A Journey to My Dream Destination: Exploring the Beauty of the World
Is the floating city too far for you to travel? Venice is a dream destination for people all over the world yet the distance is an inconvenience for many. In dream destination essay this place will be discussed. There are 5,610 miles separating Texas, United States from Venice, Italy, but what if I told you that you don't have to travel that far to experience your dream, Texas has its own little Venice, also known as the American Venice. The San Antonio River Walk is closer to you and it’s available in Texas, making Texas unique, nowhere else in the United States will you find something more similar to Venice.
The San Antonio River Walk is believed to have started construction in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration. The project before the now known San Antonio River Walk, emerged as they wanted to replace the narrow San Antonio River, which was the current city’s source of the water, to a municipal system fed by artesian wells. The artesian wells are believed to have worked for a while until they started causing major problems to the city as the wells began lowering the water table and eventually caused the river approximately twenty feet down from downtown street level, causing it to go dry. The people of San Antonio began complaining that a lot of problems started to arise as a fallout, such as overgrowth along the river. Many proposals arised to help solve this problem but many of them were denied until Robert H. Hugman, an architect, proposed The River Walk concept for San Antonio in 1929. It was, however, not immediate. Ten years following his proposed idea to San Antonio, they addressed their flood control problems and created something new for the city. Robert H.Hugman was put in charge and given $355,000 to complete the project that he had envisioned and proposed. Hugman finished construction in 1941 to one of the city’s main attractions. The River Walk at that time only consisted of the river bend area, which included thirty-one unique staircases that connected to the street level and a variety of footbridges.
At this present moment, the infrastructure of the San Antonio River has expanded and been modernized from the time it was first constructed. The San Antonio River Walk is a linear park that goes on for more than fifteen miles from Brackenridge Park through downtown San Antonio and south to the farthest of the city’s five eighteenth-century Spanish mission. Major pieces of architecture were built since then including eight major hotels, a large shopping center and more than 50 dining establishments. As well as, four bridges that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Of the nine bridges total in the San Antonio area that qualify for the National Register of Historic Places, seven cross the San Antonio River (San Antonio).
In Texas you will find one of the most charming, instagram worthy waterway surrounded by shops, hotels, restaurants and attractions. The San Antonio River Walk is ranked in the Top 10 River walks in the whole United States. Not only is it instagram worthy but in 1997 movie directors filming the movie 'Selena' decided to feature scenes on the River Walk. The movie won awards such as the ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film, ALMA Award, ALMA Award for Outstanding Latino Director of a Feature Film, and ALMA Award for Favorite Movie in 1998. The scene in the San Antonio River Walk was one of the most iconic scenes in the film. The scene was quite romantic and was conveyed through a beautiful scenery. It displayed a couple enjoying a walk under the lights of the River Walk.
It is such a dream destination that it is one of the most visited places in the United States, with 13 million people visiting every year (Official). Stores varying from Victoria Secret, Macy’s, The Disney store, to dining places like Johnny Rockets, Starbucks, Yard House and many more attract people from across the world. These visitors stimulate an overall economic impact of [three] billion and directly influence [twenty-one thousand] San Antonio jobs (Media). The San Antonio River Walk also attracts people since it serves wedding ceremonies, where approximately two hundred and twenty five each year are held. A hundred years ago a small promontory was created and has become known as Wedding Island. The Wedding Island is one of the top 10 Worldwide Destination Wedding Location as well as the top 5 in the United States Wedding Location. The Wedding Island hosts weddings for all types of people making it widely available for anyone. They can host religious, secular, interfaith, non-denominal, and civil weddings. To be Wed in this spectacular and beautiful place, it is considered to bring luck to new marriages.
Why travel across the globe for something that is so close to home? The San Antonio River Walk could provide you with your dream vacation and moreover within a budget. Texas will even provide you with a little piece of the other side of the world, making Texas unique. Having the San Antonio River Walk is such a privilege to our state, which is also connected with another piece of history for the United States. One of the Pathways will lead you straight to the Alamo, a major historical site.
