V4N2B

The Alamo + 4

San Antonio, Texas is the location of the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. A collection of 5 missions built in the 1700's for the protection of San Antonio. We had visited the park in 1993 but only saw Mission San Jose at that time because of time constraints. This trip, we visited Mission Concepcion, along with San Jose.

Concepcion is the best preserved of the missions and is still used for regular services. There is a small Visitor's Center there with a couple of Rangers who couldn't have been more helpful.

The big surprise was Mission San Jose with it's new Visitor's Center. The building is large and very well appointed. We saw the Orientation Movie in the theater at San Jose, but we got our cancellation stamp at Concepcion.

The Alamo, (Mission de Valero) is one of the 5 missions but is run by a different agency. Needless to say, we couldn't make a trip into San Antonio without a little side trip into the Alamo. There was another movie we saw at The Alamo. 300 years of history in 12 minutes. The movie was actually Produced by the Discovery Channel and very interesting.

Saint Anthony

Visiting San Antonio, Texas is a hoot to say the least. There are so many things to see and do that you never get bored. You mostly just run out of time to see them and do them. In addition to the Missions we visited, we also took in a couple of other sites.

Riverwalk and the Rivercenter Mall is a fabulous spot to spend an afternoon. We took the boat down the river and it seemed to be a different ride than we had been on previously. Actually I think the trip had just been shortened and didn't include the Convention Center.

We also went to the IMAX Theater to see the story of the battle for the Alamo. Always a pleasure and an experience is the 7-story screen and the sound effects.

Our last stop for the day was El Mercado. (The Mexican Market) This market is like taking a trip into one of the border towns of Mexico without the high pressure. The prices are very comparable with Mexico and the people are also very friendly. Our first order of business at El Mercado was finding a place to eat. A restaurant that we had eaten at in 1998, but didn't recognize until we were on our way out.

Where's the Heat?

By Sharon

It has been so cold this winter! How cold is it you ask?

We saw a Camper with a pile of wood outside his trailer and a chimney coming out of his roof top.

We saw a motorhome that was towing a car with an orange ball on its antenna.

We've gone through more LP Gas than unleaded.

I haven't shaved my legs since I left home because I forgot my long underwear.

Everything's so cold and stiff around here that Bill even threw away his Viagra.

We made it all the way to Louisiana without seeing a flake of snow or a drop of rain. But it was cold. Then we decided to move to Texas where it's "always" hot. It was cold. We continued west to New Mexico where we swam in an indoor pool and soaked in the hot tub. It was cold. Then we drove to Arizona where I woke up screaming........it was snowing. We had a couple of inches on the ground after that one, but in a couple of hours it was gone, but it still snowed. And now we're in Quartzsite and we've worn shorts 2 days in a row.

La Casita

We spent a night in Alpine, TX waiting for Walt and Kathy coming from Big Bend National Park. While there, we got a pleasant surprise when we went to a Mexican Restaurant that was recommended by Miss Becky at the campground office. It was a little place in a residence that if you saw it you'd be afraid to stop for the food. It had 5 booths and 7 tables and we know that we were the only tourists in there. It's definitely where the "locals" eat Mexican.

Sharon had a Pork dish with a rojo (red) sauce, along with refried beans, rice and a couple of tortillas. Mine was 3 beef enchiladas, 2 tacos, refried beans and rice. They were both excellent.

This campground that we're in was the third one we tried here in Alpine. The other 2 didn't want to honor the Coast to Coast agreement. So we just moved on. We had no intention of paying extra for a site that we should have gotten for $11. When we got here we didn't know if Miss Becky was a man or a woman until she spoke. And the capper was that she told us she had just quit smokin'...........but started dippin'. And she was hopin' it wouldn't bother us when she spit.