![]() A Unique Bed & Breakfast In the Heart of San Antonio's Historic District
Ron and Prudence invited Fred and I to come down to San Antonio for a visit in late July, staying with them at their bed and breakfast Ruckman Haus, shown at left. The occasion was that most of Ron's family from Illinois was going to be down there with them, and he wanted Fred and I to visit with them and, of course, with Guy. So Fred and I hopped a Southwest flight on Friday night, August 22nd, and we were down in San Antonio in time for dinner with everyone. When we visit Ron and Prudence, it is usually just to hang out with them. They like seeing Fred whenever they can, and there is usually some advice Prudence needs about her website, but mostly they just like the company. Ron always does a great breakfast, and there are often little day trips and such. This time, Ron has planned an outing on the River in San Antonio. You've seen pictures of the Riverwalk before, but what you might not know is that there are dinner boats (barges) the cruise up and down the river serving meals and giving tours. That's what Ron has planned for everyone for Saturday night. Since that was the only night that Fred and I took pictures, let's get right to it.
The Cast of Characters
While the movies are pretty good at introducing everyone, there are some people here you haven't seen before. One of Ron's sisters- Laurie- was visiting San Antonio. Laurie's husband could not get away to join them. So Laurie brought here close friend, Laura, instead. Laurie has three children- Hannah, Susie and Micah. Here is a picture of Laurie and her family. Laura brought her two children Cassie and Chris, and here is a picture of Laura and her family.
Waiting for the Dinner Cruise
Boarding the Dinner Cruise
Well, it was only a short wait until the restaurant had prepared the river barge for boarding, and so we boarded the cruise boat. I made a movie while we were doing that, and you can watch it with the left-hand player, below. We weren't the only people on the dinner cruise; I guess we were a majority, though. We all took our seats towards the front of the boat, and some other diners took the rest of the seats back towards the steering platform. I made one more movie of our party boarding the barge, and you can watch it with the right-hand player, below:
Dinner is Served
While the adults were chatting, I suspect that the kids were a bit bored, not even having the luxury of imbibing, but the time we spent at the dock wasn't that long. At one point, I had to explain why I was adding Equal to my margarita, and you can see my explanation in the movie I made; watch it with the player at left.
Since I was taking most of the pictures, I had to rely on Micah to take at least one picture of
me,
since I didn't appear in any except the ones that Fred took. The rest of the pictures taken at this point in the cruise just record the period before dinner was served. You can view the full-size images of the pictures taken by myself, Fred and Micah by clicking on the thumbnails below:
The Cruise
Our route took us back north along the west side of the central circle and back again into the more commercial area of the Riverwalk. North of the area where we made our second turnaround there is again relatively little hotel/restaurant/tourist stuff; it is mostly an area of office buildings and such. In fact, the Riverwalk is just now being extended to the north, and a lot of this area is still being finished. Just above the last hotels there was another place the boat could turn around, and then we headed back south and then across the top of the central circle and back to our starting point. I took quite a few movies to try to capture some of the commentary that the tour guide was giving us and also to give you a better idea than still pictures can of what the cruise was like. Below are links to allow you to view these movies, and they are organized in the order they were taken along the route, so maybe you can deduce where we were when they were taken. Just click on the various movie players below to watch them:
Heading Home
The dinner cruise was a great deal of fun, and of course all the thanks go to Ron and Prudence for giving us such a special evening. After the cruise docked, we walked along the Riverwalk itself for a ways, coming up near one of the really neat downtown buildings whose lights were just coming on. We came up by one of the many bridges over the Riverwalk and then walked a couple of blocks back to the car. It was a very enjoyable evening. Ron had to go to the store for some stuff for tomorrow morning's breakfast, so he gave Micah a ride in his S2000. Fred and I returned to Dallas the next evening, although Laurie and Laura stayed into the next week.
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Ron and Prudence Ruckman
stay@ruckmanhaus.com |