May 17, 2014 (26th Day)

Up at 6:40 am. Another sunny day. This is what we were hoping for when we explore San Antonio. Instead of of fixing our own breakfast we decided to have it at KOA Corral. Cheap meal, but good enough to satisfy our appetites, and no dish washing involved.

We left the campground, went down to the heart of San Antonio.  Along the way we saw many 'Spurs' signs/banners.  Drove past the Spurs basketball arena. It was not easy to find a parking spot for our camper van, so we decided to try park/pay station. Oh, it was so much easier to park. Cost $10-good for 12 hours.

From the park/pay station we biked straight to the Alamo.  Locked our bikes, went to the visitor's center that is across from the Alamo. Picked up a map, then walked across to the Alamo.  As we were leaving the center there were tourists on Segway. Saves a lot of time of walking but we bet it was fun but not cheap!

Ok, The Alamo... It is smaller than we imagined it to be.
Free admission without audio tours. Toured the property and went to the back where there were soldiers-people dressed up like the old days, etc.

Young boy who wants to be a soldier

The Layout of the Alamo

Taking selfies. We see a lot of that everywhere :-)

That includes our selfies :-)

The Alamo is on the right

After the tour we walked down the steps to Riverwalk. What a beautiful riverwalk.  There were taxi and tour boats. Lots of restaurants. Of course, lots of trees, plants and flowers. Saw yellow crowned night heron that was by the water.  Less than a mile down we saw a yellow crowned night heron with sticks in its beak and we knew there are nests nearby, so we watched it and it flew up to the branch then up to the nest.  Found several nests and they are right where the riverwalk is..  Really neat!  

Yellow-crowned night heron

Drink good for 4 people

Completed the loop walk.  Then we biked to historic Mexican market, walked around.  There were so many booths, lots of food vendors. 

We decided to dine at Mi Tierra Cafe & Bakery.   It was very crowded and we had to register for a table and we waited 15 minutes before they called us. We decided to order one dish and split it, so we got Deluxe Mexican platter. It was very good.

Our lunch

We biked back to the town to look for some old churches. At one church there was a Bike Fest going on.  Lots of homeless people hanging around the church. We continued biking for a while before going back to the parking lot.

San Fernando Cathedral

Here lies the remains of Crockett, Bowie, Travis and other Alamo heroes.

Here is where it got "interesting" for Erwin! In all the years growing up and as an adult, I would constantly hear about and read about the Alamo. It has/had been "just something that happened long ago!" However when Erwin was there "in person" seeing the actual place where it happened and the GRAVES where the Heroes are buried, it "Hit him like a ton of bricks" that this had actually happened and was not a bit of science fiction and became "real" to him and he got goose bumps and felt pride for those gallant men that gave their lives for Freedom there! He came away with a new-found sense of dignity and pride for our ancestors and defenders.

The altar

After we were through visiting San Antonio we went to San Juan Mission National Park

Left San Antonio on I-10, definitely not a meandering road, but we were tired and hot and wanted to find a campground before it gets dark. Top of the Hill off I-10 Exit 533, very nice campground. Got site# 60 

Neat Texas site sign

Sunset from Top of the Hill campground

Edith wanted a simple and quick dish so she fixed Shrimp Scampi by Barefoot Contessa, but she added snap peas to it. It was surprisingly delicious. Erwin did the laundry while the supper was being prepared. It took 3 loads of laundry to wash/dry, but we are good for about 10 days.