Young Snowbirds » San Antonio

Day 55 San Antonio

Darlene — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:48:03 +0000

This is actually the second part of our time in San Antonio Texas, the first part is the second half of the Riverwalk. Are you completely confused?

Instead of posting them in order, we decided to keep all the Riverwalk photos together, even thought we did it two different days. This is the rest of what we saw on both of those days.

The famous Jackalope

Rob’s comment: So here’s the thing. When we were at the Grand Canyon, Dar took some photos of deer alongside the roadway in front of the Bright Angel Lodge. A friend on Facebook, Dallas Huybregts asked if we had seen any Jackelopes yet and if maybe the deer were actually Jackelopes. I honestly wasn’t quite sure they were deer because of their big ears and I wondered if maybe they were Jackelopes. I’d only ever heard of them, never seen one. I googled it and found the answer. The deer were indeed NOT Jacekopes. Then, in San Antonio, we stumbled up on this one.

Crockett building – named after, you guessed it – Davey Crockett. Did you know Davey Crockett fought at The Alamo? Whether or not he was killed in the fight is actually unknown. Some accounts say he was killed in the great battle, others say he was taken hostage by the Mexicans and executed. No one knows for sure, but at least he’s got a building named in his honor.

The courthouse - later I'd learn about the significance of these ornate courthouses in Texas.

Courthouse detail

San Fernando Cathedral

The Fairmount hotel - the one that moved 5 blocks!

This is the historic Fairmount Hotel that in April 1985 went into the Guinness World Record books as the largest structure ever moved on wheels. We HAD to go see it with our own eyes to believe it. Sure enough, in the basement they’ve got newspaper clippings and stories about the move and the controversy surrounding it all. You can read more about this on the Fairmount’s web site.

Take a look at my shot above, then look at the “Quick facts” page on their web site. See a similarity? Funny, hey?!

Inside the hotel.

The inside courtyard

Besides being famous for moving down the street, the hotel also has a famous concierge – Luke Tips. He’s had stories written about him and is always there to greet guests with a tail wag and he’ll gladly accept a tummy rub.

Luke Tips, lying by the piano

We didn’t see any of the rooms but it seems pretty opulent and very high class. A very nice place to stay if you ever visit this fair city.

The RED trolley, we took these all over the downtown area. $4 for an all day pass, off and on and we found parking that was FREE with purchase of a trolley pass. If you want to find it, the parking lot is on the other side of the freeway from downtown – park over by the Park and Ride station, you should be able to find that on a map. Otherwise parking downtown is $10 a day or more. We know cause we paid that much the first day, took the trolley all the way around, and noticed the park and ride station and sign while we waited for the trolley to continue.

The Majestic Theatre

San Antonio has several old theaters, we managed to see 2 or 3 of them. Not much to see in the day and with vehicles parked on the street in front of them, hard to get a good shot. Here’s a few of the Majestic theater in downtown San Antonio.

Inside the Majestic

Lobby of the Majestic

Lots of neat architecture and old buildings in San Antonio. WARNING: In fact, if you don’t like old things, I’d suggest you not come to Texas at all. There are lots of old things here! Right Glennis?! ;-)

I had to do some research on the flag shown above on the left. The right one of course is the Texas flag. Never before in any state, have I seen so many state flags flying – many times instead of the national flag! I discovered the other one is an old Confederate flag, before they redesigned it as the Navy Jack. I don’t remember seeing the American flag on this building as well – it might have been though. Interesting!

More American iconic symbols - the eagle

I just thought this scene above was humorous with the photo of the old city and the people waiting for the bus. Did you know that Texas ranks the highest for obesity rates in the country!? After seeing how everyone here eats, it’s no wonder. LOTS of fried foods!

An old elevator, it just caught my eye as interesting in this empty building.

San Antonio Riverwalk

Darlene — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:42:53 +0000

We knew nothing about San Antonio when we got here other than we know we wanted to see the Alamo and that was about it. We kept hearing from people on Facebook saying we had to see the “San Antonio Riverwalk“. So we figured we’d get to it and see the river, big deal. We couldn’t figure out what the big fuss was about over a walk in a river valley, we have a river at home too.

That was until we actually saw it!

