Destination: San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio captures the spirit of Texas. For history buffs, San Antonio is a mecca. Native Americans first lived along the San Antonio River, calling the area "Yanaguana," which means refreshing or clear waters. Spanish explorers and missionaries discovered it in 1691, but the actual founding of the city came in 1718 when the Mission San Antonio de Valero — the Alamo — was established. The cry "Remember the Alamo" became the rallying point of the Texan revolution against Mexico. Located in the heart of downtown, today The Alamo is a shrine and museum.

This exciting crossroads has retained its sense of history and tradition, while carefully blending in cosmopolitan progress. Sounds and flavors of Native Americans, Old Mexico, Germans, the Wild West, African-Americans, and the Deep South mingle and merge. Amidst the daily hubbub of the busy metropolitan downtown — the eight largest city in the U.S. — lies one of San Antonio's jewels — the Paseo del Rio and its River Walk. This center of city life has multiple personalities — quiet and parklike along some stretches but full of activity with European–style sidewalk cafes, specialty boutiques, nightclubs, and gleaming high–rise hotels in others. Rio San Antonio Cruises, the river's floating transportation system, provides a novel method of sightseeing and peoplewatching in downtown San Antonio, as well as open-air dinner cruises. River taxis deliver visitors to Rivercenter, a dazzling three–level glass shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and to the newly expanded Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

Three hundred days of sunshine here annually provide for an abundance of sports and recreation — including golf. The La Cantera Golf Club was named the best new public course in the U.S. in 1995 by Golf Digest. In addition, the rivers in the Texas Hill Country, which forms an arc around the northern edge of San Antonio, provide venues for canoeing, tubing and white-water rafting. Area lakes and public parks provide the perfect venue for fishing, water skiing, sailing and hiking enthusiasts.