Day 29 - San Antonio: Western Heritage Parade and Cattle Drive and the Pearl Brewery

We got up earlier than usual to get out to downtown San Antonio before the parade started. We got on the bus with a group of folks from the RV campground and we were instantly buddies. So we hung out together for most of the day.
This is the most friendly campground we have seen so far and the safest. By talking about RV life with more experienced travelers we acquire knowledge about the road ahead, places to visit, camps to stay.
We head to Houston street to get a front row viewing of the parade.
First group, it's the Texas Longhorns. It's going to be good!

Animal Right  Protesters

After the parade, we visited the Buckhorn saloon, which held historical events, where Teddy Roosevelt recruited the Rough Riders and Pancho Villa planned the Mexican Revolution.
The building includes a museum where many animals specimens are displayed. The story goes that the owners would accept animal antlers and snake skins in payments for drinks when patrons did not have money.
I got stuck at the door and stared at all those animals heads. The vegan part of me could not look beyond that sight to enjoy the rest and the history...sorry.

We all went to lunch at the famous Esquire Tavern, which was built in 1933 to celebrate the end of prohibition. It has the longest wood bar top in Texas. The ceiling is covered in squared medallions. The lights are low. The food and the drinks were delicious and the price was reasonable. One family gave up their table so we could sit together with our friends.

While our friends were going back to the campground, we decided to go and visit the old Pearl Brewery.
This is an area of 22 acres that belonged to the Pearl Brewery, which was operational from 1883 to 2001. Instead of  knocking down the historical buildings and build condos, some very clever investors opted to develop the area, keep the old and modernize it with beautiful furnishings, creating space for several business, keeping the memory of the brewery alive.

The old boiler is still standing in the hall of the Emma hotel. There are old tanks that have been cut to create private booths in the Super restaurant. The propane tanks have been cut to create planters for herbs outside the Culinary Institute of America.

Day 28 - San Antonio: Casa Navarro, La Villita, Yaguana gardens, Hemisfair park

Today we used Google Trips. This app gives a list of things to do in a city of your choice. So we followed the Downtown Highlights day planner. The first stop is the Alamo, which we visited yesterday. The second stop is Casa Navarro, which is located a couple blocks away from San Fernando Cathedral off of Dolorosa st. It's an adobe house situated next to construction sites. It's hard to imagine how it was when Jose Antonio Navarro used to live here with his family. The house displays are designed for school field trips, but the movies are well made. We learned that Jose Navarro was one of the two native Texans to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836, and later the Constitution of the Republic of Texas. He was for two terms a senator for Texas when it became a state.
We forgot to take any pictures. I think we are getting a bit warn out by sight seeing.

That's why we abandoned the day planner. So we went to check out la Villita, which was one of the first neighborhoods in San Antonio. Here there are many shops with handmade goods crafted by local artists.
In the main plaza, there were a bunch of kids rehearsing for tomorrow's fair. They were amazing and super cute.

We left the Villita and walked towards the Yaguana gardens.

sculpture in the playground of Yaguana gardens

Courthouse Bexar County

Walking toward the Tower of the Americas, there were a few original homes that had been restored inside and out. We had a tour of one of them by a girl that we met in the Villita. 

Tower of the Americas, second tallest free-standing building

We walked around Hemisfair park. There were several modern water fountains and landscapes, with great views of the enormous Henry Gonzales Convention Center building.

We decided to go back to the Riverwalk. This area of San Antonio is really the party area of the city. The walkways along the San Antonio river, the bridges, the sculptures, the elegant hotels and restaurants, the pubs, the music, the river boats make this the most pleasant walk.

Arneson River Theater

Sculpture in front of the Briscoe Western Art Museum

We took the river boat tour. Totally worth it. Our driver was very knowledgeable and told us all kinds of stories about the Riverwalk and its history and its businesses.

I love to get in fancy hotels, check out the furniture and sit on couches like I belong there.

Later at 9PM we went to the square in front of San Fernando to watch the light show. I had never seen one before. It was all about Texas through the years.

Day 27 - San Antonio: The Alamo, Riverwalk

This morning we got caught up on some errands and then in the afternoon took the bus to San Antonio. First stop, the Alamo.

The remains of the Alamo church and some buildings are on display with lots of historical information about that period in Texas history. We learned about the Texians and Tejanos, and how the Alamo battle (along with the execution of hundreds of Texians in Goliad) helped inspire many in Texas to fight against the Mexican government forces. Shortly after on April 21 1836, with the call  'Remember Alamo!', the Texians led by Sam Houston, won the battle of San Jacinto against Santa Ana  troops. It was the decisive battle that clinched Texas independence, .

The Alamo church (the battle took place inside the church as well)

Inside the Alamo church

Huge beautiful oak trees 

Oak trees are well over 100 years old

The gift shop was build by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas that helped preserve the Alamo building.

Next we took a stroll along the River Walk. Very nice! Had margaritas in one of the many restaurants, Cafe' Rio.

Our table on the river

Along the walk

Various sculptures and murals along the walk

The main plaza near the walk, St Joseph's church

The remains of Davy Crocket, Travis, and Bowie inside the church

Huge sculpture of Tejano driving cattle

More of the river walk

Day 26 - Del Rio to San Antonio

Today we drove by the enormous Laughlin Air Force Base right outside Del Rio as we were leaving town. We could see some battalions of soldiers lining up. If I were born around here, I would have probably joined too.
We kept driving for miles looking at the Chihuahua desert. It's a no man's land, with miles and miles of creosote bushes with some, at times, really interesting rock formations in the horizon. We passed by rock hills with protruding rock formations like long stripes running along the summits. We found out they were called 'caballos', horses.
After so many days driving through the desert, we welcomed the sight of oak trees, dry grass and cows at pasture. We passed several creeks and the Nueces river. Soon after we crossed an area with agriculture. What a comforting sight after all that desert! We reached a town with a German name, Uvalde. This town had several brick historical buildings and looked quite pretty. But we didn't have time to stop. Our final destination was San Antonio.
We finally made it to the RV campground. This one is good, pool, Jacuzzi, library, exercise room. It has everything we need including a lot with a view on the river park.
We are staying here for 5 days at least.

Day 25 - Marathon to Del Rio

Del Rio is a bigger town than Marathon with super markets, car dealerships, Applebee's and all that.
The RV campground was big with amenities, but the lot assigned to us had pieces of garbage strewn about, an old sock, a medicine cap, cigarette buds,... not cool!
There are a lot of full timers here. In the morning, about 5 am, a large diesel truck was warming up for at least ten minutes making our RV shake. Bill did not wake up but I did... again not cool!

Day 24 - Big Bend to Marathon

A definition for ghost town is a town that has more people buried than living.

The town of Terlingua fits the bill. Some say that Terlingua is more an area because the people that founded it where constantly moving to find new mines.

We went to visit the cemetery because the night before there were candles in every tomb and there were folks around a bonfire. Some tombs were of the founders, some were recent of young ones.

This is the land of the Comanche war trails. Their story is like the barbarians in Europe, but as a matter of fact they are still a powerful native nation.
Along the road there were a couple of historical markers about this.

We stopped at a museum about dinosaurs roaming this area. The construction was very innovative and sustainable.