San Antonio, TX

New Orleans to San Antonio was a l-o-n-g drive. The drive was projected to take around 9 hours; however, this was complicated by the fact that we woke up at the crack of dawn and left early to get a good start... Well this was all a good plan, but by the time we got to about Baton Rouge, we realized we forgot some medications in the hotel. So we called the hotel, confirmed that they were there, and turned around to get them. So 2-3 hours later we were just about back to Baton Rouge. What a nightmare!

When we finally got to the hotel, got the dogs setteled in, and started to get comfortable, we were ready for a time out. Then it happened... they started power washing some buildings right outside our window. We called the front desk to find out when the air compressor would be turned off, and we found out that there was no city ordinance stopping them from working. We promptly asked for a room change and were put in the back of the hotel on a club level floor away from the noise.

We woke up early the next morning and decided we were going to take in all we could that day before heading to Las Cruces, New Mexico. We had a mexican breakfast at Mi Tierra cafe and bakery. The huevos rancheroes were amazing!
After having breakfast we decided to get some items from the bakery for breakfast the next day... fresh strawberry churros and cinnamon and sugar covered tortillas. We then figured we were ready to take in the Mexican market, river walk, Alamo, and other spanish missions in the area.
After our breakfast we went to the Mexican market. There we found all sorts of fun things. We felt like we had crossed the border. There were pots, ceramics, candies, catholic novelties, and everything all straight from Mexico.
Next we strolled along the riverwalk on our way to the Alamo. It was still early and a lot of the shops were not open, but the whole area was decorated for Christmas and was amazing. The river in San Antonio made Indy's canal walk look like a joke. The weather had turned from a beautiful 78 degrees to a cold, windy 34. We were ready to get inside and were lucky the Alamo was just a few blocks away.

The Alamo, where Santa Ana and the Mexican army defeated the Texan colinists, was beautiful. It is right downtown with the city all around. We made sure we brushed up on our history before visiting. I thought that the Texans won at the battle of the Alamo; however, now I know they held off Santa Ana and his armies for two of the three battles. Once the third commenced, however, the Alamo quickly fell and the colonists surrendered. However, this defeat helped garner support for the following battle of San Jacinto where the Mexican army was driven from Texas permitting the annexation of the area into the states. Just in case you were wondering... After visiting the Alamo, we went to the San Antonio Missions National Park.

These are some pictures of two of the missions we were able to go through. The missions were the towns that the Spanish established to convert the Indians to Catholicism. The missions include huge land areas where the inhabitants lived and worked to support the community. There were aqueducts, farms, and the whole nine yards. The large buildings were the churches and are still working today for the most part. San Antonio was a great place; we felt like we left the US for a day and spent the afternoon in old Mexico. After leaving San Antonio, we rushed through Las Cruces, NM and then Palm Springs, CA. We are now in San Francisco, CA spending some time with the Aarons. We look forward to seeing everyone for Christmas and will see you soon.