It was 81 degrees at 9:30 AM when we left Los Fresnos but 52 when we arrived at our campground in San Antonio at 2 PM. The temp continued to drop, down to 30 Tuesday night with highs in the 40s. We spent our first two days here, inside the trailer. We didn’t even unload the bike and set up the outside. A picture of our new home had to wait until all was complete. Instead, we kept busy inside. I made a homemade crock pot soup (cheesy hamburger and potato) and worked on my counted cross stitch hobby while Dave researched bike rides that we will take around the hills when it warms up. We also played a lot of cribbage. It is amazing how we can fill our days and love doing those things together.

We finally got some warmer weather on Tuesday so decided to drive into San Antonio, about 12 miles away. Our destination was the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum. This is so unique with mounted heads and stuffed animals from all around the world. Part of the museum is dedicated to the Texas Rangers. It is said that Teddy Roosevelt gathered here with the Rough Riders.

We also walked along the River Walk for a bit but it was still a little too chilly for leisure outdoor activities.

The next day, we went back to San Antonio and visited the Alamo. The previous day had been the 183 anniversary of the Fall of the Alamo. This is only one of the 5 missions in the San Antonio area but played an important part in the fight for Texas independence from Mexico. Two of our famous Americans died here that day, Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. The mission is beautiful.

We headed back to the River Walk after our tour of the Alamo. We had noticed a Pat O’Brien’s, home of the famous Hurricane. This is smaller than the Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans but very similar. Of course we had a Hurricane, just like last year in New Orleans!

Next stop was Dick’s Last Resort, known for insulting the customers. We had fun tossing insults back and forth with our waiter, who made us hats that we were forced to wear. Since we were sitting by the sidewalk, we attracted a lot of attention and laughs.

We also met three young people from Great Britain.  One guy was from England.  The other guy and gal were from Ireland.  They still have 10 days left of a 5 week trip.  They had flown into Calgary.  Some of the spots they had hit included Washington and Michigan, now down to San Antonio.  I’m not sure where they are headed after this but they sure are putting on a lot of miles, seeing much of the US.  They also enjoyed the “humor” at Dick’s.

Friday, it was finally warm enough to take the bike out. Most of the time since we’ve been in Texas, it has been too cold or too windy. It felt great to get back on and ride. We decided to visit the rest of the missions.

As I said earlier, there are 5 missions near San Antonio, all about 3 miles apart along the San Antonio River. They were founded by Spanish missionaries whose goal was to convert Indians to Catholicism. The Indians lived in our just outside the missions where they learn to farm, blacksmith, etc, as well as learn the language and the Christian religion. With the exception of the Alamo, the first mission built in 1713, they are all still active parishes where masses are said.

Backing up a bit, the actual name of the Alamo is Mission San Antonio De Valero, first founded by a missionary from Alamo de Parras in Mexico.

Our first stop on this day was the Mission Concepcion, the most ornate of the missions.

Mission San Jose is the most “in tact” mission, with all of its surrounding walls still standing. We were able to go into several of the homes where up to 15 people might live at one time.

Mission San Juan is pretty stark. The church was built over a former granary.

The last mission was Mission Espada. This had a bit more of the wall structure remaining.

We rounded out our day, returning home and grilling a pork chop for supper. Yummy!

Saturday was an even better day, so we got back on the bike for our first ride in the Hill Country. We took a short trail past horse, cattle, , long horn cattle and goat ranches, that led us to the town of Gruene (pronounced Green), settled by German farmers in 1845. This was once a thriving community but failed with the Depression and the Boll Weevil. Most of the buildings still stand and have been turned into tourist attractions and shops. The dance hall is the only business that never closed. The entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places.

I keep seeing this trees with dainty blossoms. I’m not sure what it is but I like it a lot.

On Sunday, we lounged around home.  Dave is good at this.

 

On Sunday, we lounged around home. Dave is very good at this. (I think I am in trouble!!)

We got back on the bike again on Tuesday and took a long ride through more of Hill Country. Our ride took us through Paradise Canyon and past the old Medina Dam. What beautiful scenery!

We have been seeing many wild flowers, since we drove into the San Antonio area. They are just beautiful, with mixtures of red, yellow and purple. We have not found out yet what the red or yellow flowers are. The purple ones are the famed Bluebells.

Wednesday was another beautiful day so we decided to go back into San Antonio. We thought it might be our last visit to the city. We parked the truck and walked, walked, walked.

It was 1.8 miles to the Historic Market Square. We did some shopping for Christmas!

The trip back to the truck seemed longer than going to the Market. Dave let me stop to rest about 3 blocks short while he continued on to the parking ramp, to drop off our purchases. Then, we were back to walking. Our destination was the Pearl Brewery, 1.4 miles away. That seemed like an even longer walk! When we got there, we found out the brewery is closed, at least the retail portion, and has been turned into shops. There was a wine house that also sold beer. We had to stop for water and a beer and a REST. The beer we had, Montucky, is supposedly the official beer of Montana. We wondered if Dan and Taylour could confirm that, but Facebook was acting up and never posted this picture where we tagged and asked them.

Neither of us was looking forward to the walk back to the downtown area, so Dave talked me into renting one of the many electric scooters that are all over. One just has to scan a code on the scooter and get on. Your credit card is charged for the distance you use it. We see tourists and even office workers on these, all over. Well…. I either could not get it to move, or when I did, it went way to fast. We all know I am a klutz and gave up almost immediately. So, we parked the scooter and walked back. Our end destination was the River Walk which we wanted to visit one last time, especially on such a warm, sunny day.

We stopped at Waxy O’Connor’s for a beer and an appetizer. Our choice today was a spinach and three cheese dip. How yummy! As usual, the appetizer was actually our supper.

Thursday was chore day, with Dave cleaning our awning, top and underside. It looked like a lot of work. I sat in the sun watching, and sunburned my nose and my face, through my glasses. I look like a raccoon.

Friday was a bit chillier but we wanted one more visit to San Antonio. Dave found a walking tour of the king William District, San Antonio’s first suburb. This was settled in the 19th century by prosperous German merchants. There are some huge mansions but also some smaller cottages. A couple have been opened as museums but we just did the outside walk. Below are a couple of the beautiful homes we saw.

Saturday will be our last day here. We will load the bike and do some things at home. Tomorrow morning, we are off to Kerrville, to do more riding in the hills, and to meet up with our friends Jan and Phil.