San Antonio, Texas -- Day 3, January 24, 2023

  San Antonio, Texas – Day 3, January 24, 2023

It’s been a lazy, rainy morning with everyone catching up on sleep; however, we did watch the movie The Alamo prior to visiting the actual Alamo … a good history lesson for the boys!  The Alamo itself wasn’t anything like I imagined … I was surprised to find the remains of the fort/church are actually right downtown San Antonio, with most of what was the fort area now incorporated as part of the city! But the historical background was well done as well as fascinating, as history usually is.  Some interesting tidbits the boys took away that they hadn’t learned before are:  the Mission was first built over 300 years ago; over 167 people died in the battle when Santa Anna overran the fort; that a dozen women and children did survive that battle; that that 1839 battle was not so much about the land as it was about Texans not wanting to be under the tyranny of Santa Anna who had dissolved the Mexican Constitution; that the Mission Church had many changes over the years and at one point even had a wooden roof … not in line with the building materials of the day!  This was a nice stop.

After that we strolled the River Walk … that too was a bit different than I had anticipated, as I didn’t realize the river takes so many twists and turns. And the actual “walk” is well below street level. But the City has really done a great job because the walk is leisurely and peaceful, many ducks in the water as well as birds making themselves at home along the river, the scenic tour boats driving up and down the river, the many restaurants, the obvious Spanish influence in the architecture and bridges with the cowboy culture incorporated via statues and types of restaurants.  We ate at a Mexican restaurant overlooking the river and enjoyed the strolling mariachi band come by every so often!  Great food there as well!

Frank and Suzanne fly in late tonight; and very, very early tomorrow morning we go onto Lackland Air Force Base to watch Isabelle’s run (well, maybe the rest will go and we'll just be ready to greet her once she gets back here at our abode!). We then get to spend the rest of the day with her … Am so excited to see her and to learn about her boot camp experience here since early last December!