A San Antonio Day of Reused Breweries and Rail Bridges

Pearl's Saturday market runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the old brewery district, more than 50 vendors selling what they grow and make in South Texas; entry is free, rain or shine. Then walk south on the Museum Reach, about ten minutes of river path, to the museum that opened in 1981 inside the old Lone Star Brewery. It is closed Mondays and on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and opens 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; adults pay $24, and Bexar County residents get in free Tuesday 4 to 7 p.m.

The Hays Street Bridge is a pedestrian crossing now, and downtown sits due west of the deck. Early November brings sunset around 5:45 p.m., so check the exact minute for your date and be on the deck half an hour before it. From the museum it is about 1.5 miles, a five-minute drive or rideshare. Below the span, Dawson Park keeps the lawn, the skate park and a restroom open until 11 p.m.; the city lists the bridge and park at 803 N. Cherry St., and the park's Lamar Street side is the other way in.

Then drive to Mi Tierra and buy pan dulce at the bakery counter by the door; the cases change daily, so call (210) 225-1262 for a particular one. Be on Main Plaza by 8:45 p.m., because The Saga runs one show a night at 9 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday, free, 24 minutes, and puts 7,000 square feet of Xavier de Richemont's projection on the facade of San Fernando Cathedral, which the conservancy calls the oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States. The plaza stays open until 11 p.m. The conservancy posts its dark nights for Easter weekend, Fiesta and Corpus Christi, and weather can cancel a show, so check mainplaza.org before you go.

Rain: keep the market, which runs rain or shine, and give the museum the hour you would have spent on the bridge.

Crowds: the market is busiest late morning, so come at 9 a.m. or after noon. Main Plaza fills before 9 p.m., so claim a spot by 8:45.

Sunday: the market opens at 10 a.m. and runs to 2 p.m., so the day starts an hour later. On the second Sunday of the month, Bexar County residents get into the museum free from 10 a.m. to noon; do the museum first and the market after, and the day costs only parking.