San Antonio was a very cool city! Loved all the activities that we crammed into a short amount of time. We stayed at the San Antonio / Alamo KOA about four miles east of the downtown area. The RV park was located right on the Salado Creek complete with a bike path. Kat and I got to get a ride in and went about 18 miles. Nice to get on the bikes again!
After the ride we headed down to the Riverwalk in the downtown area. The Riverwalk is a very unique area of San Antonio where they have created a walkway on both sides of the San Antonio river and restaurants and bars have lined the outside of the walkway. We walked up and down the river looking at options to dinner and ended up at Landry’s. We got a seat along the river and had a very nice seafood meal. These photos are a little dark, but you can get a feel for the area:
The neon looking photo is of one of the river boat tours that Kat and I took after dinner. Very nice ride going up and down the river and learning about the different sites, restaurants and bars. Great way to get a broad understanding of the area. One bridge we went under was the one from the movie “Selena” which was a biographical drama about Selena Quintanilla’s life. Jennifer Lopez played the part of Selena and this pictures of the bridge with Kat standing on it was a key moment in the movie:
We also were able to walk over to the Alamo, the famous mission where James Bowie, David Crockett, William Travis and a little less than 200 others lost their lives to the overwhelming Mexican forces led by Santa Anna. Here’s a night picture:
This famous battle, which lasted from February 23rd, 1836 until March 6th, 1836, was caused when the new leader of Mexico (Santa Anna) renounced the constitution of 1824 and started to tax the provinces, including Texas (Texas was part of Mexico at this time after it declared itself independent from Spain in 1821). The Alamo leader, William Travis, sent out a plea for reinforcements to Sam Houston on February 24th but insufficient help would come in time. In the plea Travis wrote “Victory or Death”. During the siege, the succeeding Texas declared independence on March 2nd and the Republic of Texas was born.
On April 21, 1836 Sam Houston’s army bested Santa Anna’s army near present day Houston and captured Santa Anna himself ending the conflict and creating the new nation of Texas with the signing of the Treaty of Velasco on May 14, 1836. During the battle, Sam Houston yelled “Remember the Alamo!” to rouse up his men. Now you know where that saying came from! Texas would remain an independent country for ten years before joining the United States.
We learned about this when we visited the “Battle for Texas” museum.
There was a “Night at the Museum” that we attended that evening. A take off from the movie where a “nightguard” walks you through the dark museum and figures come to life and tell you about their experiences during the siege. Really interesting way of explaining history – particularly to children to keep their attention.
While Kat worked the next day I took another bike ride and got about 4 miles in when I got a flat tire. Started walking my bike back to the Busse Bus when a trail volunteer stopped and had a tire repair kit. Fixed the flat. The trail volunteer told me that San Antonio plans on connecting current trails, once completed there will be a complete circular bike path around the city and 130 miles of trails. We will need to come back and check it out!
We headed into town to get a picture of the Alamo during the day:
For dinner we headed back to the Riverwalk for Mexican food at the first restaurant built on the river called Casa Rio which started in 1946. Afterwards we went to Pat O’Brien’s for a drink and to listen to some local talent:
The sign that I’m pointing to states “Calling all Krewes”. Krewes are the people on the floats at Mardi Gras. Exciting because we just booked New Orleans during Mardi Gras and the Rally that we are with has the opportunity to actually be on a Krewe. I think I’ll sign up! We are excited for New Orleans as great friends of ours from Mundelein / Lake Bluff, the Ackers, are coming to visit.
Until then – Remember the Alamo!
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