Reunion in San Antonio

It all began decades ago at Lowell High School in San Francisco where four guys became great friends. Three had known each other as young lads, the fourth joined up later, and the bounds continue to this day.

In recent years, their occasional lunches in northern California changed when Bill and his wife Linda moved to San Antonio. This left the others, Jerry and Anna Lee, Harold and Coral, and Pete and Anne with no choice but to plan an invasion of Texas.

All visits to San Antonio are centered on the river. So, shortly after putting our luggage in our rooms, we were on the River Walk, first seeking dinner, a tough choice amidst so many wonderful restaurants. We chose the Iron Cactus and discovered they laid claim to really good margarita’s.


Our table on the river afforded us a beautiful view while we enjoyed a luscious Mexican dinner. We then took a river boat tour enjoying the spectacular beauty of the buildings and the glittering lights.





San Antonio is most famous for the Alamo which today is only the chapel and barracks of the original fort destroyed by Santa Ana. The museum displays memorabilia of the battle and from such famous defenders as Bowie, Travis and Crocket as well as items from the movies made depicting the battle. The docent’s history lecture reminded us of the battle’s place within the history of North America.


We met up with Bill and Linda at the Carriage House on the grounds of the Botanical Gardens. There over a very good lunch, the men updated each other on their lives and the women got better acquainted. Bill and Linda left us wandering through the Botanical Garden.


The gardens and conservatory were quite lovely and the collection of playhouses amusing. The shop also had some worthy offerings.

For dinner at Silo Elevated Cuisine, Bill had suggested mess dress attire (he is retired navy) but relented and permitted us to be more casual. Elevated is the word for this elegant upstairs restaurant as well as its cuisine which rivals in presentation and preparation that of any major city.

As soon as we saw the entry with its gleaming copper wall, we wondered if we should have heeded his advice, but our private room enabled everyone to relax. He and Linda hosted a fabulous dinner After our server offered us a tray filled with slices of oranges, lemons, limes, and cucumbers for our water, we toasted each other with some good Texas wine. Then came a large plate of appetizers that included fried oysters and beef lettuce wraps.


California wine accompanied dinners of seafood, steak or lamb, all outstanding.
This is the entire group.


Later, a visit to Bill and Linda’s home with a view of the lights of San Antonio included delicious desserts that we had little room for and after dinner drinks. Best of all was the conversation and chance to be together.