The Alamo | San Antonio River Walk

Sunday – 17 November 2002: San Antonio, Texas - Hello from San Ann-tone. We had another beautiful, sunny day. It was warm enough to go out today without a sweater. We started our day on the bike path along the river. DT ran seven miles and I walked two with Snickers. We met on the trail, near the campground and DT tried to take Snickers for a run - we wanted to tire him out because we were going to leave him for the afternoon. No way. Snickers was not going to leave my side. So DT ran down the path alone, for his "cool down" run. That was enough for Snickers. He wanted to GO! So, I let him off his leash and he went tearing down the path after DT and probably had his "hardest workout" of the trip on his 200-yard dash. He finally caught up with DT and they turned around, back towards me. When Snickers saw me, (is he a total idiot and didn't know I was going to be there???) he took off again, at full speed, towards me! So, Snickers was exhausted when we left him in the motorhome this afternoon. Not sure he even noticed us leaving.

Our first stop was at El Mercado - a huge craft and Mexican-stuff market. We walked through the shops, but didn't see anything new - guess we have spent too much time in Mexico. The shops are always interesting though. We noticed many shops had signs reading "Do not take photos wearing hats" on their giant sombreros and some read, "$2 charge for taking photo wearing hats". We had street food - fajita tacos, loaded with lettuce, guacamole and tomatoes. We watched the woman make our flour tortillas - with her hands! I usually think the tortillas are the best part of a taco, and these were dreamy. El Mercado is a great people-watching place too, and a great place to buy souvenirs and post cards.

Do you remember The Alamo? I don't either. The Alamo is a "Shrine of Texas Liberty". I am not certain what is meant by this, because The Alamo is the site where the Mexican Army defeated Texas forces. In a thirteen-day battle in 1836, 189 Texans died fighting for independence. Davy Crockett died at The Alamo. The building itself was constructed in 1724 as a mission to convert the Indians to Catholicism. It is a fantastic building. Over the years it has been used as a church, fort, and warehouse and was finally put in order as a wonderful museum and shrine by The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. It was interesting to learn the story of Texas, its settlement and revolution. Photos are not allowed inside the Shrine, but please enjoy these sunny photos and go to their website for more information.

The Alamo

Our next stop was the famous Buckhorn Saloon.  DT had heard about The Buckhorn for years and had to visit this shrine to dead animals.  Albert Friedrich opened The Buckhorn Saloon in 1881 and it has been in continuous operation since. The Buckhorn Saloon had a standing offer to all patrons - "Bring in your deer antlers and you can trade them for a shot of whiskey or a beer." From this, the saloon now has hundreds of taxidermified beasts hanging on the walls - actually completely covering the walls. If seeing these hundreds of dead animals isn't enough, you can go through the attached museum for more. I sat at the bar - the original bar from 1881 - and had a beer while DT went through the museum (you can take your beer with you into the museum!). My beer was bad, something was wrong with the tap, so the girl gave me a bottle of BudLight. The Buckhorn even has a guy - dressed like Wild Bill Cody - wandering through the bar for your amusement and entertainment. This town is big enough they have a Hard Rock Cafe. Jane, your pin collection must certainly be nearing completion???

DT said - with the notable exception of our week in DC with a Bevy of Beauties and our own Precious Princess - that he has seen more beautiful women in San Antonio today than he has on the ENTIRE trip!

We didn't get back to the motorhome until nearly five o'clock. Snickers was still asleep, but was quite happy to see us. DT went out in search of a supermarket. We hadn't been to a market since down around Biloxi - where he bought water and cough syrup - so were in need of water, bread, milk, fruit, cereal, etc. DT found a wonderful supermarket, with the strange name of The Heb. I don't even want to know what this means. We are now restocked. While DT was at The Heb, I walked Snickers along the river. We came upon a woman, on her hands and knees under a tree, searching through the grass. It seemed she had lost a contact and I stopped to ask what she was looking for. She gave me a strange look and pointed up to the top of the tree. "Pecans."  Whoa, am I an idiot. All along the river there were people, under the trees, on their hands and knees, searching through the grass - everyone was looking for pecans!

For our evening’s entertainment - it is Pizza Night, after all - we went back to River Walk. Somehow, San Antonio has re-routed part of the San Antonio River through all parts of downtown and it is now like a canal system. All along the river are shops and restaurants, parks, fountains and gardens. Old trees hang over the water and it is just a stunningly beautiful sight. There is even an amphitheatre here - the stage is across the river from the seating area!

The Arneson Theater straddles the river - Stage on one side, audience on the other


San Antonio's River Walk

We walked along the stone path - at river level - stopping to look at restaurant menus until we found a place to our liking. We ordered a glass of wine and the waitress accidentally brought me a glass of chardonnay instead of Pinot Grigio. Two bad drinks in one day! How do you people drink that stuff??? Luckily, the rest of the meal was quite lovely. The setting of the restaurants is just magical along the river. A roving all-female Mariachi Band strolled through the restaurant, singing and playing music... interesting... Mexican music at an Italian restaurant - but it was very charming. People were going by in boats. Restaurants serve entire meals on boats! Vendors were selling flowers. Everything was very pretty with twinkling lights reflected on the water. Very nice!

RV Park: Traveler's World RV Park