The Riverwalk

Built in the 1940′s the Riverwalk is an amazing system of canals, waterways, walkways, bridges, cafes, shops, restaurants and fountains. The river was prone to flooding and near the turn of the century (1900) the city wanted to drain it and reroute the river out of the downtown section. The conservation society put forth a plan to put in flood gates, a dam and to control the river rather than remove it. They were successful and built a little mini city, one level under the main city streets and sidewalks.

For hours we walked around on the ground level, waiting forever for shuttle buses and getting sore feet. We saw a few sites in the city and finally decided to find the “entrance” to the Riverwalk as marked on our map, and have lunch. What we didn’t know then, we realized later when we took the tour boat – we were above Riverwalk pretty much the entire time we were walking up there! All we had to do was look down and find a staircase to get to it. Doh!

Rob’s comment: the entire time we were walking through San Antonio, I completely doubted the existence of any such river. There wasn’t one to be found. We had no idea we were walking on the roofs of the stores.

So we actually did Riverwalk in two parts. The first day was when we went to the Alamo. After leaving there, we did our walking tour and ended up at the shopping center, which has a courtyard facing the river on 3 levels. From there we took the river walk boat ride.
The tour was the best thing we could have done.

Riverwalk Boat Ride

Peruvian band at shopping center on Riverwalk San Antonio

Tour boat at shopping center on Riverwalk

where we got on the river walk boat ride, I thought the light was stunning

Our boat ride tour guide was young but very informative. He pointed out historic and important landmarks and buildings, including one old hotel that was picked up and moved 6 blocks to a new location! We didn’t actually believe him at the time, but upon searching Google discovered he was indeed telling the truth, and we went another day to check that out.

We learned about the flood control system and at one point passed through a gate that would slam shut in 2 seconds if need be to keep out threatening flood waters. He also told us about the history of the riverwalk, why it was created, etc. All in all a very good trip – worth spending a few bucks on. If you get to San Antonio – take the river boat tour!

Here are some random things we saw along the river on our tour.

Art deco style building similar to the Empire State Building in NYC. They are taking off the big radio tower and replacing it with a big American flag.

You can see the sidewalk is right along the river and walking bridges over at regular intervals.

I just liked the light on this one

Hotel room right on the river - nice view hey?

Notice the canopies are Texas flag motif? Flags and stars here everywhere

A couple days later we went back and did a walking version of the Riverwalk by day. I had a coupon and menu from the Iron Cactus restaurant and we had eaten there on the first night after the boat tour. We enjoyed it so much we went back again for lunch.

These guys were outside the restaurant when we came out. I herded them back into the water and away from the building.

Of course I happened to find a photo shoot in progress.

Don't know what his shots looked like, this is what I got over his shoulder.

One of the many places to eat on the river. This one had ponchos on all the chairs for patrons to wear if it is chilly.

We will be back to San Antonio again and we’ll go to the Riverwalk first! We recommend the riverwalk boat ride for anyone who wants to learn about San Antonio while seeing it from a different perspective. Make sure you do both though… take the tour, then take the tour.

Spanish Missions of San Antonio

Rob — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:56:11 +0000

Spanish missions helped form the foundation for the city of San Antonio. The modern San Antonio community early recognized their significance, and since the 1920′s, has worked to preserve them. Darlene spent an entire day photographing three of the five San Antonio Missions, namely San Jose, San Juan and Espada. The fourth, Conception was closed (the fifth being The Alamo). Our RV Park, the Braunig Lake RV Resort, was on the south side of San Antonio, placing the Spanish missions between us and The Alamo downtown.

The chain of Spanish missions established along the San Antonio river began in 1718 with San Antonio de Valero, later called the Alamo. A second mission, San Jose, began in 1720 and then as East Texas missions failed for various reasons, they too were moved to the San Antonio river valley in 1731. These five missions, a presidio and a settlement were eventually to become one of the most successful Spanish communities in Texas.

Mission San Antonio de Valero

the chapel at the Alamo known as "the shrine"

Commonly called the Alamo, mission San Antonio de Valero was founded in 1718, the first mission on the San Antonio River. Now a state historic site, the Alamo has been under the care of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas since 1905. We visited the Alamo on our first day in San Antonio.

