Quarrying for books (and whatever else you need)

After work the other day I headed for Borders at the Alamo Quarry Market to get a gift for an upcoming baby shower (librarians tend to give books for all sorts of occasions).

The shopping center has been there more than 10 years, but I still think of it as a novelty, replacing the old, mostly vacant Alamo Cement Plant that closed down completely in 1986 (the company moved to a new location on the outskirts of town). I can remember driving Hal to the babysitter's along the freeway next to the plant and having him point out the smokestacks to me. "Smokestacks" was one of his first 2-syllable words, in fact, so this was a long time ago (he'll be 29 in April—yikes! that makes me feel old!—and has a very impressive vocabulary of multi-syllable words now).

At any rate, the rather mournful-looking industrial plant that we had gotten used to seeing was a bustling enterprise earlier in the century, known, along with the surrounding neighborhood, as Cementville in the late 1940's when its product was in great demand for the post-war building boom. (You can read some more of its history in the Handbook of Texas, an excellent source of Texas history information.)

The shopping center not only retained the iconic smokestacks (which are lit rather dramatically at night) that so tickled my little boy's fancy, but some of the original machinery of the plant is still there, like the tractor at the left. I wonder if the people who designed and manufactured it, or the people who used it to make cement those many years ago, ever thought it would be honored this way, as a sort of public sculpture?

You can buy all kinds of things besides books at the Quarry—craft supplies at Michaels, bulk spices at Whole Foods, toner and copier paper at Office Max, hiking boots at Whole Earth (not related to Whole Foods), jewelry at James Avery. There's also entertainment options such as the cinema shown below, an ever-growing panoply of restaurants, and some stores that are as much entertainment as shopping venues, such as Restoration Hardware and Victoria's Secret. Another favorite of my kids when they're in town is Amy's Ice Cream, shown on the right below.


It's quite a sprawling place, with new sections still opening up and contributing to traffic congestion, offering everything from housing to office space (not to mention the popular golf course which pre-dates the shopping center). I'm just glad I don't have kids in middle school any more, since the road past the original Quarry development was the way we used to drive over there. It would take at least twice as long today!

Rather attractive in its design, and certainly providing lots of convenient shopping, my main gripe with the place is its pedestrian unfriendliness, taking much of the advantages from the otherwise good idea of combining errands. I have parked in the middle of the lot and walked to Michaels then over to Office Max, but in the heat of summer that's a trek that will take a lot out of you. So your only option is to drive from one parking spot to another, and that just seems wrong to me.


Especially as the place keeps getting bigger and bigger, wouldn't a little tram service (or at least giving over some of that parking area to trees and walkways) be a good idea?

My favorite fast food

I had to pick up lunch on the way to work yesterday after going to the eye doctor and tried to get interested in a hamburger from one of the many options near that office. But I just couldn't work up enthusiasm for anything but Taco Cabana's crispy beef tacos. There might be better ones elsewhere, but these don't miss by much. Plus, they're so easy to acquire using the drive-thru that winds around the festively painted structure on the right.

(Their chicken fajitas are also first-rate, and some in my family swear by their quesadillas. But, when faced with a choice, I usually go for old reliable—the crispy beef.)

And, because I wasn't too far from my house yesterday, I could get them from the original location. Yes, the Taco C nearest my neighborhood (see picture above on the left) was once the only one there was (now the company website says they have 140). In the picture on the right above, snapped from my car window after I gave them my order, you can see part of the funky inside-outside dine-in area that makes this particular location still unique.

Here's what yesterday's lunch (part of it was saved to make a portion of last night's dinner, too) looked like after I'd worked on it a while:


Yum! Now that I've made myself good and hungry, I'd better go start tonight's dinner!

The lake over the canyon

In spite of not exactly balmy temperatures Sunday, Henry and I went sailing on Canyon Lake with my brother-in-law and his wife. The last time we joined them for a sail, the boat's rudder broke, so we hoped not to bring such bad luck this time. And other than a bit chillier wind than we'd have liked, all was well.

