Historic San Antonio

We drove the 200 miles from Houston to San Antonio today.  As we approached San Antonio the landscape changed to beautiful, green rolling hills and wildflowers.  After checking into a very nice RV park that was located near town, we drove into San Antonio.  Mike has been here several times on business but it is my first time.  I remember him phoning me from the River Walk and wishing I was with him so it was special to be here together.  We wandered along the River Walk which I thought was just beautiful.  The “River” is the San Antonio River.  It is not very wide but winds all through the city below street level.  There are beautiful flowers, trees, bridges and waterfalls.  I’ve never seen anything quite like this – it is wonderful.  We had dinner at Casa Rio which has been serving dinners on the River since 1947.  It was great Mexican food.  After dinner we took a very romantic boat ride along the River and walked to the Alamo which is located right in the middle of town.  Since the Alamo grounds were closed we decided to come back tomorrow.  We also wandered through the River Center Mall which is located over the River and is quite unique and beautiful.

On Thursday we visited three of the four San Antonio Missions – San Jose, Concepcion and the Alamo.  Once the Spanish established that South Texas had no gold or silver to offer they ignored the area until the French from Louisiana threatened encroachment.  Then Spain stepped up its colonization by establishing six missions along the San Antonio River.  The first was Mission San Antonio de Valero – now the Alamo.  The second was San Jose which was inhabited by the Coahuiltecan Indians.  The Spanish converted the Indians who were hunters and gatherers into Catholics who became builders, farmers, weavers, ranchers, etc.  The whole community lived on the Mission grounds and functioned in a structured way.  When the Spanish stationed a cavalry unit at San Antonio Mission in the early 1880’s they referred to it as the Alamo.  Of course the Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution in 1836 when Santa Anna’s army attacked.  The siege lasted 8 days and ended in the death of most of the defenders including Davey Crockett, Jim Bowie, and Colonel Travis. 

We also visited Hemisfair Park where the 1968 World’s Fair was held.  San Antonio is a very historical and interesting place to visit.  We learned a lot here – including the fact that the Texas Flag is the only state flag that may be flown at the same level as the US Flag because Texas is the only state that was once a Republic and Texas is the only state that has the right to secede from the Union.  The only bad part here was the temperature – near 100 degrees and humid – Ugh!