Espada

Founded as San Francisco de los Tejas in 1690, the oldest of the East Texas missions was moved to the San Antonio River in 1731 and renamed San Francisco de la Espada.

An HDR Photograph combining multiple exposures from within Mission Espada

The Espada Mission is the Southernmost of the San Antonio chain of missions that run along the river south of the city lying just south of the 410 ring road.

This is a three part post on the Spanish Missions of San Antonio.

See the next mission, the San Juan.

Page 2 – San Antonio Missions – San Juan

The Alamo

Darlene — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:41:41 +0000

Ever since he heard we were going through San Antonio Texas, Rob has wanted to go to one place – The Alamo!

Many people know the phrase “Remember the Alamo” but do you know why? It is the infamous battle were less than 250 men defended against over 2500 Mexican soldiers, and most of them fought to their death. They were unsuccessful in keeping the Mexicans out, but the battle went down as one of the greatest stands of bravery, honor and fighting against impossible odds to defend freedom, and pretty much sums up how many Texans still feel about this land they call home.

I’m not going to go into a great deal of the history of the Alamo because you can google it – but I’ll give the brief overview.

History of The Alamo

The Alamo was built in 1724 and was a Spanish mission (Misión San Antonio de Valero) until 1793 when the land was given to the Indians living in the missions of San Antonio. Then in the early 1800′s the cavalry was stationed here and they called it The Alamo (the Spanish word for “cottonwood” in honor of their hometown Alamo de Parras, Coahuila).

Today most of it is gone except for the iconic chapel (seen in most images representing The Alamo), the Long Barracks (held the first hospital in Texas), and some of the walls. What used to take up a large area (several modern city blocks) is either gone, or under the existing buildings.

The chapel at The Alamo, known as "the shrine"

Many battles were fought and won and they were able to hold the intruders out. Until February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. (quoted from The Alamo’s web site) They called for reinforcements, but few were able to come to their aid. It is said that the Colonel drew a line in the sand and said that any man that crossed it would stay and fight, and all but one did. No one can confirm the story, or identify the one that supposedly didn’t cross the line.

Davy Crockett fought and died at The Alamo.

After the battle The Alamo remained a military post for years, then it became a mercantile (store) and eventually a historic monument. But not before it felt into a state of decay and only after the 50th anniversay of the battle when The Daughters of the Republic of Texas took ownership did it begin to be preserved and repaired.

The history of the alamo is quite fascinating and it was a little bone chilling to have stood on the very ground where such an event had occurred. I know Rob had a few moments while we were there. Edmonton and most of Alberta didn’t even exist when the battle took place. Gave us some perspective on what life might have been like in the early days of the west.

Rob at THE Alamo

Most of the walls of the current exhibit were not part of the original mission, but built in the early 1900's as part of the preservation efforts.

A funky tree in the Alamo courtyard

Days 49-51 – Drama upon arriving in San Antonio, Texas

Darlene — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:55:45 +0000

So, I’ve been to Texas only once before and that was Austin. Which, I’ve learned really isn’t at all like the rest of Texas – now I know why. Austin is like Edmonton actually, no one is from Texas there, and no one speaks with an accent.

Things Are Different In Texas

Once we crossed over into Texas (the real Texas) we started noticing little things that were different like road signs, ads on TV, etc. Guns are a big thing down here. Everyone’s got some and they know how to use them – at least if they take all the shooting classes available on TV they certainly do. There’s also a lot of border patrol going on to make sure no illegal immigrants are getting through from the Mexican side. They also display their state flag and the Lone Star everywhere! More state loyalty than I’ve seen anywhere else. Rob wrote a little travel though on Texans being VERY serious about being Texan.

Here’s a few examples of road signs and Texas patriotism. Notice the “no guns” sign on the bridge”.

I had researched a few RV parks in San Antonio and because we pushed extra hard yesterday I was looking forward to an extra day before I went to my Photoshop seminar in the city. I had planned on using it to catch up on my homework for my Editorial class and some blog photos. NOT!

