San Antonio, June3-7, 2013

In our quest to visit 60 temples by age 60, we take advantage of business trips.  A few months ago when Bryce learned he would be attending a conference in San Antonio Texas, we got busy making plans.  I had not really heard much about San Antonio and was very pleasantly surprised.  It turned out to be a great place for a wife to go along with her husband and find things to do alone.

(For some reason, I can't type San Antonio without adding an extra N on the end.  My fingers just want to type Antonion.)

Our hotel was just a block from the famous "Alamo."  Later I found out that there was an even better shortcut, but the first day I went the long route and visited it in the morning. 

 

I got myself an audio tour to listen to, and spent a couple of hours listening to all the information I could.

 There is a lot of history in this small place.

 This fountain is along the shortcut route from our hotel to the Alamo.  Every time I traveled this way I got to see this mother duck and her babies.  I wondered what they were eating because they are in a large fountain, not a river. 

The river is on the other side of the hotel, and alongside its banks is the famed "River Walk."

     

Each day at lunch time and again at dinner, Bryce and I walked along here and chose a restaurant.  There were many choices to pick from.  Several strolling musical groups would stop and for a tip play a song.  I handed the camera to Bryce and they gathered around for a photo while they sang.  Unfortunately all the photos either had a thumb in them or were blurry.  These guys played "Spanish Eyes" for me. Other groups included a violinist, but they all usually had one of these really big guitars.

 I had a coupon for a free appetizer and the pile of fried zucchini is what we got, but we paid for that half dozen oysters on the half shell.  And they were yummy!

Just about a month ago, Bryce bought some Cypress boards and started working to turn them into Adirondack chairs.  I knew that Cypress liked to grow near water, but I didn't really know what it looked like.  We were delighted to find out that these large trees bordering the San Antonio River Walk are Cypress trees.

 The River Walk is a great place for a stroll, or you can take a boat tour or a boat taxi.

I took a Trolley tour around the city and stopped just once for pictures at this mission.










I also took a boat tour and while I was out on the boat, this pep rally for the San Antonio Spurs came by on three boats.  The NBA finals began that night and after the Spurs won in Miami, we heard cheering and horn honking for two hours even though we were six stories above it.

Amazingly, our former neighbor Bill arrived in San Antonio the day before we were leaving.  We got together in the lobby of his hotel for a short visit.  

 

Finally on our last day we rented a car and drove out to the lovely San Antonio temple with its stunning stained glass windows.  

This in itself was worth the whole trip.  The pictures do not do it justice.  We're looking forward to visiting some more beautiful temples.