My son wants to visit the Alamo in late June.
Any suggestions for a trip there?
Thanks
For the historical feel, the Alamo is the place to start. You might as well make a day of touring the other missions, aqua duct. Before leaving the downtown area and heading south for the missions, check out the King William historical district of beautiful old mansions. I had my first communion at Mission San Jose, but my favorite is Mission Concepcion. Now days, the missions have guided tours but you can do them on your own if you wish. Pack a picnic lunch to eat on the grounds or stop in at some local joint.
When at Mission Espada, if you're into ghosties, drive over to the railroad tracks (see the national parks map linked below). Go east to Villamain, then south to Shane Rd. Go across the tracks, turn around, park a little away from the tracks, turn off car and put into neutral and your car will be pushed to safety by the ghosts of children who were killed when their school bus was hit by a train. If you sprinkle baby powder on your trunk and back bumper, you might see little hand prints. All the streets around are named for the children. Some say the story is bunkus, but you need to decide for yourself. Don't worry about parking in the middle of the road because chances are you'll not be the only car doing it. Everyone goes out there so don't worry if there are a bunch of strangers because you're all doing the same thing. Last time we went we had lots of fun when some high schoolers drove up and we all did it about a half dozen times. You'll know you're in the right place if there's discarded baby powder containers everywhere. Check out the link for other hauntings in San Antonio.
If you or your son likes Easter egg hunts or treasure hunts then you might want to do a few geocaches. Take your gps, pencil, and a bag of cheap little toys for swag. More info at the link. Make a free account and type in San Antonio's zip code, 78205, on the first page which will take you to a page of caches in the city. Scroll about half way and click on one of them. That will take you to a cache page, but scroll down to the link for “geocaching.com google map”. That will give you an interactive map of all the caches along your route.
There are lots of parks. The Witte museum is free on Tuesdays. Do the River Walk to La Villita (that's where grampy bashed through walls in the story).
Everything above is free!
The mall across the street from the Alamo is River Center. That's where you start the River Walk or take a short boat ride. There's also an IMAX in the mall.
Breckenridge park has the zoo which is great. There's a miniature train at the zoo, but pass that up because there may still be homeless camps along the tracks. Also there is the botanical gardens.
Most all the museums have one free day per week (usually Tuesdays or Thursdays). The Witte is very good. There's also military sights.
El Mercado (Market Square - W. Commerce and N. Santa Rosa) is fun for music, shopping, eating and people watching. The best place to eat is Mia Tierra’s which has been there forever and has a wonderful bakery. If you get thirsty, get a watermelon juice from one of the outside stands.
It's sad, but downtown has encroached into the the Alamo area however there are quirky shops and places to stop into within a couple block area - Ripley's and the wax museum.
There's also Fiesta Texas and Sea World if he likes amusement parks. Or catch a major league game. Or nearby is Natural Bridge Caverns and Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch.
Whew, if that doesn't keep y'all busy...
http://www.visitsanantonio.com/visitors/save/index.aspx
http://www.nps.gov/saan/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm
http://www.saconservation.org/tours/sitevisits_kingwilliam.htm
http://www.saconservation.org/pdf/kwwalkingtour.pdf