Visiting San Antonio, Texas

Thursday, Nov, 4 - San Antonio, TX

Today, we spent the day in San Antonio visiting various sights. We arrived in San Antonio yesterday afternoon, after traveling almost 600 miles from Las Cruces, NM, where we left from on Tuesday morning. I have to say that this drive through West Texas was the most boring drive since we first went "on the road" in September, 2008! There ain't nothin' out there, folks! We didn't even see any wildlife. Guess it's just too desolate for them, as well. Occasionally, we passed through a small town, but these were very few and very far between. This is not a good place to experience a mechanical breakdown, and we didn't, thank goodness! But, fortunately, we made it into San Antonio without any problems, and are staying in a campground about 12 miles southeast of the city, on I-35 in Van Ormy, Texas.

As I mentioned, above, we spent today seeing the sights in San Antonio. We started out by visiting The Alamo. I have not been here since 1963, and I could not believe what the area around the Alamo Shrine looks like. Back in '63, there was absolutely nothing like the hotels and shops which surround the area today. Even within the grounds of the Alamo, new buildings have been constructed to house various things, such as the museum, which houses memorabilia from the John Wayne movie "The Alamo". Also, there have been lots of changes made within the Alamo itself. There are NO PHOTOS allowed inside the Alamo; rooms have been closed off, only allowing you to see into the room; and there are now lots of garden areas around the Alamo, which didn't exist back in the '60s. One other thing I noticed, the floors are now tiled with stone. Back in '63, they were dirt floors!

After touring the Alamo, we walked the short distance to the River Walk. Again, this did not exist back in '63. In fact, back then it would have been suicide to visit that area. It had a reputation for being "home" to many gangs. There were many crimes committed there, not the least of which was murder! Not a good place to find yourself back then. Now, however, the whole area has been transformed into a wonderful place to visit. There are many shops and restaurants along the way; barges to ferry you to places along the way if you are too tired to walk; a theater with seats of grass; and a peaceful place to sit quietly, if desired. I would recommend this as a "must see", if you ever find yourself in San Antonio. It takes less than an hour to walk totally around the River Walk, even at a leisurely pace.

From the River Walk, we continued over to the west side of the city to "El Mercanto", the Old Market Place. This is a series of small shops inside of a large building. There is a walkway through the building, with shops on either side of the walkway. You can find lots of hand-crafted items, along with many production items here. Unfortunately, we were not able to take any pictures in here, but the shops were quite interesting.

Later this afternoon, we visited Lackland Air Force Base, where I spent part of my enlistment in the Air Force. I really don't remember much about the base, mostly because, as a recruit, you don't really get to see very much. We ended up here by mistake, while searching for a Post Office. The GPS directed us to the base, indicating that there was a Post Office there. Turns out that there is a Post Office on the base, but they wouldn't let us get to it! I never realized, during my training days here, how big this base actually is! I believe that part of the reason that it is so big today is that it has taken over part of what used to be Kelly Air Force Base, where I finished up my enlistment. Kelly has been closed, and most of the facility has been "privatized". The airfield, which was once part of Kelly, is now a part of Lackland. When I was stationed here, Lackland and Kelly were located across the highway from each other. The highway, now called Military Drive, cuts through Lackland AFB now.

Tomorrow we will continue our push toward Tampa, FL. We will probably spend one more night in Texas, since we still have over 300 miles to travel through it, and part of that trip takes us through Houston (Oh, Joy!!).

As usual, our photographs are here: Gallery.me.com/cbenoitiii