Tidbits from a San Antonio Newbie

So I am still unemployed, although hopefully not for long, and I though I would spend a little time blogging about some of the fun things we’ve discovered about San Antonio.

The grocery shopping is about a million times better here. There is no tax on groceries, which is a luxury we didn’t enjoy in Georgia. Also - a lot of the produce comes from nearby farms or from nearby Mexico so it is cheap and very fresh…also a luxury we didn’t enjoy at our local grocery store in Georgia.

The Mexican food is plentiful and delicious. You can’t walk a block without bumping into at least one, if not two or three, authentic Mexican dining establishments. Some are a little more upscale, and some are complete hole-in-the-wall types of places…but so far we’ve discovered that most of it is good. Last week we went to Mi Tierra, the oldest Mexican restaurant in the city, and it is open 24 hours! Needless to say, this place is very famous and is thus overrun by tourists most of the time…so I don’t know how often we’ll go there, but it was a fun experience. One of the best in the city is rumored to be Paloma Blanca’s , and we plan to visit soon.

When we’re not in the mood for Tex-Mex, there seem to be plenty of other yummy choices as well. Today for lunch we had Chris Madrid’s …and it was heavenly. A better atmosphere and better burger than Fuddruckers any day of the week. And I love Fuddruckers!

Some new friends let us borrow a very cool book of theirs, called Walking Tour of San Antonio. This book literally leads you on numerous walking tours through the historical neighborhoods, the missions, the riverwalk/downtown, the parks, etc. I learned tons of history after just browsing through the pages…and it was especially fun to read little historical tidbits about some of the homes in our surrounding neighborhood!

We quickly figured out where all the necessities are located, although a funny thing happened when Jarrod tried to go to the nearby pharmacy to buy some Advil. He walked in and realized that the Olmos Pharmacy did not in fact sell medicine any more, but rather it is an old pharmacy that still serves malts! Ha!

Soon we plan to visit the following places:

San Pedro Park: The second oldest municipal park (second only to Boston Commons) in the United States. It is supposed to be really gorgeous with a spring-fed swimming pool.

Central Market: The best HEB grocery store in town with TONS of fresh food, organic produce, and delicious meals.

And of course, we’ll plan a trip to float the Guadalupe or Comal Rivers soon!