants, and a night spot or two.

Medical Center - (I-10 & Wurzbach & Medical Center) tons of little bars & pubs in the area (including martini bars, english pubs and irish pubs), as well as good eating. My favorite Chinese restaurant's here.

Riverwalk - downtown. It's fun to see if you haven't. Some decent restaurants, shopping (a full-sized mall as well as a small arts & crafts section), and night spots, but from what I've seen & heard it's gotten really expensive. Howl At the Moon is probably my fav' place down there. The Alamo's close by so it makes a convenient stop to hit 2 birds w/one stone.

Canyon Lake - 40 min up 281 north. Nice little lake to go fishing. Guadalupe River State Park is close by and that's fun.

Boerne - Fun little German town off of I10, 10~15 min north of 1604. Home to Rudy's - the worst (best) BBQ in Texas. Not quite as "German" as Fredericksburg, but a fun little downtown area, with arts & crafts, and a nice lake a bit north of town. My folks used to live in the southern part of this town up in the beautiful hill country.

Fredericksburg - about 30~45 min north of Boerne. Very traditional German style downtown area, complete with all aspects of German culture - Brew Houses w/great food & homemade beer, arts & crafts, even bakeries. Great place to go for Oktoberfest.

Sea World - 1604 west, I think the Potranco exit. Pretty expensive for a one shot; season pass is almost the same price, if you go twice it's worth the extra cost. It's got Shamu, dolphin petting, a penguin house, a water park, rollercoasters, Budweiser Clydesdales, the whole 9.

For Training, there's:
http://www.txmma.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=viewlink&cid=8 (I recommend Power Team and Shadow Fist/Sinlapa as those are the only ones I've been to)
http://www.usjudo.org/tex.asp (specifically Alamo Judo & Universal Judo)
http://www.sataichi.com (Horacio Lopez Yang Taiji - not sure why site's not working)
http://www.dragonma.com/ also http://www.wingchunkungfusanantonio.com/index.html (Wing Chun, Northern, and some JKD, there was another forum member from there)

For live music, there's:
http://www.sawhiterabbit.com/

For decent Tex-Mex, gotta go with one of the following:
Chacho's, Las Palapas, Sarita's, Alamo Cafe, La Fonda, Taco Tote, Rosario's, Margarita's
Most places should be decent

For authentic BBQ:
Rudy's, Bill Miller, Blue Cactus, Texas Pride

Steak:
Texas Land & Cattle, Texas Roadhouse, and of course Ruth's Chris

If I've missed anything, maybe the other SA folks on here can help out.