In the last three months, I have taken two trips to the Hill Country of Texas. In April, I went to the Willow City Loop, Enchanted Rock, and Fredericksburg. Last weekend, I returned to the area with a weekend stay in San Antonio.
I booked a room in the new Drury Plaza Hotel which is inside the old Alamo National Bank and it was built in 1929. I had a fantastic room, which was large and had a kitchenette and a seating area. When I return to San Antonio to stay overnight, I will definitely book a room in the hotel again.
I did not get a chance to go to the Tower of the Americas, but I did get some excellent shots from the roof deck of the hotel. The weekend was mostly cloudy, so the photos are not the best. Here are a sampling of the many photographs that I took over the weekend.
Elevator Lobby of the Building:
Bank Lobby of the Building which now serves as the hotel lobby:
View of the Lobby from the Second Floor Balcony:
One of the unique features of the old bank lobby is the stained glass window of the Alamo:
Speaking of the Alamo:
Back to the building. After checking in and gettting settled into the room, I went up to the roof to shoot these pictures. It was cloudy most of the time, so these shots are not great.
I love this building:
A view of the Drury Plaza Hotel Sign from the top of the building:
I went down to street level and walked along the Riverwalk and took these pictures:
What a way to spend an evening, eating dinner on one of the river boats!
Night was starting to fall, so I took a few pictures of the neon theater signs:
Well, it was time to back to the roof to shoot some evening and night shots.
As a part of the restoration of the building, the old weather spire on top of the sign was restored with rings that change colors. Instead of neon, the spire is LED illuminated. One of the things that I don't like about the sign is that the new "Drury Plaza Hotel" letters are painted metal flat letters that are bolted to the side of the sign. They are illuminated with floodlights shining upward from the roof. I would have preferred to have the logo outlined in neon, like the original sign was done.
The rooftop deck and pool were closing, so I went back out on the street and I caught a few night shots.
I got up the next morning and had a breakfast that was a part of the hotel package, then I walked around downtown a little more.
Texas Flags:
Market Square:
Riverwalk wildlife:
Now, before I show you my Hill Country Photos, I guess I need to get all of my ducks in a row.
My Hill Country photos are of the Willow City Loop, Enchanted Rock, and Frederickburg. As I started on my drive of the Willow City Loop, I encountered an organized bicycle ride. Here are a couple of cyclists at the top of the big hill on the loop.
Here's a view from the top of that hill. The blue areas in the valley are bluebonnets.
More Animal Life:
Enchanted Rock:
In Fredericksburg, I ate at Altdorf's German Restaurant. The food was great and behind the restaurant was St. Mary's Catholic Church. They have several buildings of different architectural styles on their campus. The first photo is of the oldest church building. It was built in 1861.
The current sanctuary was built in 1908:
A view of the two church buildings:
Across the street, they have a school building:
Here's one of the commercial buildings in downtown Fredericksburg:
On the way back to Fort Worth, I stopped along the Llano River. This is the bridge of Texas 16 from the river.
Here's the dam along the river:
Finally, I will leave you with a photo of a flower with granite rocks behind it.
This concludes my two weekend trips through the Texas Hill Country.