I use a site that has reviews from people who’ve actually stayed there to help pick which parks we stay in. I didn’t find Hidden Valley RV Park as an oversight because it isn’t actually listed in San Antonio, it’s in Von Ormy out in the southwest countryside of the city and I didn’t think to look for it there. So I used my gut and booked it on the phone. Their web site talks about the creek, rustic location, birds, in amongst the trees, etc. Sounded really quiet and quaint.

Hidden Valley RV Park in San Antonio

We arrived about 6pm and another RV had just pulled in before us. We should have taken a clue about the state of the “park” by the fact the check in area is a little 3 walled shack outside the lady’s house. She had given the other guy his choice of two stalls so we had to take whichever he didn’t use which was likely a back-in stall. We prefer pull through as you just drive in and leave the car dolly attached at the back. Back in is more work unhooking everything.

She didn’t take visa so I wrote her a check, which she wasn’t sure her bank could cash as it’s a Canadian one. Then we drove down the hill (which is quite steep and is a dirt road of partly mud and clay). It was raining a little bit so we wanted to get set up and have dinner as quickly as possible. The other guy had attempted to get into the pull through, which required entering the RV area (which is really a big open dirt field) and coming around from the back side. Only he went the wrong way around and ended up getting his rig stuck in the mud. We took the back-in stall.

We watched the drama unfold as we hooked up

They had to bring a small tractor down to pull the RV out of the muck. The tractor stopped at one point, the RV didn’t and CRUNCH! Ouch – we later ran into the same couple in town and found out they had over $3500 worth of damages on the back of their RV.

Rob’s comment: I learned from growing up in Saskatchewan, that when pulling a vehicle out, the vehicle being towed has to ride the break actually and be the one stopping the motion when finally pulled out. What we saw happen in front of us was classic “how not to tow a vehicle out of the mud”

After we got set up we tried to get internet, no luck. Teri, the park owner, said the router was 3 trailers over so maybe the ones in between were blocking the signal to us. We decided that if they other guy left in the morning, we’d move over and take the pull-through to have clearer internet access. We’d avoid the mud and go round the other way.

Where the other RV was stuck in the mud

Stalls at Hidden Valley RV - it's just an open field at the bottom of a dirt hill really. Only stalls for about 25 or so RV's many of which are there full time.

Stalls at Hidden Valley RV in the trees

In the morning Rob talked to another couple that were bugging out entirely. Apparently some heavy rain was coming and they didn’t want to get stuck there, not being able to get up that slippery hill. Good point! We had also learned that there were no bathrooms or showers here at all. One thing I hadn’t thought to ask for, as every park at least has them – what state they’re in is another thing – but no park we’ve stayed in so far has not had bathrooms.

So the combination of rain coming, possibility of getting stuck, iffy internet at best, and no showers prompted us to make the same decision. I called our second choice and they had a spot for us so we pulled anchor.

We ended up having to pay her cash (gave her $20 instead of the $14 we actually owed) because she said she couldn’t cash our check. We explained why we were leaving and thanked her.

Truth be told, Hidden Valley RV Park is not that bad of a place IF – and I say IF – it is not raining! If you want rustic, you’re literally in the forest. If you want quiet, you’re certainly away from it all. Yes it’s only a 25 minute drive right to the downtown area. The lady was super nice and we felt bad but as we are still relative RV newbies, we didn’t want to take a chance getting flooded out in the valley there, or stuck trying to get out once the water came.

Trepidatiously, we headed for Braunig Lake RV Park, crossing our fingers. Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of that park but it was much drier and solid internet and showers! We were very happy with our move. It’s a damn good thing we arrived a day early, otherwise we’d not have had time for moving – or Rob would have been doing it by himself while I was in class.

Photoshop Workshop With Ben Willmore

The class I attended on February 2nd was a Photoshop class by Ben Willmore. Ben travels around in an RV as well, photographs, and lectures. I talked to him about RVing and got a photo of us together. No this is NOT his RV. You can see Ben’s travels and photography at www.whereisben.com. He was very inspirational and I got lots of good tips and ideas.

Dar and Ben Willmore

Things To Do in San Antonio

Over the week we stayed in San Antonio, we spent a day visiting The Alamo and then discovered the Riverwalk. We ran out of light the first day after taking the riverwalk boat ride, so we went back a second time to walk it and get more photographs.