Day One San Antonio

You know.....I LOVE the Drury Hotels. These hotels rock for families. When I look into booking a hotel, I want a really nice hotel, like Marriott, for cheap. I really want breakfast included too because when we wake up, by the time you find a place to eat breakfast.....its practically lunch time. The Drury Hotel really meets these needs. This was our third Drury stay, and it didn't disappoint. The San Antonio Drury Hotel was an Art Deco bank in its former life. The Drury has kept the integrity of the building. Check out these pictures:

There is a Model A Ford in the lobby. It belongs to the owner of the hotel. Mike has a pet project of remodeling a Model A Ford, so the hotel won big points for him right off the bat.

Letter Drop from top floor to ground floor

That is not all that a Drury offers.....Get this...Popcorn and soda from 3:00 PM until dinner. (Free) Lovely lounge area in which to relax and chat. Drury workers always walk by and smile and ask if you have everything you need. Free dinner.....I am not kidding! The Drury serves dinner! Free! I told you this was great for families! Breakfast-Free! I am not talking cereal here either. The breakfast is everything you can think of from eggs and sausage to granola, fruit, cereal, and sometimes....even make your own waffles! Dinner is nachos, chicken tenders, soups, hot dogs, mac and cheese, etc. Now here is yet another perk......Each adult gets 3 free mixed drinks each night. Best of all, the rooms are so clean that I have never found anything to complain about. I am so picky about staying away from home. The hotel will never be revisited by the Yeltons if I walk into the bathroom and find hair stuck to the tub that isn't ours. I check the mattresses for bed bugs (seriously, I do!). The carpet and floor must be clean to pass the barefoot test. So far we have never stayed at a Drury that wasn't perfectly clean. Guess what I paid a night? Go on, guess! The Drury is just a little over 100.00 a night. San Antonio was a little more than usual because it is in a popular vacation city. What a deal! All we had to pay for was lunch each day. (Commercial for Drury is over. :))

We slept in a bit on Tuesday morning, but we were starving since we hadn't had anything since pizza late afternoon yesterday. So far with food being inaccessible, I am not doing too badly on my diet. We hurried our starving selves down to breakfast. The kids are always overwhelmed by all the delicious choices. I try not to spoil their fun by being too suggestive of what they should be eating while on vacation......I thought they would take their cues from me if I set a good example. So we left our gear at the table and split up to choose our breakfasts. I began with some healthy yogurt, granola, and a banana. I met Harrison back at the table as he tried to manuever his plate stacked high with donuts and his cup of double chocolate hot chocolate through the throng of people. I winced as I got a look at his breakfast choice. I admit that I quickly looked around to make sure that the man putting out donuts wasn't looking at me saying to himself, "Man, that lady didn't teach her kid that you're not supposed to take more than one donut!" I brought to Harrison's attention my healthy breakfast. He was totally not impressed and really was enjoying his unlimited donut supply, so I headed back for some scrambled eggs. And some sausage gravy and biscuits. And I tried some of their delicious cream cheese spread on a bagel. And maybe I had a hot chocolate too. That was about the last time I worried about dieting on this trip! We WOULD be walking a lot this morning!

We went back to the room before we set out.....Of course, we had to poop after all that food! Mike claims he lost 4 pounds! I keep telling him that pooping is not a weight loss plan.

Thanks to our lovely hotel personnel, we were equipped with a simple map that marked the most important things we wanted to see. We wanted to see the Alamo, San Fernando Church, The Riverwalk, and the Mexican Market.  I also wanted to see the Japanese Tea Gardens, but I wasn't sure if we would get around to that.

San Antonio art on the way to the Alamo.

The Alamo was our top priority. Our kids have both studied the conflict at the Alamo in history. Doing Connections Academy, I am reviewing the history that I haven't thought about since fifth grade.  Reading Natalie's history is inspiring me to go see all these wonderful things from American history!  Plus, just because I am that kind of a mom, I made sure that we checked out every book the Tippecanoe County Library had on the subject. I studied and memorized, drawing the kids attention to the most important books. Harrison's reaction to my presentations are usually that he has off handedly read and memorized more than me and corrects my facts or adds more that I didn't know. Natalie ignores me. Mike is never home, so he totally discovers new things while we are there at the destination. Everyone told us that we would be disappointed by the Alamo because there wasn't much there. However, because we studied it beforehand, we found it absolutely wonderful. We stepped out into the heavy humid air. We hoofed it several blocks to the Alamo site. It was so amazing to see this familiar fascade in real life instead of just in pictures. When we were ready to enter, Mike reached for his wallet, but it was free! Is this an affordable family vacation or what?

Did you know the Alamo was saved from complete destruction by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas?  The mission was built as a church way, way, way before it was used as a fort to hold off the Mexican army.  It never had a roof.  Much of the fortress has been destroyed.  In fact where the stores sit on the side of the street would have been the part of the later fortress.  The buildings were used for many different endeavors over the years including store keeping and quartermaster supply.  The walls that were built in a hurry by unskilled labor, were already beginning to crumble in the 1800's.   The Daughters of the Republic of Texas had the foresight to see that the Alamo, which held so much significance to them, wouldn't last through time unless someone saved it.  With their strong will and large pocket book, they have preserved this Texas treasure for future generations.

