“Effectively unable to take root, there are so few jobs I’m still suited for.” – Old Sean
Re-Hired
I’ve had my contract officially extended.
Following my time in China, I was hired by a tourism agency who had me traveling throughout Europe making more content and material which appealed specifically to Chinese tourists.
This sent me to Mongolia for a proof-of-concept test before being sent to Europe for several months. There, I spent time taking photos, conducting interviews, writing material and designing layouts.
My company has finally reviewed my work and found it worthy. As such, I’ve been hired for another loop. I’ve been asked to rove through the United States and Canada for the next month or so and revisit my old job responsibilities. I’ll be visiting major cities and sights throughout the US, primarily sticking to the East Coast until I reach Canada.
So, back to it.
The Doomed Car Rental
This entire trip is going to require a vehicle, which I don’t have.
Instead, my company is supplying me with a rental car which, crucially, won’t be charged by the mile. In the end, I picked up a small Hyundai Elantra and whispered an apology before climbing in.
One of the logistical problems with this trip comes from culture. I work for a Chinese company but management is largely based out of Europe, specifically London. That’s a group of people who inheritly don’t understand how large the US is. The original schedule I was given drastically underestimated the amount of time between locations and how much time I would be sleeping when I got to resting points.
Another large issue going forward is lighting. It’s winter right now, so days are shorter in North America. Many of my routes and trip designs are going to be decided by what hours possess daylight and what attractions can be photographed and visited at night.
The final issue is weather. There are certain attractions, especially further north, which simply don’t look nice. Botanical gardens and swimming features north of the Carolinas had to be shuffled out of the tourist-attraction lineups for winter-oriented features.
Despite all this, I’m ready. Decked in a heavy coat from Hohhot and a short, maroon scarf, it’s time for me to sally forth.
Remember Going South
While the first leg of my trip is heading East and then North, I made an early, short detour visiting San Antonio for the project. I had already visited Austin and Dallas on my own time, and San Antonio is the last major city in Texas which would appeal to my audience.
After driving through the night, I arrived in the city at the cusp of dawn. I hustled over to The Alamo, hoping to get several photos of the historic site before the crowds hemmed in.
The Alamo is a historically potent building. It’s an old Spanish mission and fortress compound which was a pivotal battle zone during the Texas Revolution. The volunteer defenders of The Alamo lost, decisively overrun by the Mexican army. Yet, their deaths and defiance became one of the lasting rallying cries of the generation. “Remember the Alamo” can be found on thousands of souvenirs in San Antonio.
The actual motto for San Antonio is “Libertatis Cunabula – Cradle of Freedom.” But “Remember the Alamo” is much more… memorable.
I spent some time walking around The Alamo and paused in front of the Alamo Cenotaph Monument. Before continuing, I ate a small breakfast in front of a fountain and then began walking a few blocks south.
I was still on the clock and crowds had yet to form.
The Riverwalk of San Antonio
Initially, I ducked into the enormous shopping mall called the Shops at the Rivercenter. While the building is home to an insane number of mall-venues, I bypassed most of these. The Rivercenter is one of the de facto starting points for the San Antonio Riverwalk.
I’ve been to the San Antonio Riverwalk many times. It’s the pedestrian-and-tourist superhighway thorugh the city, passing the majority of the main attractions and shops. And, to be fair, it’s worthy of it. The Riverwalk is quite beautiful, slow waters flowing between pale stone walkways, drifting in the shade slightly below street level.
All across the Riverwalk, there are gardens, statues and small artworks. I passed the Stargazer “Citlali” Statue and the giant “Torch of Friendship” monument. I overheard a tour guide talking about the large public artwork, noting that locals generally called it “The Big Orange Thing,” which is objectively accurate.
Occasionally, I would scramble up to street level for overlooks of the Riverwalk, stopping to see the 141st Infantry Regiment Historical Marker, the The Portland Loo and colorful umbrellas below.
I always enjoy the San Antonio Riverwalk. There’s so much of it the drastically beautifies the city.
Historic Squares
I continued to follow the Riverwalk, catching sights of the Kallison Love Lock Walk Bridge and eventually emerging around Plaza de Las Islas Canarias, a fountain-accented Spanish-styled plaza. By now, the city had largely woken up, and I was forced to side-step a crowd, ducking down a street near San Fernando Cathedral to continue West.
The central district to the west of the Riverwalk is one of my favorite urban spaces in San Antonio. It’s home to many stately buildings, including the Spanish Governor’s Palace, City Hall and a few smaller historic sites.
But my favorite part is Historic Market Square, a narrow district with adobe buildings and distinctly Mexican decorations. The small plazas are often decorated in hundreds of tiny, colorful flags on strings and there are several excellent culinary shops and eateries. The area is also stuffed with handmade crafts and goods, alongside cowboy hats, practical boots, Mexican imports and a stunning array of murals.
