The Drury Plaza of San Antonio

by Pa Rock

Our conference is being held at the Drury Plaza Hotel in San Antonio, a very nice place whose back door opens onto the Riverwalk. My "rooms" are on the 19th floor with large windows facing across the city in two directions and offering amazing views of San Antonio - especially at night when the city sparkles like a fine lace tablecloth splattered with Texas bling.

I say rooms because my digs include a nice sized bedroom, living room, and bathroom. There are two large flat-screen televisions, one in the bedroom and one in the living room, and also a small refrigerator in the living room. If it included a small kitchen I could live here quite happily forever!

The Drury Plaza is in the old Alamo Bank building. There are some interesting vault displays from its days as a bank that can be viewed in the basement. An enormous stained glass of the Alamo (the mission) looms over the front door, and it is bordered by two art deco brass plaques (each approximately 5 feet wide by 20 feet high). One of the brass plates has a laborer holding a globe with the caption, "Trust Binds the Nation," and the other has a laborer holding a hammer with the caption "Thrift Drives the Nation." Taken in total, those plaques represent a time in America's economic history that has long past.

This hotel also boasts a nice outdoor sauna and swimming pool on the 22nd floor, and, again the views are amazing.

Surprisingly, the one amenity that this fine hotel does not offer is a restaurant. A very respectable breakfast buffet is offered free to hotel guests each morning, but for all other meals one must look elsewhere. (Of course, San Antonio has some wonderful places to eat!)

My dad would like the breakfast buffet at the Drury Plaza. He is a breakfast expert, managing to go out somewhere for his morning meal most days. Dad is especially fond of buffets (what I call "trough" places") because he thinks that he gets the most for his money there. Shoney's is his absolute favorite, both based price and on quality.

I am not as fond of trough places, though, for health and sanitation reasons. I'm really not into dipping scrambled eggs from a tub that other people have leaned over, sneezed into, and sprayed with their spit. I know that someday I will be ladeling gravy over my biscuits and discover someone's dentures or glass eye!

Make mine a special order from the kitchen every time! (And while I am at the Drury Plaza, I will carefully scrutinize everything that I pile onto my plate!)

Piso Mohado!