TEXAS: SAN ANTONIO

Actually, Dave, we rented our car at Thrifty (and swore to never use them again, but that's another story), but we are impressed that you "Remember the Alamo!" 

Here are a few more shots from our weekend in San Antonio, Texas, where EVERYTHING is big, including this cup of fruit, marinated in lime juice and chile and bought at a somewhat seedy drive-through Mexican joint:

. . . and where everyone is a cowboy, even the kids on the playground, making Bob and me covet the beautifully-tooled, pointy-toed boots we see on everyone's feet.

In Texas, bike riders don't "get off" their bikes, they "dismount":

Apparently, Texans have even created their own system of spelling:

Sign at Texas Pride Barbecue, the restaurant housed in an old gas station and pictured in my last post.

I really wish I could be in Texas at Christmastime.  I'd love to see this sweet ride all lit up and cruising down the highway:

Bob and I had lots of fun on a food tour today, which started out at a restaurant with a very creative way of advertising itself:

This figure foreshadowed our guide-led stop at five different restaurants in a three-hour period.

The first photo on my last post was the famous Alamo in San Antonio, a former Catholic mission and fortress and site of the famous pivotal battle in the 1836 Texas Revolution, the battle in which both Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie were killed by Santa Ana's army.

We've seen four other missions in the last couple of days, and have loved their crumbly architecture and beautiful lines. All of them are operating Catholic churches.  They are like and unlike the California missions: like in their basic form and the layout of the grounds, but unlike in their more advanced state of crumbling disrepair, isolation, and lack of grandiosity:

 

 

 

 

 

San Antonio is one of the prettiest cities at night I've seen, even in the steady drizzle we've tolerated the last two days. The most famous place to stroll at night is The River Walk, where we have walked the last two nights (but neglected to take pictures). However, there are plenty of other beautiful places at night, such as the Alamo itself (see my last post), and these two buildings:

The view from our hotel window

San Fernando Cathedral, the oldest continuously functioning religious community in Texas and the oldest standing church building in Texas

We will spend part of tomorrow in San Antonio, hoping for slightly better weather, and then we are off to . . . ?