Morning in San Antonio found us waking to a realization that we had not had in a week. We had no intentions of getting in the Santa Fe today! No calloused booties, no stiff back and necks! We could not have asked for a better location. Five floors below us was the Riverwalk, we looked eye to eye to the revolving "Save the Planet" globe of the Hard Rock Cafe(eat your heart out Sherri), and next door to it was STARBUCKS! After a wonderful breakfast of an apple fritter(the first I have had in 2 years) and white chocolate mocha, we set out on foot to see San Antonio. Much like Albuquerque the architecture of SA has a very heavy Spanish/Mexican influence. The town is full of amazing buildings that remind me of what places in Europe must look like, with a lot of stone and concrete structures. 
Our first stop was at the Alamo. Living in Oregon all my life I tend to laugh at the people in our state that make a major deal about an "historic" building that needs to be saved. To us history is the mid to late 1800s or early 1900s. In this part of the country the Spanish landed in the 1600s and the Alamo dates back to the 1700s. Now that is historical. If you are history buffs like we are museums are a staple of our travels. The Alamo really needs at least a half day to go through, but since it was a windy 38 degrees we did not tarry too long outside. The artifacts in the museum also date back to the 1700s and the trip is amazing, especially the part inside the church of San Antonio, what we recognize as the Alamo. As you go through the rooms you see where the women and children were sheltered away from the fighting, as well as old Spanish Frescos on the walls. Unfortunately the insides of the buildings are off-limits to photographs so you will have to travel there to see them.
After the tour of the Alamo we toured the Texas Ranger museum, and then both realized that we were extremely hungry and decided lunch was in order, our first actual meal in over 24 hours. When you are in the heart of what used to be Mexico and you have a wife that is a Mexican food fanatic there is only one place to go. Yes we went to another place that has had a major role in Amrican history, the Hard Rock Cafe. We were so stoked to see it behind us and to act like stupid tourists and buy the tshirts that we forgot all about our pledge to get some authentic Mexican food while in SA. Go figure!
After dinner and shopping we headed off to explore the Riverwalk. For those of you that have never been in San Antonio, the Riverwalk is the San Antonio River channeled through the downtown area, and has become a major tourist attraction. There are also gondolas and motorized boats that take people around on tours of the waterways. Way too cold to be stationary in a boat, and for that matter for most of the little shops to be open, so just just power walked. This was the first real chance on the trip and it felt good. We wandered all around the little shops and restaurants and ended up in HemisFair park. This is another place in SA that is dedicated to restoration of older structures as well as celebrating the local cultures. The town was originally established by the Spanish missionaries to minister to the Apache and Comanche Indian tribes, so their are many different cultures that are still alive here.
Alas, we found ourselves foot weary and still relatively tired from the two previous days journeys, so we adjourned one last time to our hotel room to download pictures, split some Ben and Jerrys, and prepare for the next days drive, a mere 245 mile spin south and east to Galveston. We decided last not that we were actually on a scouting mission to find places in our country to spend time in, and in Albuquerque and San Antonio, and later Galveston, we found places that really needed several days to properly see them.
San Antonio we will be back!
Our first stop was at the Alamo. Living in Oregon all my life I tend to laugh at the people in our state that make a major deal about an "historic" building that needs to be saved. To us history is the mid to late 1800s or early 1900s. In this part of the country the Spanish landed in the 1600s and the Alamo dates back to the 1700s. Now that is historical. If you are history buffs like we are museums are a staple of our travels. The Alamo really needs at least a half day to go through, but since it was a windy 38 degrees we did not tarry too long outside. The artifacts in the museum also date back to the 1700s and the trip is amazing, especially the part inside the church of San Antonio, what we recognize as the Alamo. As you go through the rooms you see where the women and children were sheltered away from the fighting, as well as old Spanish Frescos on the walls. Unfortunately the insides of the buildings are off-limits to photographs so you will have to travel there to see them.
After the tour of the Alamo we toured the Texas Ranger museum, and then both realized that we were extremely hungry and decided lunch was in order, our first actual meal in over 24 hours. When you are in the heart of what used to be Mexico and you have a wife that is a Mexican food fanatic there is only one place to go. Yes we went to another place that has had a major role in Amrican history, the Hard Rock Cafe. We were so stoked to see it behind us and to act like stupid tourists and buy the tshirts that we forgot all about our pledge to get some authentic Mexican food while in SA. Go figure!
After dinner and shopping we headed off to explore the Riverwalk. For those of you that have never been in San Antonio, the Riverwalk is the San Antonio River channeled through the downtown area, and has become a major tourist attraction. There are also gondolas and motorized boats that take people around on tours of the waterways. Way too cold to be stationary in a boat, and for that matter for most of the little shops to be open, so just just power walked. This was the first real chance on the trip and it felt good. We wandered all around the little shops and restaurants and ended up in HemisFair park. This is another place in SA that is dedicated to restoration of older structures as well as celebrating the local cultures. The town was originally established by the Spanish missionaries to minister to the Apache and Comanche Indian tribes, so their are many different cultures that are still alive here.
Alas, we found ourselves foot weary and still relatively tired from the two previous days journeys, so we adjourned one last time to our hotel room to download pictures, split some Ben and Jerrys, and prepare for the next days drive, a mere 245 mile spin south and east to Galveston. We decided last not that we were actually on a scouting mission to find places in our country to spend time in, and in Albuquerque and San Antonio, and later Galveston, we found places that really needed several days to properly see them.
San Antonio we will be back!
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