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| The Alamo |
Dear San Antonio……
We are rapidly running out of time to complete our winter
itinerary.
What we accomplished this year looks slightly different than
what we had originally planned….OR-UT (Moab -Check)-Northern NM (Chaco Canyon-Check) - then
into Texas, touring down from El Paso via Big Bend National Park to
Brownsville to spend January. Simple, clean, adventurous in the
exploration of historical sites, and then as we wandered back towards home, a
few days in San Antonio, specifically to cross The Alamo off the bucket list.
We got side tracked with the holidays….yes, we know –
Thanksgiving and Christmas come around each and every November/December. You
can set your calendar on Christmas as it has the good sense to actually have a
recurring date, the same date EVERY year…unlike that wishy-washy T-day with it’s
third Thursday of November nonsense. Now that we are no longer working it’s
hard to track them. (Mental head slap
here)
It’s Feb 1st when we slide into Hidden Valley RVPark on the outskirts of San Antonio. We have NOT been to Big Bend, nor did we
get further south than Del Rio Texas. We are on our way back West and have
decided we can do this AND Big Bend NP. But we must stick to the plan, even if out of order.
We have 2 full days to see The Alamo/Riverwalk/some missions
AND do our much needed Costco run. Yes, I actually insisted on a visit to Trader
Joe’s, even though it was, hmmmm miles across town. But I digress.
Upon settling in, Mike spoke to our site neighbors and was
told about “the Tour”. After discussing this
for all of 5 minutes, we decided given our limited time in SA, that taking the
tour would be a better idea, save us time and energy, and we would actually SEE
more sites on the tour then on our own.
We are not “those” people, you know, 'tour' people. We are more casual
in our “what are we going to do here” and then go do that. That attitude lasted until we discovered
that a nice man in a short bus would pick us up at the RV location promptly @
8am, take us into town (12 mi), deposit us at the tour operator door and return us by 5pm, another 12 mi drive.
Yowser! And for the price of $49.50 per we would see 3 of the 5 missions in SA –
(The Alamo included, it is after all, a mission), RiverWalk, the Farmers Market,
The Chinese Gardens, and the Buckhorn Bar & Grill and the Texas Ranger
Museum.
Additionally we also toured Mission San Jose and Mission Concepcion....both beautiful examples of restoration efforts and historical value.
The Texas Ranger Museum
Someones 'loaned' collection of badges. However, I must say that the museum for the TX Rangers was informative, even if a bit heavy on the arms end.
We also got dropped at the local "trinkets for sale".... disguised as the original Farmers Market....yawn. This could easier be removed for another mission and it wouldn't be missed. Although we did stop at the Chinese Gardens, which was lovely and in bloom (it is February) I am delighted that we can say we have been there. If just to say I saw the biggest KOI of all time here.
So, San Antonio, our day was filled with new sights, sounds and smells (RiverWalk dining) and we absolutely fell in love with you. So in love, we plan to come back next year and spend more time
in your lovely city next year. The above photo is of the Lila Cockrell Theatre viewed from our boat cruise down the San Antonio River (part of the tour). The facade has some 400K tiles that were handmade and tells the history of San Antonio and was built for the 1968 SA World's Fair.
Our only regret is that we were not allowed to take any photos inside The Alamo....although a somewhat 'tourista' photographer was posted just outside the front door and as you approached you were stopped, told to smile, photo snapped and a young assistant handed you a card with your "special" photo number and you could buy it on the way out the back door. Seriously SA? Sad. Commerical. And really unnecessary. At least I thought so.
~ Adios amigos
