Day Trips

The Witte Museum is the center of a full day of Kidcation Week activities in the very kid-friendly town of San Antonio. The city hardly needs a week of special events to be attractive to kids of all ages.

Of course, there's the Alamo, the River Walk, the zoo, and hundreds of other kid-friendly places, but the north side of Brackenridge Park offers a trifecta of attractions.

First, the Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway, currently has a special show of life-sized animatronic dinosaurs. Be careful among the towering monsters or you might learn something. The same is true at the museum's H-E-B Science Treehouse, a hands-on playscape of scientific experiments. For those who make it upstairs, there are rooms full of Texas curiosities.

Second, the San Antonio Botanical Garden across Broadway from the museum always offers a chance for kids to explore and touch. Currently, it has the added attraction of an exhibit of scary carnivorous plants.

Third, and this is mainly for the under-four-foot-tall crowd, there is Kiddie Park on Broad­way just southwest of the Witte Museum. Opened in 1925 and renovated in 2009, this is the oldest children's amusement park in the country. Many of the rides, including a 1918 carousel, are original equipment.

The San Antonio Kidcation Week runs Aug. 12-18. For coupons and events, visit www.kidcationweek.com. It's just a reminder how kid-friendly the Alamo City is year-round.

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1,149th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips," is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.