Tuesday, January 29, 2019

A Missions Trip

Hi all! Today we went and explored the Missions Trail. There are 5 Missions within 10 miles of each other here in San Antonio. The 5th one is the Alamo, of course. We saw that the other day. A lot of people forget that was a mission first. The four other missions are active churches and are part of the archdiocese. The Alamo, because a battle was fought there, belongs to the state of Texas. Because these missions are manned by the Department of the Interior, they were part of the government shut down. We were the first guests in over 30+ days. The volunteers were happy to see us. I also told the workers it was good to see them back!



The missions' "mission" was to convert souls to Christ. But they were also self-sustaining communities. Each one is unique in its placement along the river, the San Antonio. The first one we visited was

Of course, the central piece of the mission is the church. And, once again, I could not take pictures of the interior because, alas, another funeral happened today. Here is the outside.

 The missions were run by the Franciscan order of missionaries. They tried to convert the native tribes that were here (there were over 30); they taught them Spanish and Latin and how to build, etc. The buildings were built by the natives. This is what it would have looked like back in the day.


Next up was


This is the church. Unfortunately, it was undergoing renovations on the outside, but it was really pretty on the inside.

It is an active church; a priest comes every Sunday for mass. This site had a lot of displays and information about the missions; so much so that I took pictures to explain the water/irrigation and their crops and sustainability of cows, sheep, and wool.





On the way through to the different missions, you pass the aqueduct, still in use today. What's amazing is Roman technology came into play in the 1700s. Go figure! And you didn't think you needed to learn this in school??!!




Next on the trail was
This one had a little more buildings to it and a 20 minute video that explained all about the missions and what happened during the 1700s and this area. The missions were only here for about 82 years. There is also a visitors center and a gift shop where I bought my sticker to put in my national parks passport (see, RS, I'm using it)!!


This is called a Rose Window. You'll have to Google why it's called that. There are many reasons.




Last in line was

This is the Jewel of the Crown, I think. It has the original colors of paint, the most well-preserved of all the missions. The priest gave us a good 15 minute run down and history of the missions, better than any video!







If you notice, too, the other missions had walls around them. These were to defend themselves against the Lupin Apache who roamed this area. The Mission Concepción had walls, but by then the threat was gone; so the locals used the stone to build their houses. The Spanish brought over some families from the Canary Islands to help colonize this area, too. They formed a new kind of people, called Tejanos. You will only find them in this area of Texas. So basically the tribes that lived here so long ago still live here today as the Tejanos. 

All of the buildings are built out of limestone, which is quarried here locally. There is a natural cave of limestone near here that we visited. I will post on that another day. Tomorrow we visit the panhandle to another beautiful area. Ya'll come back! 😉



Friday, January 25, 2019

Walk the River, and Don't Forget the Alamo!

Hi all!
We are only 15 minutes from this lovely town. It is set up quite well. There are wide streets and they are pedestrian-friendly. Aside from the construction, of course. But, you can always go above-ground or by the river. We decided to do the RiverWalk.

It works a lot like a sidewalk/bus tour. There are river taxis and stations along the way. There are stairs that will take you up to the street, too, if you need to get to where you parked. The sidewalks are relatively wide, and there are guides everywhere to help you get where you need to go. Not to mention street signs pointing the way as well. They also like those little scooters (Lime-5, Bird, Jump, etc). I was able to clock 12K steps in about 3 hours!



It's a lovely walk. The river, the San Antonio, comes from a spring there. It is really that color, no enhancements necessary.

It reminded me of when we were in Florida at Blue Spring with the manatees. That's what the water looked like there, too. This is prime real estate, so there are apartments, hotels, and restaurants all along the way. People walk, jog, walk their dogs, down this strip of land. There are two thoroughfares with cross-ways over to the other side. I got some really nice shots of some interesting things.

hanging gardens

hidden grottoes

pretty reflection on the water (ignore the plastic bag in the tree!)

complex and beautiful mosaics


serene waterfalls

Of course, this place looks totally different at night. There are lights in the trees, the boats are lit, and the restaurants along the river have their ambiance as well. It also gets more crowded (not for us). 

After the RiverWalk, we visited this historic place.

Yes, it's The Alamo. What's interesting is that it is in the middle of a downtown square. Across the street is Ripley's Believe It or Not "Odditorium." I was shocked to find that this piece of history was set up like this. But this is actually the church, not the rest of the actual buildings/fort of the Alamo itself. You are allowed to tour it; it is free. But you are not allowed to take pictures inside. Oh well. It was a nice tour. There are live historical actors at the back who will teach you about using flint to light fires for the canons, tent life, etc. We didn't ask them questions, it got real busy at that point because a tour group showed up.

The dead of the Alamo are buried in this beautiful place:
St. Francis Cathedral

It is still an active church, so much so there was a funeral service being held. We opened the doors, saw what was happening, then walked right back out. Ooopsy! So we went next door to the museum. 

It was a great day. We had great weather, 63 degrees and sunny. We ate lunch at a restaurant called Ácenar (means "dinner" in Spanish). We will be eating a lot of Mexican here in San Antonio. I also want a good steak (there are a lot of cows grazing here). Oh, and some local greenery:
Ya'll come back now!😉

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Ground Control to Airstream, Houston

Today we stopped in to Houston to visit the Johnson Space Center and the Houston Space Center. The Johnson Space Center is Mission Control, and the Houston Space Center is the museum complex.




When you first arrive, the thing to do is to take the tram ride. It is 90 minutes long and takes you from the Houston side to the Johnson side. You stop at various places and get out for tours of the various buildings. The first building we drove by was the Orion building, Number 17. I apologize for the poor quality of the picture, but there was a blasted tree in the way of one and a pole in the way of the other. The windows say Orion, and it is the next project for space.

Next we went to the Christopher Kraft building, otherwise known as Mission Control. This was a pretty cool place to visit. We had to turn our phones on "silent." They had cameras of the control room of people monitoring the ISS (international space station), but they were in a separate room. We viewed people who were practicing with simulations. What? You think we could actually watch them do top secret work??!!


We then moved on to the astronaut training room. On the way, we saw this. I was not aware you could park your Airstream there, next to a rocket, no doubt??!!




This is Rocket Park. These are life-sized rockets that were used for previous missions. I apologize for not letting you know which ones. I was too stunned looking at this one, the  house for this massive Saturn 5. Then we stopped and went inside. 




It gives you a sense of perspective with the people standing next to it how massive it is! They put the rocket there after the ending of that particular program and then built the housing around it. One particular note, when we were in Mission Control, our speaker mentioned slide rulers. The couple in front there didn't know what those were. I told her to Google it, lol! Then, when I ran into her here at the rocket, I told her that slide rulers configured all of these measurements :-)

Lastly, we visited Independence Square, where the 747 carried the shuttle. They turned both into a musuem (they are both replicas). But it was pretty cool nonetheless.

Cargo Bay of the Shuttle
 How to drive the thing!

It was a great visit! I clocked about 3K steps overall. Admission is $29. If you are a veteran, of course, there are discounts. It is well worth the cost. They are a part of the Smithsonian, and it is a working/learning/teaching place. If you are in Houston, take some time to come visit. It is amazing that we came up with these designs and sent people to space (and still are). I will end with some other beautiful pieces just "hanging around. Wow! Ya'll come back! 😉