Last year’s Spring Break trip had the misfortune of being the first week of the Covid-19 pandemic (the UN officially declared it a “pandemic” on March 11, 2020), which strongly affected our lives for the remainder of 2020, and continued to influence us as 2021 began. As it did for all other sensible people, the pandemic meant we canceled summer vacation plans for 2020, and didn’t do any other traveling either — aside from very local, very careful day trips.

This year, we thought long and hard about whether to do anything for Spring Break 2021. On one hand, millions of vaccines have been administered nationwide and coronavirus infection rates have been dropping (along with death tolls and hospitalizations), but on the other hand it’s still spreading, I’m not yet eligible for the vaccine, and Texas recently threw all caution to the wind and lifted most pandemic-related restrictions. I think what tipped the scales in favor of “yes, let’s do something for Spring Break” (besides the very strong desire) was that in the aftermath of our governor ending the statewide mask mandate we observed most places continuing to enforce their own, and most people continuing to wear masks and practice social distancing — about the same number of people that were doing it during the mask mandate.

With my wife already vaccinated, the knowledge that young children are not the primary drivers of the pandemic’s spread, and knowing that all along we’ve been more careful than almost anyone we know, we decided to play the odds. (The main risk, perhaps obviously, would be me getting infected. I always feel better about risking myself than others.) Throughout the decision-making process, I believed that doing anything like a normal Spring Break trip would be selfish and perhaps stupid, so I will not be offended if anyone reading the following comes to that conclusion also. Yet I do claim the right to occasionally be selfish and stupid.

Choosing A Destination

One reason we chose San Antonio as our destination is that it’s relatively close — it would require fewer stops, gas fillups, and restaurant visits than a more distant destination — thus reducing our chances of catching or spreading anything. Another reason we chose it is that San Antonio (along with Austin and Houston) is one of the progressive-leaning cities in Texas, where local leaders pushed back against the incompetent state government throughout the pandemic — indicating that the local population also has a little more sense than elsewhere. And, of course, we truly enjoyed our visit there in 2019.

Outbound Trip

We left our house at 10:27 on Monday and made good time heading south — even through Austin’s notoriously clogged traffic, stopping for lunch in Kyle at noon. Though we tend to avoid Chick-fil-A for socially-conscious reasons, it was the place with the most efficient drive-thru and we were looking for fast and easy. They moved twenty cars through in a few minutes while the McDonald’s next door had trouble moving five cars in the same amount of time. We ate in the car, parked nearby, and watched an accident right in front of us (right next to a Kyle Police vehicle, so officers were on scene before it even happened).

In no hurry (because hotel check-in wasn’t until 16:00), we stopped at the popular outlet malls in San Marcos, buying clothes at the Gap outlet store and books at a Book Warehouse. Almost everyone we saw wore masks and practiced social distancing (and all the bio-terrorists we saw who didn’t were white).

We arrived at our hotel — the Embassy Suites located on the former Brooks Air Force Base — at 15:42 and checked in without trouble. (I remember Brooks AFB from my time living near San Antonio; it was apparently closed in 2011 and since then quite a bit of commercial development has taken place in the area.) Throughout our stay at the hotel, all employees wore masks and almost all guests did too — except while swimming or eating — and I observed most people being sensible with distancing, most noticeable in elevator usage. The place was clean and spacious with plenty of amenities. Unlike many hotel rooms, this one had outlets everywhere, and quite a few USB ports for charging multiple devices. Also, the location was perfect — surrounded by a wide-open greenbelt, yet incredibly convenient access to major roads (like I-37 and I-410) which took us quickly to every place we wanted to go.

In all, our outbound trip covered 149 miles.

Rest Of Day One

The children insisted on swimming, despite our warnings that the water would be cold, so we took them down as soon as we got our stuff into the room. B only lasted a few minutes before turning bluish-purple, and M took him up for a warm shower. R lasted longer, but had to get out several times for recovery.

We dined at IHOP — our first indoor dining experience since the restrictions set in early last year. (I think Bush’s Chicken in late March 2020 was the last time we ate inside a restaurant.) It had recently been reopened for indoor dining, so the staff wasn’t quite prepared for it, but they managed. The food was good, the place was mostly empty (it’s the only time I’ve ever seen an IHOP mostly empty), everyone wore masks except while eating/drinking, and staff made sure to seat customers at a distance from each other, leaving empty tables between everyone.

