You see, my family doesn’t really go on family trips anymore. Before I was born, my 5 older siblings got to go to Disneyland and all these other places simply because my dad was in the right condition to drive them everywhere. Now, 20 years later and a 16 year old daughter to keep up with, my not-so-youthful parents can’t handle the long drives, the hot air, or anything for that matter. I had, for years, bugged my dad to take me somewhere out of town. Not 100 miles away from the hot El Paso, but somewhere where we could stay longer than a day in a city I knew nothing about.
I had started high school and my dad mentioned to me about halfway through the year we were taking a trip to San Antonio during spring break. It’s not at eventful and exciting as California or New York could be, but hey, I was pretty stoked. So, months passed and we finally got to the month of March. I had everything ready: iPod, cellphone, clothes, and shoes. I was ready to finally have my first trip out of town.
The trip was a 7 hour drive, with about three or four stops in between. Man, I nearly died of boredom. Even though I had my nephew (who was about to be 16 at the time) there to keep me company, we got tired of talking and laughing.
I thought the trip was amazing at how the landscape changed from dirt and weeds, to hills and tall green trees. I thought it was so beautiful. I loved San Antonio immediately. Since my dad is handicapped, we had to find a hotel that was accessible for him. We still didn’t have a hotel for the first night, so we went to my Aunt Sandy’s house who lived in San Antonio and went on a hotel serch. Half an hour later, we found one. We said bye to my Aunt Sandy and checked in to the hotel. The hotel was Knights Hotel. The worst hotel, in my opinion, to stay at. It was right by the highway, all these noises in the walls, and the bathroom scared me senseless,plus I had to share a bed with my crazy nephew. Besides, the hospitality was not so good either.
We stayed there for 5 days and 4 nights. We spent all we could in San Antonio. I went to Six Flags (which was so fun, excluding the two our wait for a 3 minute ride), Sea World, shopping at the San Marcos Outlet, and on the fourth day we had a family day and went to the movies and drove around San Antonio, the fifth day we drove home.
After we came home, I was so depressed cause I wanted to stay in San Antonio. I loved it there. I spent time looking into colleges over there and took interest in University of Texas at San Antonio . So I knew for a fact the next year we go I want to check out the campus so that maybe I could go to college over there.
A year passed and I was a sophomore, spring break was coming up and me and my parents were making plans to go on vacation to San Antonio, and this time go to Corpus Christi (since I haven’t been to a beach either). I was going to be more aware this time we go, and look at the surroundings I never saw the previous year.
My nephew was of course going with us, because I can’t go alone. However, the point in this trip was to do things differently than last year and do the things we didn’t get the chance to do.
When we arrived in San Antonio we stayed in a much better hotel called La Quinta Inn. The first full day we were in San Antonio we went to Corpus Christi. I was lucky enough to have my friend Erin accompany us because she was in San Antonio with her dad. We got there, and I loved the weather. Cloudy, windy, and then the smell of the water was perfect to me. We spent little time in the water because I got scared of the fish that could be swimming around my legs or the “Beware Jellyfish Might Sting” sign that was up. We went home later that day. The next day we went to the Outlet in San Marcos again; since that place was so big, it took us hours to look at the whole place. The following day we went to visit the campus UTSA (which is beautiful, by the way), and I got so much information that could possibly let me apply to that school this next year. The next day we went to the River Walk, and I got to try lobster for the first time; and I did not like it. The last day we just drove around San Antonio and relaxed and slept for the next day since it was a long drive back home.
Since those two trips, I have not once said I never want to go back. I want to go back this next year and do even more. I really have my mind set on San Antonio, and my family wants to move over there with me so I’ll be fine. I may have not visited other states or cities, but I love the fact that this is so close in my reach and it’s much different than El Paso. Which is what I’m aiming for. Literally my first and last trip.
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