Day 35 - San Antonio, Day 1

What's this? A wee bit of the old sod? Joe Kelly, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!


Our Nephew Matt, the Fighter Pilot:




Well, here we are in San Antonio, TX. We hit the sack early last night and slept soundly for almost 12 hours each. The traveling is catching up to us, it seems. About noon time, we finally ventured out into daylight and headed for downtown San Antonio.







It looks like San Antonio could be a fun city. Certainly plenty of places for Sheila to go shopping. Found the River Walk with no problems and fortunately, it was cool today and a nice breeze was blowing to keep things comfortable. Took a tour of River Walk on one of the boats and it took about 30 - 45 minutes and we enjoyed the tour. Lots of places to eat and shop in certain areas of the river, but they are doing a lot of repairs on the canal walkways. Thought we would get away from construction for a day or two, but it was not to be.



Seems easy to get around the Alamo and River Walk areas, with plenty of street signs. Also buses/streetcars to take you from place to place too. The Alamo was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but nicely maintained. After hearing about the Alamo for all these years, nice to finally see it in person.

When we were on the River Walk, we were surprised to see Durty Nelly's Irish Pub on the walkway. Sheila and I had visited the original pub in Ireland a little over 12 years ago. Didn't stop for a "taste", but we did stop at Pat O'Brian's later in the afternoon for a bite to eat and a little liquid refreshment. We will probably visit Pat O'Brian's in New Orleans when we land there next weekend.

Plan to be here in San Antonio until Thursday morning when we will head for New Orleans. Should arrive in New Orleans on or about Friday evening. We were able to meet our nephew Matt for dinner tonight. Matt is in fighter pilot training here and is the main reason we wanted to visit San Antonio. Matt found us with no problems at all so out to dinner down the road from the motel a piece. What a nice kid and so proud of being a fighter pilot. We know he will be one of the best. Matt just became a 1st Lieutenant, so is also proud of that accomplishment. So glad we were able to see him, even if for only a couple of hours. K

New update on my cowgirl hat. Brought the hat in from the car and now it's resumed it's pre-melt state. Still will not purchase cowgirl boots. Our nephew Matt just got here, he's so grown up now and so handsome, boy time flies. So nice to see Matt and be able to spend some time with him. If all goes as expected he'll graduate in May then go back to Washington DC.

Loved going to downtown San Antonio, very pretty city. Loved the boat ride down the San Antonio river, informative, did you know Texas was once an independent country and as such can fly the Texas flag without flying the American flag next to it?

The Alamo was kind of what I expected, very well preserved. They have a list of all the heroes that died during the siege. So many were from England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland as well as all over the US. Davy Crockett is listed as David Crockett and didn't look anything like Fess Parker - so much for the Disney interpretation.

No shopping today, some looking. Ken and I had lunch at Pat O'Briens. Ken said he had the best hamburger in a long time, he also had a hurricane. I had iced tea as was very thirsty, as well as a salad with chicken. We shared the bread pudding for dessert, ummmmm good!!!

Tomorrow plan to go back downtown and go to the market area would like to find a Western store, Ken would like a belt and perhaps another shirt. I just enjoy shopping, looking. More to follow. S