We were back at the hotel by 19:00 and stayed there for the evening. The children have said several times that all they really wanted to do on vacation was stay in a hotel, and they seemed most happy while doing exactly that.

Day Two: Downtown San Antonio

We breakfasted in the hotel (the “1917 Restaurant”), which included scrambled eggs, roast potatoes, sausages, pancakes, and bacon (and a couple of different items on subsequent days). Service was quick and efficient with a roped off area to keep guests distant from staff. A fast-working staff member at the drink station made sure guests got drinks of choice without any of us touching anything, and tables in the dining room were well-spaced.

Next was Legoland Discovery Center inside the Rivercenter Mall (“the Shops At Rivercenter” is the current name of the mall), for which we’d reserved tickets in advance. We were the first ones in line and therefore the first people inside when they opened. It was just as fun as two years ago, if not more so because we knew what to expect. For the “build it yourself” area, they had pre-packaged sets of Legos for each child (instead of grab-and-share like last time), and each set got sanitized before being rebagged for the next child. We bought a few items in the gift shop on the way out, including something I had seen online recently — a Lego chess set for me.

We ate lunch at Dave & Busters inside the mall, where the food was amazing and the service quick. Again, tables were spaced due to the pandemic.

After lunch, we walked a bit in the mall and bought a couple of souvenirs for the children. At 15:00, we visited the Alamo (having reserved our time online before the trip), which was almost too crowded for social distancing, though everyone I saw was wearing a mask. I did walk through the gift shop there, but I already have enough coffee mugs, T-shirts, keychains, etc. I did see a very nice shoulder bag (“man purse”) that I would have bought if I didn’t already have enough of that too.

We were back to the hotel by just after 16:00, at which point RnB wanted to swim again, so...

The hotel offered two free drinks per guest each evening, so we took advantage of that on this particular evening; Sprite for MRB and coffee for me (though the free drinks included alcoholic beverages as well). We drank them out on the veranda because the weather was perfect for it.

Supper in the 1917 Restaurant (in the hotel). Again, service was quick/efficient and the food was amazing. I had a gigantic burger while MRB had pizza baked in a wood-fired oven; they said it was delicious.

Day Three: Tea Garden, Quarry Market

After another breakfast in the hotel, on Wednesday (March 17) we visited the Japanese Tea Garden (which, after the Alamo, is one of the must-do things for visitors to San Antonio). The last time M and I went there was in 2007, and all of the water had been drained from the fish ponds for some renovation. This time, a bunch of the plants were dead from the ice storm a few weeks ago, but grounds personnel were busy replacing them and it was still enjoyable. B got to climb some rocks (which meant we had to climb them too, in order to keep up with him) and we made some memorable photos there. It’s free, and opens early (dawn), so remember to add this to your list if you ever head to San Antonio.

Leaving there, I just drove around randomly, which M sometimes allows me to do if I warn her ahead of time and if we’re not on a tight schedule. We accidentally found the City of Olmos Park, which is a very tiny, entirely residential (as far as I can tell), and very wealthy municipality of just over 2,000 people, entirely surrounded by San Antonio. The mansions there were ridiculous, including one with a bridge from one part of the house to another. (According to Wikipedia, the CEO of AT&T lives there, as does a cofounder of Southwest Airlines.)

Then we went to Alamo Quarry Market, a shopping center we’d seen from the highway in 2019 and which is billed as “a premiere lifestyle center” (really just a shopping center), where we shopped at Whole Earth Provision Co., which I had never heard of before, but is pretty nice (and difficult to describe: it’s not quite a sporting goods store, nor a gift shop, but something like a combination of the two). While in there, a family of white bio-terrorists came in without masks, and the staff promptly enforced the store’s strict mask policy. Instead of simply putting on masks, the bio-terrorists chose to leave. I later thanked the brave woman who had approached them, and instead of just buying a couple of trinkets for the kids as we’d intended, we spent over a hundred dollars there.

We ate lunch at Freddy’s in the same shopping center, and then got dessert at a Marble Slab Creamery close to our hotel. (It was combined with a Great American Cookie, so B got a cookie dessert instead of ice cream.) While we ate our desserts in the car, I drove around some more of the former Brooks AFB and saw some of the other other development, including medical research facilities and a large pharmaceutical manufacturing building (without a company name on it).

