Eastward Ho is Heading West

Continuing our visit to San Antonio - We visited 2 of the missions, San Jose and Mission Conception. There are 4 besides the Alamo which was originally a mission also. All are active Catholic churches with the exception of the Alamo. At San Jose we took a tour with a park ranger, all of the mission except the church is a National Park. 

Well the highlight of our San Antonio stay! The light up parade (30th annual) on the Riverwalk! We lucked out with our table, when we made the reservation we were on the back of the patio at a bar table, higher and with bar stools. The manager showed us the table and said he'd get some stools with backs for us. He seemed concerned that the decrepit old fogeys might fall off the stools after a glass or two of wine. On the night of the parade we arrived and were seated front and centre, they had crowded 3 tables (with 2 people at each) in where usually there are 1 four person table and 1 two person table. We 'rubbed elbows' (literally) with our neighbours - Gail and James from Houston, who come every year to see the spectacle!

Canadian Christmas Float!

Riverwalk after light up

Alamo Plaza

Our last day, Denis visited the Texas Ranger museum and I went to the Spanish Governor's Palace and walked along as much of the Riverwalk as I could. There were more people on the Riverwalk and the Alamo Plaza than the previous night. In passing we heard that the wait for a table at one restaurant was an hour and a half. I wanted to sit out along the Riverwalk but most places had a minimum half hour wait, luckily we scored an inside table in front of an open full length window, so we were in the midst of the action and no wait!  Sad to leave San Antonio, not sure if I'm done here.

One night in Del Rio, tried to go to Val Verde winery (1883, oldest winery in Texas) but they were closed :(. On the road again we stopped at Langtry and visited the Judge Roy Bean, only law west of the Pecos,  museum. The terrain is mostly flat, scrubby mesquite and cactus seem to dominate.  And the border patrol, it is amazing how many miles of nothingness they patrol, they must be the biggest employer in the area. We spent 2 nights in Alpine, most of the RV's in the park looked like they hadn't moved in years! We set out bright and early, well kind of early, for Big Bend country. We visited the ghost town of Terlingua, where mercury was mined in the late 1800's. Continuing on we stopped in Lajitas, mostly a golf resort  Part of the resort has been built to look like an old west town. When we were reading some history panels we met  a couple guys from New Zealand. Opening comment, very nice truck! We continued along the Rio Grande, some very beautiful scenery. The one fellow had been to Canada, even to Edmonton. We were both surprised, we thought the Rio Grande was a bigger river; then we read a panel that it is 'greatly diminished'. 95% of the water is diverted, mostly for agricultural needs but also for cities. It seems incredibly sad that 'the powers that be' have allowed that much  disruption. I did not get my feet wet, did not cross the border but my phone gave me a 'welcome to Mexico' message!


Rio Grande, greatly diminished

Heading to the west Texas town of El Paso! We saw a blimp, actually a 'Tethered Aerostat', so the border patrol gets some help with surveillance.

We spent the last couple days exploring around El Paso and we are leaving the 'cowboy boot capital' without buying any boots, although I saw a pair of English riding boots that were tempting. We tried out Famous Dave's BBQ, not quite up to Denis' and Cody's standards but pretty good. We're moving across the state line to New Mexico tomorrow, camping at a winery, we might not get any farther!