notjustamilitarywife

The extent of my husband’s dislike for all things Texas is a regular refrain in my home.  I hear a lot on the same topic from our AF friends.  I’ll admit that there are things about this place that get under my skin.  Anyways, it’s not Virginia, and in comparison to my heart’s home on the East Coast, any place is going to fall short.  Still, I’m doing my best to give Texas a chance and try to experience this place in a positive light while we are here.  It’s one of my AF wife vows, after all.

So I was really excited to land on a writing job that gives me an opportunity to really explore and get to know this town.  I’m reviewing San Antonio neighborhoods for a website called RentWiki.com, and in doing so I’m venturing into parts of this city that I never had reason to explore until now. 

My first assignment was the little neighborhood of Oakwell Farms.  I hadn’t ever heard of it before getting assigned to it.  Turns out, the neighborhood is so exclusive that you can’t even drive through it unless you can prove to the gatekeeper that you’ve got legitimate business visiting someone who lives there.  I wasn’t able to pull that off. . . so I had to resort to looking up homes for sale in the neighborhood just to see what they look like.  I managed to figure out that the neighborhood is builton land that was once the estate of a family of prominent art patrons called the Tobins.  By digging a little online, I found the obituary of Robert Lynn Batts Tobin, who donated the land in memory of his grandfather.  My favorite fact about this guy was that he was known for his penchant for wearing dramatic opera capes when out and about.  Who would have known a little San Antonio neighborhood would have such a quirky little history?

I’ve also reviewed Thousand Oaks and Stone Oak so far.  This assignment, in fact, has made me realize just how many neighborhoods in San Antonio have “Oak” in them.  Maybe I should research that.

In my research on just these three neighborhoods, I’ve find parks I never knew existed, interesting eateries that are on my list to try, beautiful hill views and quirky tidbits of history.  I’m looking forward to my next batch of neighborhoods.