More family! More friends!

Currently in San Antonio
Next Up: Austin, TX and then Big Bend National Park on our way to Arizona

My sister Cecile and her husband Bill live in San Antonio and we were lucky enough to spend the day with them.  First, we remembered the Alamo!























While the Alamo started out as a Catholic Mission, it then became a military fort and was critical to the history of Texas.    Texas has been under a total of 5 flags: Spanish, French, Mexican, the Confederate States and the United States.  We got a bit of a lesson in the loading and shooting of muskets during the time of the Mexican siege.

The Alamo itself looks different from the other times I have visited.  The church, the barracks and other ruins are still there, but the grounds are much prettier with the addition of a garden.

Later in the week we toured the church, San Fernando Cathedral, that houses the remains of some of the heroes of the Alamo: among them Bowie, Crockett and Travis.  The Cathedral dates back to the mid 1700s and still has much of the original stonework.

We thought it would be fun to see the Texas Ranger museum too, since the day turned out to be somewhat cold and rainy.  Off we went to the Buckhorn Saloon and museum.

The original owner would give a free shot of whiskey to anyone who would donate a set of horns.

Thus began a huge collection of animals that have been preserved through taxidermy, including this  Irish Elk; the species has been extinct for 9,000 years.

He also created this collection of chairs made out of animal horns.  Very unique.

Another cool thing in the animal section was the Tree of Life from Thailand.  It took over a year of constant work for the artist to create it.  Now I know why the Animal Kingdom at Disney has one!

Once we moved on to the Texas Ranger part of the museum, we learned a bit about the history of the Texas law enforcement.  The Rangers were started in the mid 1800s with 12 men directed to keep settlements safe from Native Americans.  Today they are a division of the Texas state bureau of investigation.  The Texas Rangers were involved in bringing down Bonnie and Clyde.

This guy is still on the lam.  They need to up that reward money!

I took a peek at this collection of law enforcement badges at the museum.

In the old days, the Rangers hung out at the Saloon  - and so did we!

Finally, over the weekend we were able to catch up with some friends that we met at the rally we went to last May in Tennessee.  We started out at the oldest bar on the Riverwalk - The Esquire.

And we moved on to a classic Tex Mex restaurant.  So fun to catch up with this folks!