We’re in San Antonio, TX! What brings us here is the annual Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) conference. Christine has been coming to these annual conferences for years as it is the main gathering of professionals who could use her software, TQAudit. While I was running a transcription company, I was also a member of AHDI, although not as active as Christine. In past years Christine has given presentations and twice she won an award, Innovation through Technology, for her software. This year, however, I submitted an abstract to give a presentation and was accepted. So I’ll be giving a talk on Friday. Today I wonder why I submitted an abstract! This AHDI conference has been a great way to see the country. We’ve been to cities that we probably would never have considered visiting, like Indianapolis and Milwaukee. Christine has been to Austin and Nashville. And I doubt we would have ever traveled to San Antonio, which is now the 7th largest city in the U.S. Who knew??!!!
At any rate, we left Binghamton on Sunday, July 9. I spent a couple of frantic days beforehand trying to get lake association stuff done. I had packets for the association’s annual meeting to complete (I’m secretary of the association) and then had minutes of a board of directors meeting to write up. I did get all that done, thanks to the fact that we didn’t fly out until nearly 6:00 p.m. While we were waiting for our flight to depart, we played an interesting game. I was surprised to see a new bar-like area selling snacks and beverages, sponsored by Binghamton Brewery, in the departure lounge. At the bar was a game called Suspend which involves hanging various sized rods with little U-shaped indentations from a main structure. It’s a real balancing act, but lots of fun.
We flew to Detroit and had about an hour layover. We had packed some food so we could nibble a little before flying out to San Antonio. Christine had a weird thing going on with her foot so she was having a very hard time walking. But everything worked out and we were on our way on time. It was a nice night for flying as there was a full moon, which was fun to see out the window and through the clouds.
We arrived in San Antonio close to 11:00 p.m. central time. We retrieve our luggage and got a cab to the Hilton Palacio del Rio. By the time we hit the sack, we were both extremely tired, but we did take time to take in the sights from our balcony. Our room is directly over the Riverwalk, but right across the river is a huge water tank and pumping station. So that wasn’t very nice. But the Tower Life Insurance Building is a beautiful sight, both at night and in daylight.
On Monday, we had a leisurely start to the day. But we couldn’t resist the draw of the Riverwalk for very long. We can just go out the back door of the hotel right on to the Riverwalk. We strolled along taking in the absolute beauty of the Riverwalk. The entire Riverwalk is just 2.5 miles. It is a horseshoe-shaped development of the San Antonio River. It was first developed in the 1930s and was originally built as a flood control project. It was a WPA project. Over the decades, the city determined that it should be developed as a tourist attraction housing restaurants, shops and hotels along both sides of the narrow river.
It is really beautiful, and totally unexpected. The walkways on each side of the river are beautifully landscaped. The trees are spectacular with huge Bald Cypress trees everywhere. The walkways curve and there are lovely bridges and pedestrian walkways arching over the river. Some spots have little waterfalls or a small grotto. Some stretches are quiet while others are bustling. There are a multitude of restaurants, most with outdoor seating on nice patios or terraces. And every few minutes a barge comes along full of tourists on the narrated Riverwalk boat tour.
We walked along a newer section of the Riverwalk to the convention center. We stopped every couple of feet to admire the plants, shrubs and trees and to take photos. We just couldn’t get over how beautiful everything is.
We found our way to a stretch of restaurants and decided on lunch at Café Ole. We had a light lunch of a shared fiesta salad, since the first thing the server brought to the table was a huge basket of tortilla chips.
Unfortunately, just as our lunch arrived, Christine had an emergency TQAudit issue with a customer so she was trying to take care of that. After lunch we came back to the hotel so Christine could converse with her customer. We had a little rest and decided to go back out for another little walk along the Riverwalk.
A stone’s throw from our hotel is an art and craft village called La Villita. It’s a really quaint collection of original residences and shops that have become an artists’ colony.
We wandered around there for a while and decided to do the Riverwalk boat tour. It’s about a 30 minute ride around the horseshoe Riverwalk and the newer section that dead ends at the end of 2 arms that go in opposite directions off a main channel. It was interesting to hear the commentary and get an overview of the Riverwalk. We then came back to the hotel, mostly because it was scorching hot and almost unbearable to be outside. The temperatures will be high 90s all week with 200% humidity, a real steam bath. We found a cool spot in the hotel bar. We had some yummy hors d’oeuvres and a drink and then checked out one of the hotel’s restaurant, River’s Edge. We had a nice dinner of a great chicken salad and a flatbread pizza. By then, we were both tuckered out and so we came back to the room and relaxed before falling asleep.
What a nice first full day we had in San Antonio!