2/8/2022

Following my day in Fredericksburg, I dropped into San Antonio to enjoy my afternoon. The afternoon had me strolling through two of the most iconic locations in the country: the Alamo and the San Antonio River Walk.

San Antonio has to be one of the smartest designed cities in the United States due to its development and incorporation of what is known as ‘the River Walk’ into its downtown. Basically, the City exists on two levels: an upper level where vehicular traffic and main business entrances exist, and a lower level where the San Antonio River is squeezed into a full grid system of channels and canals that flow everywhere through the downtown. Walking paths and boats throughout the entire River Walk make for a beautiful, highly pedestrian-friendly system where you can get around almost the entire city without feeling like you need a vehicle. Add in an eclectic mix of Spanish architecture, classic US skyscrapers, some tropical birds, and plants, and you have a friggin’ awesome city that has you feeling like you are in Venice, Mexico, and the United States all at the same time. Walking the River Walk and enjoying its sites should be a must-do on everyone’s bucket list.

Thanks to the River Walk, getting over to the Alamo from my hotel was a breeze. Just had to drop under traffic, follow the water ways under the city, and pop out right at the historic site.

The Alamo was part of the San Antonio Mission system brought over to Texas by Spanish Catholics in the late 1600s and early 1700s. As part of that mission system, the Alamo was originally built in 1718 and relocated to its present spot in 1724. In 1803, the space was occupied by the Spanish military, and overtaken by Mexican soldiers in 1835. Around the same time, Americans were heavily settling into Texas and in December 1835, the Alamo was captured by ‘Texas Patriots’ attempting to lay claim to San Antonio. Members of the Texas occupation included James Bowie and Davy Crockett.

The Texas occupation was short-lived. On February 23, 1836, General Santa Anna of Mexico attacked the Alamo with the full force of the Mexican army. During the course of the siege, the main gateway of the Alamo was breached, the Texas occupation force was slaughtered, and on March 6, Santa Anna retook the Alamo for Mexico. Immediately following the battle, Texans wanted revenge, and the phrase “remember the Alamo” was born. Texans pushed back against Mexico, and on April 21, 1836, the Mexican Army was defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto. The Republic of Texas was born! Later, in 1985, the Alamo would feature again in American history, this time as the site where Pee-Wee Herman believed his bicycle was taken after it was stolen, thus kickstarting Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.

The site itself is actually kind of underwhelming. Like, you can go through it in about 15 minutes. It was also ‘bro central’ while I was there for some reason? While walking around, I heard one bro (about 6’2″, looks like he spends a lot of time at the gym, we’ll call him Bro 1) on the phone with his broski back home. Bro 1 was for some reason yelling, very loudly into the phone to explain to his bro friend back home that he was at the Alamo, and how cool it was knowing that people like…died here and stuff. It made me chuckle because it was the most touristy spot ever and did not feel like a hallowed spot where a lot of people died at all. If you want to experience that, BRO, try spending a day alone in the killing fields of Shiloh or Antietam, where tens of thousands died in true, short, bloody battles.

And then there was Bro 2. Bro 2 (who looked like he was doing his best to look like Tom Cruise) bothered me because he was having a very loud, not-secret, out-in-the-open conversation with some girl over Facetime. The girl sounded just like Sofia Vergara, and Bro 2 was showing her the Alamo through his phone and…again, out in the open for the world to hear…was having a conversation with her where he was loudly trying to convince her to leave her man back home and join him here in San Antonio because it’s “such a romantic place.” The girl swooned and flirted with Bro 2 over the phone, but insisted that she could never do that to her boyfriend (I think the boyfriend’s name was Michael?). Yeah, I guess if your name’s Michael and you have a girlfriend who sounds just like Sofia Vergara when she’s on the phone, ummm…head’s up buddy! Bro 2’s swooping in.

And that was my time at the Alamo! Eager to get away from the bros, I decided to find a Mexican cafe for some margaritas and dinner and then head back to my room. If these were my only experiences in San Antonio, it would have been an ‘okay’ time in the city. A bit bro-like, but still full of history and the romance of San Antonio (by the way Bro 2, it wasn’t the Alamo that was giving you those ‘romantic feelings’ for that chick, it was the city itself. In fact, making your move at the Alamo and not one of the other amazing, actually romantic spots in town was probably your first mistake on that conversation). But luckily, there was Day 2 and Day 2 made my trip here. My experience from Day 2 will be my next blog entry here in San Antonio.

Cheers,

-Rob