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  #1  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 3:59 AM
John R John R is offline
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San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country

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.
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  #2  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 4:43 AM
Boris Boris is offline
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Those are some beautiful shots there. That's neat that they put a outside patio on the roof of the hotel.

The Hill country looks great.

thx
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  #3  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 5:13 AM
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KevinFromTexas KevinFromTexas is offline
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Beautiful. San Antonio is so underrated. I love the place. Love the density there near the hotel. Looks great. Thanks a bunch for taking pics from the Drury Plaza Inn/Alamo National Bank Bldg. I had hoped you would. I agree with you about the sign. While I really like the weather spire idea, I think the method of lighting has a feeling of cheapness. Plus having lights shining upwards isn't good since it creates light pollution. Other than that, the building is priceless. And I agree, Tower Life Building is my favorite old Texas skyscraper.

And great shots of the Hill Country. That shot with the blue bonnets with the hill in the background is so beautiful. Glad to call Central Texas home, makes me proud.

Casa Rio! My favorite restaurant in San Antonio. Yum! I hope to be eating here next month.
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 5:21 AM
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Enchanted Rock. To give everyone an idea of scale, those little dots at the top of the dome are people. Enchanted Rock is a 450 foot granite dome located about 20 miles north of Fredericksburg. The elevation above sea level at the top is around 1,800 feet. It's the 2nd largest such rock formation in the US behind Stone Mountain near Atlanta. There's a hiking trail on one side of the mountain, (this is how the people at the top got up there). There's also some pretty intense rock climbing. My brother rock climbs and has climbed it several times. That portion of the climb is about 300 feet high. Yep, he's braver than I.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchanted_Rock
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 6:06 AM
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John R, GREAT shots of SA and the hill country, one of the most beautiful of America's lesser-known natural areas. Don't post too many good shots of it, we need to keep it to ourselves! Have you taken the TX 337 loop west of Bandera? That drive almost rivals Blue Ridge Parkway, and is my fave in the HC. Great night shots, too.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 8:10 AM
BTinSF BTinSF is offline
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That Enchanted Rock must be a pluton: "a pluton in geology is a large bubble of molten rock that solidifies underground...." and then sometimes becomes exposed when the softer overlying material gets eroded away.

Half-dome and several other peaks in Yosemite are more of them:


Photo source: http://www.answers.com/topic/half-dome
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  #7  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 9:16 AM
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I love the look of this parking garage under construction.

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Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 4:31 PM
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Great pictures, the TX countryside in that part of the State is beautiful and I love the older architecture in SA.

Thanks for the Geology lesson on Pluton's BTinSF.
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 5:43 PM
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Awesome photos of my favorite Texas city. Thanks for sharing!
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  #10  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 7:13 PM
John R John R is offline
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Kevin, even though I don't like the type and lighting on the sign itself, that probably was the best way to do it. Hotels change brands quite often, so if the Drury chain doesn't operate that hotel in the future, the exposed neon tubing would be quite expensive to replace. Replacing the flat metal letters is relatively easy compared with other methods of display. Sirkingwilliam, I think they are adding more hotel rooms on top of the existing garage.

Boquillas, the Fort Worth Bicycling Association does a ride in the area called "The Leakey Death Ride" in October. It is a 220 mile long, three day bike tour. We start in Bandera and head north on 173, west on 2828, north on 16 to Medina, west on 337 through Vanderpool and we continue on to Leakey for about 60 miles. We spend the night in Leakey, and then we continue west on 337 to Camp Wood, then north on 55 and 335 and we follow the Nueces River northward. We turn east on 41, then south on 336 along the Frio River back to Leakey. That is an approximate 100 mile loop and then we spend the night again in Leakey. On the return trip, we go south on 83 and 1120 until we head east on 1050. At Utopia, we offset and continue eastward on 470 until we get to 16 and then head east to Bandera for another 60 mile day. So, the answer to your question is yes, I have ridden a bicycle over the 337 loop. I've also ridden on some of the other roads in the area.

Everyone, thank you for the comments on the photographs. Keep them coming. I would like to keep this thread on the top for a while.
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 7:19 PM
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great pics. SA is awesome, i can't wait to go back. it's been 11 years since i was there.

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Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 7:39 PM
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Love those hill country photos with all of the blue bonnets! Such a pretty setting.
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  #13  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 10:26 PM
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An entertaining and informative thread. Good stuff. Love the river walk, the old Alamo Bank bldg (I didn't know it's now a hotel), the Life Tower (? I think that's the name of the old tower you so prominantly displayed), and the hill country. I'm ashamed to admit I never knew about the Enchanted Rock, very cool. Great tour John, thanks.
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  #14  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2007, 10:44 PM
John R John R is offline
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The old building is the Tower Life Building. You were close. It was constructed in 1929, just a little before the Depression hit. It's original name was the Smith-Young Tower, but it was renamed in 1955 to the Tower Life Building. The Alamo National Bank also opened in the same year. This hotel conversion gives the public a great chance to see wonderful bank lobby. I would highly recommend staying in the Drury Plaza Hotel. The views from the roof are well worth the price of a hotel room.

The Hill Country is my favorite part of Texas. The reason that I like it so much is because it is so different from my part of the state where most of the hills are very small in comparison. In the Hill Country, the rivers are crystal clear and the air is clean. In the spring, you can't beat the display of wildflowers. Enchanted Rock is definitely worth a trip, and we have ridden our bicycles to the rock from Fredericksburg before. The Willow City Loop is just a few miles from the rock, so everything is within an easy drive or bicycle ride.
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Old Posted Jul 2, 2007, 1:15 AM
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They call it the hill country I call it beautiful. I call it progress if it could be saved. They call it the hill country I call it home, and what will they call it when it is leveled and paved - They Call It the Hill Country by Randy Rogers Band
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Old Posted Jul 2, 2007, 1:23 AM
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These are beautiful.

What's the big red building in the center of this picture? Richardsonian...

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Old Posted Jul 2, 2007, 1:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by plinko View Post
These are beautiful.

What's the big red building in the center of this picture? Richardsonian...


That is the Bexar County courthouse.

Last edited by sirkingwilliam; Jul 2, 2007 at 1:37 AM.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jul 2, 2007, 3:40 AM
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Thanks for the photo tour. SA is so awesome, I don't care what anyone says. I love the Marriott Rivercenter, especially at night.
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Old Posted Jul 2, 2007, 4:05 AM
John R John R is offline
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Plinko, that is the Bexar County Courthouse and it was completed in 1896. An addition, in 1914 more than doubled its size. The addition matched the original building in design and construction. Several other small additions and alterations were made through the years. It is the largest county courthouse building in the State of Texas.
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Old Posted Jul 2, 2007, 4:41 AM
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John-- Ever see Lance on any of your hill country rides?
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