king william

It kind of bums me out when I ask people in my city if they've been somewhere, like the Art Museum, or the botanical gardens and they tell me, "no".

I usually follow that question with, "how long have you lived here?" And more often than not people have lived in the city more than 5 years and sometimes their whole lives.

I know that when I lived close to Milwaukee I did not take full advantage of the city and go see all the sites. Although I certainly made sure I'd seen all the "high points of interest" that the city had to offer.

On these past few Mondays (and I'm sure for many more Mondays to come) we've been playing tourists. It's been a blast. We look online or take recommendations from friends and find some place new, exciting and hopefully cheap (i.e. free) to explore for a couple of hours.

We don't feel like we need or want to go someplace that will take a whole day to uncover but rather little two hour trips are right up our alley. We like to sleep in and be lazy a little on Mondays and the kids don't last much longer than two hours (okay, it's really me but they are a convienent excuse).

So, yesterday morning we headed to the King William Historic District for a walking tour of historic homes. We didn't go inside any homes (even though Naomi kept asking if we could) but rather enjoyed their outward beauty. The kids did great in the strollers and only whinned when we got near the end...it was getting hot and I think Micah was bored! We let Naomi walk for a little bit but kept tight reigns on her. She really wanted to stick her hand in the river!

These homes were very beautiful and we had a little map that told us about how the homes were built and who their owners were. Some of the homes had plaques with more information as well. It was a great way to spend a Monday morning. Although we both agreed it would be even better in the fall wearing jeans and sweatshirts but then decided that would probably mean Jaunary and we didn't want to wait that long.

There is another walking tour called "The Texas Star Trail" that is a downtown walking tour that we agreed to do once it got a little cooler. I'm still debating in my head if that is something to take the kids on or not...we'll see. Have any of you San Antonians done the Texas Star Trail? What's it like? Would it be good and fun for the kids too? or better just for us grown ups?

Here are some photos from our King William Historic Tour. The photos do not do some of these home justice! They were beautiful. I may post the photos and their stories on facebook sometime if I get a chance so I'll link that here if I ever get around to it. One house was given as a wedding present...seriously mom and dad that wouldn't have been a bad idea. Just saying.

Play tourist in your city. I highly recommend it. The internet is a great place to get ideas and see what's out there. Pack up your family and a few snacks and see something new and create some great memories in the process.