Alamo Sightseeing Tour, San Antonio, TX - Mon., June 8

Monday Bob and I played tourists. At 8:20 am we hopped on a shuttle bus to start our Grand Tour of San Antonio.

The shuttle took us into downtown where our tour started with The Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero). Our guide gave us time to see the church and walk around the museum.

Our tour guide in front of The Alamo

Opening time at The Alamo (9 am) -
people waiting to get into the church

Bob in front of the Long Barrack - movie and museum inside

Gorgeous flowers

Bob and I had never taken time to view the museum in the Long Barrack, so we did it today. We thought we still had five minutes to get back on the bus, but as we were outside listening to a ranger give a history talk, we saw the bus driver motioning for us to come to the bus.

We hustled over and got on the bus, sheepishly I might add because we were the last two and everyone was waiting on us. The whole bus was completely full (31 people), except for one seat. I took the seat. When Bob got on the bus, a child sitting in one of the seats had to move to sit on their parent's lap.

Our next stop was Mission San Jose. This is our favorite mission in San Antonio. Our driver giave us a 1/2 hour tour, then gave us another 1/2 hour to look around on our own.

Bob in front of our sightseeing coach

Visitor Center display of the five missions in San Antonio

Mission San Jose

Interior of church at Mission San Jose

A scalloped door

Next we headed to Mission Concepcion where our guide talked to us about the artwork inside the walls of this mission.

Hand-painted art on inside walls

Interior stairs - Mission Concepcion

From Mission Concepcion, our tour route took us to Market Square, an area with Mexican shops, restaurants and a bakery. We had 1/2 hour to look around and shop (and get a treat at the bakery - we were hungry).

Next stop, Buckhorn Saloon and Museum and Texas Ranger Museum. Our first order of business was lunch so we got our admission sticker for the museum then walked a block to Toscana Ristorante, an Italian restaurant. It was okay, but we wouldn't go back.

We head been to the museums before, but we walked through again. I am fascinated by the big game heads, fish, and other displays in the Buckhorn.

Famous big game hunter

Cobra and mongoose

The following two stags locked horns in battle and died locked together. Things like this happen in nature.

Bob at the Buckhorn Museum

Stuffed ring-tailed cats

A Texas landscape at the Buckhorn

Bob in the Buckhorn Saloon

Selfie through a mirror

When we finished at the museums, our bus picked us up for a short ride to the Japanese Tea Garden at Brackenridge Park. The garden was built in an old rock quarry and is quite lovely. It took us about 15 minutes to walk through the garden.

Japanese Tea Garden

Suspended turtle

Looking back at the pagoda

Interior of the pagoda

From the tea garden, we went back into downtown for the 35-minute narrated river tour. In the three years we've been in San Antonio, we had never done the riverboats! I'm happy to report it's a good value. Seeing the River Walk from the river is a treat.

The five bells below represent the five missions in San Antonio.

San Antonio's River Walk

Lots of bridges

Mariachi band serenading diners.

San Antonio's Convention Center

We returned back to the RV park around 5:00 pm. Both of us were happy we finally did the tour.

New Year's Day 2015 until Jan. 10 - Thurs., Jan. 1-10

No work. Thank goodness! We slept in until noon. So very nice to cocoon on a cold day.

From Friday, Jan. 2 to Sunday, Jan. 4,  I worked three ten-hour days at the RV park. On Monday, Jan. 5, I slept in again. Monday was "chores day" with laundry, cooking, and shopping on my plate.

Tuesday the 6th, Susan, Darren, Peri and I did the 10 km (6.2mile) Missions Volksmarch. We met at Mission San Jose to sign in for our walk, and then drove to Mission Concepcion where the walk started.

Every time we walk along the San Antonio River, I am amazed by the birds and turtles we see. This time, we also saw the ever present tower crane. You see, there is a lot of building going on in San Antonio.

A few major building projects in San Antonio are: a huge addition to the Convention Center, new apartments near the Blue Star Arts Complex, a new children's museum on Broadway, new Emma Hotel at The Pearl (formerly the Pearl Brewery), new hotel on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River, Victory Medical Center, Forest Park Medical Center, Children's Hospital renovation, new buildings at University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA), and Embassy Suites is breaking ground in April 2015 on a six-story hotel in south San Antonio. Already completed was the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in downtown San Antonio. Wow!

Sorry, I got sidetracked. Back to the Volksmarch...the walk was mostly along the San Antonio River from Mission Concepcion to the Blue Star Arts Complex in King William District.

Sunflowers in the dead of winter.

Great egret

Turtles sunning

Snowy egret

Gadwall pair

Egyptian geese

Beautiful winter day

Darren, Susan, Peri

Tower crane at Blue Star Complex apartment
building site

One of the art shops at Blue Star

Stella Public House, our lunch stop

Peri studying beer menu

My salmon salad lunch

Where we had lunch - Stella Public House

Art outside one of the galleries

Great egret fluffing feathers

Butterfly posing

Mission Concepcion

When our walk was over, I went back to the fifth wheel and met Bob for our date to Texas RV Supply, The Big Bib BBQ, and Camping World. First stop, Texas RV Supply. We needed to replace our C02 sensor, our fire alarm, and our propane alarm. We also needed a yellow light cover for an outside light. The service at Texas RV Supply was great. Within a few minutes we were shown where everything was and dropped $200!

Camping World in New Braunfels was having their own "RV show" and we had a date to look around at their new and used inventory. It was fun to traipse in and out of 5th wheels and motorhomes. One thing is certain, we can't afford even a used motorhome. We fell in love with the floor plan of a brand new Forest River Cardinal 5th wheel. Now we know when we're ready to trade in our 2003 5th wheel in a few years, we will look for a used Cardinal. Of course, we'll look at other 5th wheels as well because we like to make a choice that works well for us. We still love our used Holiday Rambler Presidential after living in it for three years.

Bob amongst the grand canyon of motorhomes

The interior of a gorgeous Tuscany motorhome

Quite the control panel in the Tuscany!

The Tuscany has a master bath suite

Quite a fun day today. On the way home from Camping World we stopped at The Big Bib BBQ to use our gift certificate. Both of us had turkey plates with sweet potato casserole and salad. Yummy stuff.

Wednesday, Jan. 10, we had our weekly staff meeting at the RV Park. I worked my regular hours of Wednesday through Saturday.

You just never know what we'll be up to next. Stay tuned.