I spent an hour simply entertaining myself here, getting a proper burrito breakfast, before moving on.
Waterside Backtrack
After spending some time in the Historic Market Square, I ended up backtracking to visit other portions of the Riverwalk and the large greenspace around the Tower of the Americas. The Tower of the Americas is an enormously tall pillar in Hemisfair Park which serves as another anchor-point for the Riverwalk.
The best part about visiting this area is The Bridge Hall Grotto, an artificial cavern of stacked stone pillars and bustling little waterfalls under the streets of San Antonio. It’s not much of a specific attraction, but I always appreciate walking under it. There’s actually another Grotto to the north along the riverwalk, found near the Big Mushroom art installation and the pretty Camden Street Riverwalk Bridge. Sadly, I didn’t walk that direction this visit.
I didn’t spend much time in Hemisfair Park, except to visit the strange playground structures of Yanaguana Garden. I’ve visited the large park a few times in both my high school and university days, so there weren’t many more surprises to be found. Instead, I made it back to where I parked my car and started driving once more.
Skipped Stops
San Antonio is absolutely saturated with attractions. There are museums, historical markers, novelty eateries, popular tourist traps and indoor shopping centers every few feat. Sadly, there’s not much parking, so everything in the downtown area should be explored on foot once a person reaches the Riverwalk. I had to bypass some of my favorite attractions, including La Villita Historic Village, The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) and The Briscoe Western Art Museum.
Instead, I weaved my way free of traffic until I reached the Witte Museum, home to a surprising number of dinosaur skeletons. The museum is backed up against Brackenridge Park, so I was able to appreciate some green spaces when I exited the museum.
Garden Sinks and Walks
Since I was heading north in January, I knew that my time with garden spaces and greenery would be limited going forward. I decided to spend my early-afternoon exploring the Brackenridge Park area.
I passed the small flamingo enclosure in front of the San Antonio Zoo, eventually working towards San Antonio’s Japanese Tea Garden.
The Japanese Tea Garden is more than a little bizarre. The gardens themselves are rather normal, but many of the structures look unstable and unreal. There are stacked stone pillars with odd wooden beams sticking out. In some places, the garden waters are a sickly green, choaked with algae. In others, they’re lush blue against small forests and cliffs.
I took a long loop through the garden, visiting several short trails along the San Antonio River before hopping back into my car.
As I left San Antonio, I slowed down to glance at the World’s Largest Cowboy Boots and Comanche Lookout Park. Then, I pressed the gas pedal down, throttling my way northeast.
As mentioned before, this cross-country trip is going to be tough. I’ll be fighting a rather stark time-crunch almost everywhere I go, battling against North America distances and shorter, winter days.
Due to my schedule, I only spent a half-day visiting San Antonio. For the remaining sunlight hours, I would be heading to the distant town of Shreveport.
Shreveport Stays
While driving, I can already imagine eyes bulging from the rental company when they spy the number of miles I’ve put onto the rental car. Within the first few days, I’ve gone from Dallas to Austin to San Antonio and now to Shreveport.
I’m passing through Shreveport to visit an old friend, who offered me a place to sleep on my way East. Said old friend encouraged the purchase of cake when I arrived. We then played a drinking game centered around the N64 Super Smash Bros.
It’s pretty simple. Every time someone loses a life in the game, we pause and the person responsible for the life-loss takes a drink. Therefore, the most skilled player become the most inebriated, thus leveling the playing field.
We called it Super Smashed Bros. It doesn’t take long to level the playing field.
Aside from tilting around the living room drunkenly, we discussed a bit of literature, performed my usual narrative of storytelling, broke out a few board games, got some ambiguous Asian food (Chinese lettering, Korean dish?) and wandered through a local sword shop.
After that counter-relaxing day, I offered myself a pittance of sleep, rose blearily at 5 AM and hopped in the car to head towards New Orleans.
Shreveport is, bluntly put, not a nice town. It’s poorly designed, traffic-clogged and not terribly interesting. I loved seeing my friend, but if she hadn’t lived there, I never would’ve bothered stopping by. My company had no interest in the city and simply wanted me to forge onwards to New Orleans next.
South Road
So to New Orleans I went.
Currently, I’m at a small café on Interstate 49 grinding the heel of my hand into my forehead.
I’ve wildly underestimated how long the drive would take. When I was designing the route, I was under the impression that it would be just a three hour drive.
So far, it’s been four-and-a-half hours with traffic growing denser. I’ve stopped to reapply caffeine and fortify myself. New Orleans is going to be a rushed visit.
But since I have some time seated, I figured I could swiftly type this regarding my visit to San Antonio and Shreveport.
For me, Texas is the closest thing to home I have in this world. It feels odd to be leaving it again.
But onward I go.
Best regards and excellent trails
Old Sean
Written January 3rd 2019
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