The Alamo

We made our way into San Antonio this morning and with very little traffic and no difficulty what so ever we found our way to the camera repair shop.  It was easy to get back on the interstate and get back downtown for our visit to the Alamo.  We got off at the appropriate exit and followed the signs to the Alamo.  We had to head around the block again for parking and it just so happened that we pulled into a Central Parking lot within sight of the Alamo on the right hand side of the street.  Later in the day, when we went back to the truck to get our picnic lunch we noticed that there was a Central Parking lot directly across the street from where we had parked which was charging $10/day.  Our parking lot was only $5 for the day.  How lucky was that!

I know you haven’t forgotten that it was just a mere 173 years ago on this very day that the Texians and Mexicans were fighting for control of the area of San Antonio de Bexar and the Alamo Mission.  Things didn’t go so well for the Texians and they were defeated by the Mexican army led personally by Santa Anna himself.  However, the battle of the Alamo (perhaps the most famous battle of the Texas Revolution) was a contributing factor in the final outcome of the Revolution in which Santa Anna was captured and forced to relinquish control of what became the Republic of Texas.

Gift Shop

The Alamo was originally named Mision San Antonio de Valero, a Roman Catholic mission erected by the Spanish for the conversion and education of local Native Americans. Soldiers of various armies (including the Confederate Army during the Civil War) occupied the compound from the early 1800s.  It is now run by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas who obtained ownership in 1905.

Today, the Alamo is considered hallowed ground and is the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

The long barrack

After touring the Alamo and having our picnic in a small park across the street, we walked along a portion of the River Walk.  We are planning to return on Friday to complete that walk and I will have a complete report afterwards.

Our feet were finally sufficiently tired to demand heading to the truck.  Getting back on the interstate heading toward Hondo was not as easy as the inbound trip had been.  We needed to go south on I-37, but there was no entrance ramp from where we were.  We decided to go north and connect with I-35 south which would bring us around to US 90 in a relatively short time.  We got onto I-35 but got confused when I-10 split off.  We ended up going west on I-10 when we should have stayed on I-35 south.  We managed to find our way onto I-410, along with the rest of the afternoon rush hour commuters, and eventually looped around to US 90.  You might think that this would have been a great way to get an overview of the city, but Gene had his eyes on the car in front and I had my eyes on the map.

Wrong turn not withstanding, we had a great day.  We will stick pretty close to home tomorrow and head back to San Antonio again on Friday.