Texas Round-up ~ Houston & San Antonio

October 30 ~ November 1

Haven't been to Houston since Kelly was two.  I lived there for two years in another life and she was born there.  Was interested in seeing how the city had grown and to take a look at some places lodged in my memory bank.  The drive was highlighted by what must have been a 20-mile bridge over the bayou...fascinating and pretty.

Found Lakeside RV Park (lakeside-rvpark.com) which turned out to be a fine place to spend a couple of days.  While it is populated with a number of "extended stay" residents, it had a pond we could look at, a nice walking track which I used every morning and a nice clubhouse/pool set-up. And it's very convenient to places we want to visit.

We pop into the Galleria, which except for Neiman's and the ice rink is totally unrecognizable to me.  Drive by the first home I ever owned and had lunch at an old favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, El Patio, that wasn't as good as I remembered.  What we found most interesting, are the street signs suspended over the major intersection. Once again, a trip to Whole Foods, was a highlight. 

Was very interested to see San Antonio, another place I hadn't been to since I moved from Houston.

Stay at Traveler's World (carefreeresorts.com) that is not great, but okay for a couple of days and is convenient to downtown. We spend our first afternoon checking out the lay of the land, visiting the Alamo and strolling the River Walk. 

What's left of the Alamo is very small and much of it is now not accessible due to restoration work.  What was most interestisng to me were all the not-famous men who died there who were from Europe.  They were given land grants to come over and settle in the Texas territory, a fact if I knew it in fourth grade, I had forgotten.

We search for  Mi Tierra (mitierracafe.com) in the El Mercado Market Square (a few blocks of shops which specialize in Mexican souvenirs) which I had read alot about.  It's a 24-hour a day cafe and bakery that has been in the spot since 1941.  It reminds me of a Mexican Mama Leone's!  It is very festive! But unfortunately serves mediocre food.

There are four other missions, besides the Alamo, and we find them most fascinating.  While we think of missions as churches and homes to the monks, these were very extensive self-sustaining communities run by Spanish Franciscan monks who were sent to recruit and convert the locals.  They would then turn over the missions to the residents in ten years, a process called secularization.

The large San Jose and Concepcion Missions are in wonderful shape and true treasures to explore.

Concepion is said to look essentially as it did in the mid-1700's.  Unfortunately the chapel, which is still used today, is under restoration and we can't go in.  But some of the walkway frescoes have been restored and one  can just imagine how the chapel must have looked.

The architecture at San Jose is stunning...the archways and windows pure works of art.

San Juan and Espada are small...no buses, few people and we loved them...you could almost feel what it was like to be there 250 years ago.  Both of these churches are parish churches today....must be wonderful to attend Mass in settings like these.

Leaving the Mission Trail (nps.gov/saan), we stumble upon a series of very funky sculptures called "Making Hay at the Missions.

It is a hoot!

Back to the Riverwalk for dinner.  It is mobbed.  Our restaurant of choice is Boudros which has an hour and a half wait.  Walk down to Casa Rio which has been there since 1946 where they say the wait is 20 minutes.  So not true!  While we are waiting, a gentleman from Phoenix comes over and says he is by himself and has been given a table for four, would we like to join him?  We do and have a delightful conversation accompanied by really bad food. 

Tomorrow we're on to Austin.  I've never been there...Rick lived there as a child...have very good friends there that I can't wait to see.