Ok, folks, here they are. Sorry for the long wait. I've been a bit under the weather this week, some crappy cold, so it's been slow going with the resizing and editing. I took a ton of pictures even though I didn't get nearly as many as I wanted to thanks to not having enough time. I had a blast in San Antonio, though.
Enjoy!
Grand Hyatt San Antonio Hotel construction. Just as we drove up they were putting new sections into the crane.
Hilton Palacio del Rio Hotel. This building was built in 1968 along with the Tower of the Americas and Hemisphere Park for the Hemisphere World Fair of 1968. My aunt and uncle attended the fair.
Zenia's. Of course on the day of Lady Bird Johnson's funeral I had to get some pictures of flowers. The lighting wasn't working well here however.
Zenia's like a lot of sunlight and love hot weather. They typically grow to almost 3 feet tall.
Red Bird of Paradise Bush. These originated in tropical jungles in South America. They also of course do well in Central and South Texas.
Zoom zoom.
The Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center.
Quite inviting. It was hot and humid that day.
A hibiscus. This is the state flower of Hawaii.
I love these fountains, and the plaza at the Tower of the Americas. Great place to hang out and unwind.
A sago palm. These are actually not a species of palm tree, they're what is called a cycad. Sago palms come from Japan. These take a really long time to grow. This one here is probably no less than 20 years old. We have one also in a pot, but it doesn't look anything like this. These can get to be 20 feet across and live for over 100 years.
One of the things I love so much about San Antonio is the landscaping. The city takes great pride in its vegetation. As a plant lover myself, and someone who loves the outdoors, I really have to give a thumbs up for that.
This waterfall sounded amazing.
This is a whole bunch philodendrons. We have two of these in pots, not quite as large, but they're still 4 feet across. They're both about 15 to 20 years old. Not sure how old these are, but they're probably even older than that. Philodendrons grow wild in tropical areas in North America and South America. They can be found in tropical rain forests. Philodendrons are also poisonous. Every part of the plant produces calcium oxalate crystals which if breathed in can be very dangerous, causing coma even death. If the crystals are rubbed off on the skin a rash will occur. But in the 20 years that we've had them, we've never had a problem with them. I have never seen so many of them as in San Antonio. They're all along the Riverwalk in thick lush patches.
Up next, views from the Tower of the Americas.