Since last winter went so swimmingly, let's try it again! TFS has very graciously opened her home in the west San Fernando Valley to me again. This time her daughter AS (and dog and cat) are there too. Two women + two dogs + two cats = not my usual solitary winter again. Huzzah! Place name links like Los Angeles, CA go to Wikipedia. Place name links like Los Angeles use a local tourism or government website.
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To San Antonio Through Texas Hill Country |
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San Antonio Museum of Art |
| 2014.04.19 |
San Antonio - Day |
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Today we're in San Antonio, TX in the middle of Fiesta San Antonio an annual spring festival started to honour the memory of the battles of The Alamo . Our hotel is right in downtown San Antonio, near the Alamo Mission so the car stays put in valet parking while we set out on foot.
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| Our hotel room has a view of the Mission, on the right of this picture. We go there first. | |
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diorama of the Mission | |
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hospital room | |
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| Photography isn't allowed in most of the museum space so all I can show you are the grounds. | |
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a humongous cactus | |
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Now onto the plaza in front of the Mission where people gather taking pictures. |
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The street along the plaza has mostly tourist shops and attractions found in nearly every tourist place. | |
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Done with the Mission, we head down Houston Street to the real gem of downtown San Antonio. But first a little scenery, and a museum stop.
At nearly 300 years old, the second-oldest city in the US, San Antonio has a lot of historic architecture of varying vintages.
| The Buckhorn Saloon & Museum was started in 1881 and is reputed for its extensive collection of taxidermy from all over the world. |
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| The middle image to the left describes the exploits of Bill Negley, bowhunter extraordinaire, responsible for many of the large animal heads on display. | |
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| One of many images made of rattlesnake tails by the museum originator's wife | |
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The collection isn't limited to terrestrial creatures - it goes under water too.
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A circus-sideshow exhibit included this "magic shadow" effect with a phosphorescent back wall.
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| There are also tributes to other notable shooters. |
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Enough with dead stuff. We continue down Houston Street for the liveliest area of town. |
Now the gem of downtown San Antonio: the San Antonio River Walk . The River Walk is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River started in the 1920s as a flood control measure but then changed into an urban feature based on the plans of architect Robert Hugman . Today the walk is a trail of restaurants below street level mixed with sitting areas and other water features. We had already walk The Walk the night before but I didn't take any pictures because my camera batteries were drained from the trip in. But, I make up for that today. Follow the images horizontally for our complete walk.
before we descend | |
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from Houston Street | |
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starting on The Walk | |
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river taxi | |
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the red dot marks where we are | |
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tour boat | |
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the red dot marks where we are | |
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briefly up at | |
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street level | |
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amphitheatre | | |
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the red dot marks where we are | |
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San Antonio | |
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the red dot marks where we are | |
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And we're back to where we started on the Walk loop. |
| So we hop on a tour boat for another round. |
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| People waiting for the crowning of "King of the River" at the amphitheatre. | |
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And we're done. For now. Time to see some Art. |
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< Previous
To San Antonio Through Texas Hill Country |
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Start
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Next >
San Antonio Museum of Art |
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