San Antonio, Texas

After completing the historic Natchez Trace Parkway, we made our way westward across Louisiana, which had much more farming activity, and into Texas. Eastern Texas was quite picturesque with large forests (and forestry) and lakes. We camped at a Corps of Engineers campground right on a dammed lake (west of a town named Jasper). As we proceeded westward, however, the land opened up into more ranching pasture land, and it was nice to see cattle again.

We camped near San Antonio for several days, but the rain and cold kept us inside. On one hot, sunny day we ventured into the city for the purpose of seeing the Alamo. The Alamo was a mission in its origins, but is better known now for the part it played in the Texas Revolution, as the birthplace of Texan Independence. The battle between the Spanish army and about 189 Texans and supporters lasted for 13 days, but in the end, all of the American defenders of the Alamo were killed. Among the famous men who died there were James Bowie (known for his Bowie knives) and Davey Crockett (the famous frontiersman from Tennessee). We saw items owned by each of these men as we went through the Alamo, but as it is considered ‘the Shrine of Texas Liberty’, we were not allowed to take photos in the building.

A few miles from the Alamo, we went to the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. We visited two of the four mission churches contained in this park. The first was Mission Concepcion. We were absolutely awed by this church. One of the aspects of this site which makes it so impressive is that the church is all original. Built in the 1750s, it still looks in great shape. I was fascinated also by the original frescoes which still adorn the inside of church. Apparently in its day, the entire façade of the church was also covered with colorful frescoes; what a sight it would have been to see. As it was, it seemed to me that we were walking through old Spain.

The next site we visited was the Mission San Jose. This location had some restoration done to it, and was more extensive in that it had a large walled courtyard around the central church. The walls were built with rooms within; these housed the local natives who worked at the mission in the 1700s. The living quarters had built-in ovens and stoves which were made of clay/plaster, just as the walls were. Our experiences at the San Antonio Missions were wonderful; we only wish we would have had time to see all four of the church sites.