Remember the Alamo!

Saturday, March 25, found us back on I-10W headed to San Antonio. I-10 goes through Houston, and Texas certainly grew Houston big! Traffic was crazy, but we made it without problem. By mid-afternoon, as we approached San Antonio, we began to see wildflowers along the edges of the interstate.

White poppies.

Fortunately for us, Texas has some frontage roads that run alongside the interstate, so we were able to get off at one exit, park the truck and trailer at a wide spot on the frontage road, and wander into the flowers with our cameras. We saw white poppies, Texas Indian Paintbrush in an almost orange color, pink evening primrose, and several other flowers we have yet to identify. Seeing these flowers in bloom was encouraging, convincing us that we were going to get to the Hill Country before the flowers were gone.

White poppy closeup.

Blue bonnet.

Texas Indian Paintbrush.

Phlox (we think).

We pulled into the San Antonio KOA around 6pm with plenty of time to get hooked up before dark. This is a large campground just outside San Antonio with lots of trees, a swimming pool, a small lake, and access to the walking/biking trail beside Salado Creek. With 300 sites spread over 40 acres, this is a great place to stay, especially in that the Wifi even works!

Sunday morning we caught the local bus for a quick ride downtown to see the Alamo. Smoky had been here 50 years ago when he was in Air Force Officer Training School (before the time he spent in Biloxi). I had never been here. I learned a lot about the history of the Alamo today. Those who died in the siege and battle in late February/early March of 1836 were heroes. Their ultimate sacrifice for freedom paved the way for Texas to win its freedom.

The Alamo front entrance into the mission building.

The Alamo is in the middle of downtown San Antonio. Today's footprint is much smaller than the original Alamo, but what remains is inspiring. When we examined the list of those who died in the Alamo, we were surprised to find names of people from many of the 24 states at that time plus several from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and Denmark.

Inside the Alamo, lots of visitors examined the simple structure.

While we were in downtown San Antonio at the Alamo, we decided to experience the town's River Walk. You can find almost any type of shop or restaurant you might be interested in. Some people take a tour boat ride down the San Antonio River.

San Antonio's River Walk.

Take a tour boat down the San Antonio River.

Mission Concepcion

We didn't stay long on the River Walk because Smoky also wanted to see some of the historic missions in San Antonio, which had been established in the 1700s. Franciscan friars congregated groups of native peoples in hopes of converting them to Christianity and the ways of Spanish citizenship. Some of these missions had been moved from other locations. They started out as unwalled communities but later, as tensions built, walls were added for protection. The history around these missions is complicated, too much so for me to even attempt to summarize. But they were interesting to see and photograph.

Walkway inside
Mission Concepcion.

Mission San Jose.

Inside Mission San Jose.

Inside Mission San Juan.

Detail of Mission San Juan.

Monday we head to Fredericksburg and the heart of Texas Hill Country to see more wildflowers! In case you want to see more of Smoky's photos, you can visit his Zenfolio website.

-- Shann