I Cannot Recall the Alamo, Sir.

I remember my first day off in San Antonio. It was in 1996, I was on tour with Santana. I can't recall the name of the hotel we stayed in, but it was right on the Riverwalk. You'd take the elevator to the basement and there was a door right out onto it.

For those of you who have never been to San Antonio, the Riverwalk is quite nice. It's a meandering path that goes along a river (man made) through the better part of the downtown area. It's lined with restaurants sporting lots of outdoor seating, some boutique shops and lots of waterfalls/fountains. In 1996, I found this place quite charming. Since then, every time I came back to San Antonio, I'd go to the Riverwalk and sit at a different restaurant and have lunch.

This time, however, was different. I did not find the Riverwalk charming at all, I walked to it from our hotel only to find it jam packed with people and every restaurant full. Foot traffic was at a snails pace. The path is only about 6 feet wide, so people all have to walk single file or risk falling into the river. It was noisy, and smelly. It felt like a confined Bourbon Street in New Orleans, just with kids and a river. I wanted out. So the first stairwell back to the streets I could find, I took it and headed back to the hotel. I was still hungry so I stopped at Fuddruckers (Which I forgot to mention on my top 10 burger list - Honorable Mention for good buns), and had a burger. Then back to my hotel room to watch re-runs of Law and Order.

I don't know what it was that turned me off to the Riverwalk. I don't think I'd ever seen it that crowded before. Perhaps because it was a Sunday, or the fact that there was an important college football game in San Antonio the day before. Maybe I'm just getting old and don't much care for crowds of people. And I especially have no tolerance for waiting to eat. At least at Fuddruckers, I could order a burger and get it almost immediately.

To add to the day off fun, we had our end of tour party last night. The booze was paid for, so I had a few gin and tonics, before escaping for dinner with the boys and then back to the hotel room. I'm an old man.

It should also be noted, that I've never been to the Alamo. I've been to San Antonio more times that I can remember, and I still have never been to the Alamo. Does that make me unpatriotic?

...