Since the lake level is pretty low, due to our prolonged drought, not all of the boat ramps were operational and we ended up sailing around an area not too close to our usual haunts, but near the dam, part of which structure you can see above on the right. It's a pretty imposing piece of engineering, creating a lake whose surface spreads over more than 8,000 acres. We sometimes regret the lovely canyons and no doubt wonderful stretches of kayaking along the Guadalupe River that the lake obliterated, starting when the dam was constructed in 1958. But it has certainly saved the downstream areas from several devastating floods during its lifetime, and it performs a worthy water conservation function, too. As well as giving us a place to sail.

Speaking of flood control, in 2002 a severe flood (it's always either droughts or floods around here) caused the lake to overtop the spillway that you can barely see in the background of the photo above on the left. This is the first and only time that the lake level got this high. The raging water that flowed over the spillway created a new canyon below the dam, now called Canyon Lake Gorge, as it found its way eventually into the lower Guadalupe on downstream. We are hoping to take one of the tours of the Gorge later this spring.

In the foreground of the picture of the spillway you see a odd little metallic object (somewhat UFO-like) that happens to be attached to the back of the sailboat. It's a barbecue grill! I'll tell you, we travel in style on this boat! On the right is a picture of our gracious hosts down in the cozy compartment where the food, drink, washing up area, and even a little loo are located. (It's also a good place to get out of the wind, which was welcome on occasion during this trip.)

Here's a picture of the boat motoring up to shore to pick up the girls. You might notice the contrast in the weather between this photo and the ones at the top of the post. We had about 20 minutes of nice sunshine before the clouds rolled back in. Changeable weather is another of our South Texas hallmarks. You can also see the whole dam, albeit at some distance, in the background of this photo.


However, you can't see the side of the boat with its very special name. It's called the Tootsie, after my dear, late mother-in-law, whose birthday just happens to be today. She loved the lake and spent many happy hours at the house she bought there and merrily tramping around the property, in addition to boating with her children and grandchildren. We wish you could have gone sailing with us yesterday, Tootsie—we miss you!

Welcome to my new blog!

Recently having spent the longest period away from home ever (a whole semester in London, teaching in a study abroad program), I've come home to South Texas vowing to see the familiar with fresh eyes. Since I caught the blogging bug while in London (see Bridges to London) it made sense to start a new one at home—where I'd attempt to see things around here, as much as possible, as a tourist would.

Of course, I do enjoy traveling, for business and pleasure, and have friends and relatives all over the world that I enjoy visiting and that are gracious enough to welcome me. So sometimes I will venture far afield (although no trips as far afield as Europe are planned for the near future at least) and will include more conventional tourist musings, growing out of these trips, here as well.

But since I returned from London in mid-December, I've traveled no farther than the Hill Country, the upper Guadalupe River to be exact, and that's where I took the picture that forms my current title graphic, as well as the two photos in the body of the post above. (My husband's blog contains many more photos of this and other paddling trips that he's taken.)

I also go to work most days, and this journey takes me across a good bit of San Antonio. Today I was made freshly aware of what tourist-worthy sights I encounter on this daily trip, as the early morning sunlight made Woodlawn Lake especially photogenic.

However, I also was reminded of how difficult it is to think like a tourist, as I did in London, when your daily routine is as well-established as mine is here. I intended to stop on the way home from work and take some more photos of the lake from the other end, but completely forgot about this plan as I was consumed with the routine of driving, thinking about what to get at the store before heading home, what I needed to do once I got there, etc., etc.

However, in the future I will try my best to find scenes of beauty, quirkiness, or at least scenic or cultural interest, as I go about my daily business. Although a quite interesting city in its own right, San Antonio isn't London. So I doubt if I'll find material as often as I did there to fill these pages. But I'll try to post as often as I can, and am aiming a few posts a week. Wish me luck!