Once more, RnB went in the pool, but this time not for long. The wind was stiff and the water still very cold.

We had supper at Taqueria La Perla De Jalisco, which is locally owned and sources its ingredients from local farmers markets. Not only was the service fantastic, but the food was ready in less than ten minutes and tasted great. I ate everything on my (very large) plate and R said her chicken nuggets were the best she ever had. We were very glad that our first choice (Chili’s) had been packed with a long wait time.

Last Day: Natural Bridge Caverns

As with our 2019 SATX trip, we stopped at Natural Bridge Caverns on the way home (Thursday, March 18) — it’s on the way, so it makes sense. First, we spent a lazy morning in the hotel, eating one more lavish breakfast and packing slowly. The drive to Schertz was easy enough and we had lunch at Bill Miller Bar-B-Q (another San Antonio area institution) and filled up with gas. Then a quick drive west to the caverns.

Unlike last time, when we parked right up front experienced no wait times, this time the place was packed. I assume it wasn’t only due to Spring Break, but also due to so many other Texans finally breaking out of their pandemic shells. Like everyone else, we’d reserved our tickets online (and paid in advance), and like everyone else we had arrived on time but didn’t know to include a long wait time in our plans. By the time the check-in line moved forward, our appointed tour time had passed (but so had everyone else’s). Staff simply marked through the time on our tickets and put us on the next tour, which they seemed to be doing with everyone. Everyone stayed masked the entire time, and all guests were warned that they’d be kicked out of the cave if they took off their masks. Our tour was just as fun as last time and because RnB were older they went through like champs. Afterward, though, we were ready to head home.

Inbound Trip

We left NBC just after 14:00 and zipped northward on I-35. Then came to a screeching halt just north of Buda. Fortunately, we were exactly at the exit for the 45/130 toll road, for which we have the pre-paid sticker on our car. So we took the toll road (speed limit 80 mph) around Austin, Round Rock, and Georgetown, and then resumed our regular route home. I didn’t time or measure the home trip, but it went smoothly and quickly overall.

We found the house much as we’d left it, and immediately started doing several loads of laundry and trying to settle back in. That evening, I assembled my newly acquired Lego chess set (with significant help from the children) and then played B a game on the new set.

Some Downsides

This vacation wasn’t perfect (is any vacation perfect?) But the downsides were so few and minor that I decided to save them for this short bullet-point list:

• Our hotel room hadn’t been vacuumed before our arrival; there were food crumbs visible in the carpet. It was a simple matter to clear up — the cleaning staff vacuumed it while we were out of the room for supper.
• As with every hotel we’ve ever known, the toilet paper was low-grade. We assumed this in advance and brought our own.
• It was truly too cool to swim, and the hotel’s pool was shaded by the building in the afternoons, which is why I didn’t even bring a swimsuit, but the children enjoyed the chilly water nonetheless — after more than a year without swimming.
• There are simply not enough restaurants in and near the Riverwalk. We had planned to eat at the same one we enjoyed in 2019 — the Republic Of Texas — but there was quite the waiting list, and we found the same to be true at all other restaurants down there — some waits as long as an hour. In hindsight, we should have simply waited at the first place, but instead we walked from one to the other, hoping to find a shorter wait and spent an hour both in the Riverwalk and up on the street level before deciding to head back to the mall where we found Dave & Busters to be the only eatery without a wait time.
• The server spilled R’s Sprite on her at the 1917 Restaurant, so M had to take her up for a quick shower.

Conclusion

Overall, I was impressed with the level of citizen cooperation — relating to the pandemic — on this trip. My guess is 98 or 99 percent of all people we saw wore masks indoors and a fairly large percentage wore them outdoors too, especially in and around San Antonio. Social distancing was observed in the great majority of cases. Most businesses continued to enforce reduced capacity, despite our state’s silly and harmful GOP leadership. I felt safer and smarter about this vacation afterward than I had before it.

As a vacation, it was a bit weird, due to the backdrop of the pandemic, but it was also very, very nice to experience some of these things we’ve been doing without for so long (indoor dining, going to tourist sites, etc.) The children were better behaved than ever before, and our vehicle performed without a hitch. The weather simply could not have been better (60s at night and 70s or low 80s in the afternoons).