USA Roadtrip Day 3….Gonzales TX > San Antonio > San Angelo

A sunny morning, breakfast at the hotel…..regular fare and we are on our way…..today we are driving to San Antonio to see the Alamo and visit the Riverwalk, have lunch and then drive for 3 hours to San Angelo…….should be a fun easy day !

A smooth trip into San Antonio, parked our vehicle and a short walk to the Mission of San Antonio de Valero, commonly called the Alamo. It was established in 1718, as a way station between missions already existing in East Texas and other base missions in Mexico. It was well over 100 years old when it became the focal point for the Battle of the Alamo, fought on March 6, 1836. The Alamo will always be remembered and associated with that battle. A relatively little known factoid is that with the conclusion of the war in 1848 Mexico ceded an enormous part of what is now modern-day USA:

The Alamo itself is a relatively modest historical monument albeit with significant importance and is well presented….including re-enactment type presentations in period costume and pleasant grounds to tour…

 

…..for all you knife lovers there was an excellent exhibition of the famous Bowie knife…

…and in the gift shop who could resist a musket in his & her colors for one’s child or grandchild…..thus to better ensure the gun culture lives on…

Next up the Riverwalk …sometimes leaders have vision and this was the case in San Antonio where an effort to divert flood waters underground was modified to empower in 1938 the “San Antonio River Beautification Project”, which began the evolution of the site into the present 2.5-mile-long (4 km) San Antonio River Walk, a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath the streets of San Antonio. Lined by bars, shops, restaurants, nature, and public art, the River Walk has become an important part of the city’s urban fabric and a tourist attraction in its own right…..talk about turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse !! A unique feature which we have not seen in a North American city….

 

Nice lunch at Paesanos… some nicely done Italian pasta is a welcome change from Whataburger and the like….

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Time flies and we still have several hours of driving…….as soon as we leave San Antonio the skies darken and a solid deluge begins…..lovely driving conditions. We pass through some hilly countryside with lots of sizeable ranches…..

…..then as the skies clear we descend onto a plain where huge farms dominate. Eventually we take a secondary highway and pass a variety of western towns…..including Eden:

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…noticed a venison products shop and bought some venison/pork sticks…..Moosie of course had to get in the act!

….and soon we are in San Angelo….tonite we are at the Baymont Inn and Suites……nice digs, pleasant staff and at USD 59 w breakie probably will be the cheapest accommodations …seems this is another staging area for the oil patch …..our wheels stood out only in that they were not a pick-up!

Till tomorrow….