Now I think the whole Daughters of the Republic of Texas club is a hoot.  It is so Texas of these ladies to say, "What?  We can't be in your exclusive club called the Daughters of the American Revolution?  Fine.  We will start our own club called the Daughters of the the Republic of Texas."  It is so Texan of them to not let uppity Easterners put them down.  This really tickles my funny bone because a distant relative of Mike's invited me to join the DAR when she heard that I was researching my family tree. In order to join the DAR, you have to have proven documents that show your family was living on American soil during the American Revolution.  "Oh, I can't be in the DAR," I said.  "I am the daughter of American immigrants on every side of my family!" This person looked shocked and totally grossed out!  She thought I was better than that!  Oh, the nerve of my family to be immigrants!  I was quite taken aback.  I am so proud of my immigrant great grandparents.  They overcame so many obstacles, against all odds to make it in America.  I would like to think that I have a little bit of scrappy and moxie in me passed down from them.  So I have been inspired by these daring ladies in Texas, who are so proud of the heritage from which they came.  I think I will start the Daughters of the Midwestern American Immigrants.  No Pedigree Required.

In case you don't know the story of the Alamo.....you should look it up and read it.  It is very interesting and compelling.....and complicated.  Don't tell the Texans this because they take the story of the Alamo really, really seriously, but from what I have been able to read, a bunch of guys showed up for a fight.  The defenders were told by superiors to wreck the Alamo because it couldn't be defended, yet they decided to stay and have a fight. Unfortunately, they thought more soldiers would come when they called for them, but as everyone knew it was a death trap, the defenders were left high and dry.   Some defenders showed up out of boredom (Davy Crockett), some wanted to preserve the Mexican government's old constitution, some wanted Texas to be its own country, and some wanted Texas to be part of the U.S.  The only thing they all had in common was that they didn't agree!

The Alamo is considered to be a shrine, so hushed voices are required in the chapel. Access to the side rooms was limited because they were doing archeology on the walls, looking for writings. Davy Crockett's vest was on display. We listened to Davy Crockett's autobiography on a CD in the car when we were traveling a few months ago. Putting all the pieces of the puzzle together was very interesting. We had read so many books and had so many facts, we had to work out how all the history worked together to make the story. Mike quickly figured out the compound before I was able to process it all, even though I had studied it. Most of the compound is long ago crumbled, but Mike took us back outside and showed us how the fort would have been set up. He showed us which part of the compound Davy Crockett would have defended. He showed us where William Travis defended. He showed us where Jim Bowie lay sick.

So after we carefully studied the inside of the Alamo, we exited through a back door to a lovely garden that has been created and maintained by the Daughters of the Texas Republic. You know the Texas Republic was its own country for a short time until it joined the Union.  The U.S. wasn't eager to take Texas on as a state due to its favoring of slavery.  Of course, part of Santa Anna's beef was that he didn't want Texas to harbor slaves.....But he was the bad guy.....

Next we explored the gift shop. If you read my blog about the Grand Canyon, you know that Mike looked angry in all the outdoor photos due to the sun being in his eyes.  I tried to tell him......when we got home he saw what I was talking about.....So in these photos, he is making a huge effort to look happy and not have a "scrunched" face.  LOL.

 Harrison and Mike studied out the huge diaroma while Natalie and I shopped through the awesome wares.  Suddenly, Harrison's over indulgance in donuts was backfiring on him.  So Mike and Harrison scouted out a restroom while Natalie and I picked out some secret surprises for Father's Day.  We bought Mike a sheriff's badge that said "Michael" on it.  Natalie and Mike can always find their personalized names on junk like this. Harrison and Janelle....never.  We bought him an unusual deck of cards that was used in 1836 at the Alamo. I gave Natalie some money to purchase these for Mike so she would have the practice of making a purchase.  She inquired and was told that Texas sales tax was 6.25%.  I always make the kids figure sales tax, but she was completely unsure how to split a penny into fourths to figure this one out.   We got him a money clip too.  Later when he and H. came back, he was looking at the coffee mugs.  I told him we weren't wasting MORE money on MORE coffee mugs.....Then when he wasn't looking, I bought that for him too.  I wanted to get him a cactus start that they were selling because he said that he would like to have one (see picture above) to scratch his back upon. I thought  it might be a little too tricky to get that home.  :)

Back out into the heat and intense sun to tour the rest of the Alamo.  This was really a great lesson in history.  The building that was formerly a place for the priests to live then later a barracks for the soldiers, has been converted to a museum.  This baptismal font carved from limestone in the 1500's was fascinating to me. 

In the first part of the barracks, we watched a fantastic movie about the siege of the Alamo.  Then we viewed the rest of the museum artifacts.  When we exited into the plaza, a highschool band was performing.  These band kids were staying at the Drury.  My first thought was "Yikes. This will ruin our stay to have a bazillion high school kids sharing our hotel."  I was completely wrong.  They were excellently behaved teenagers.  I LOVE the people in Texas!

This was the old well. 

We walked all the way around the fortress and then we decided to head towards San Fernando Church.









This city is just beautiful in which to walk.  My sister told me to take a taxi, but I am always leary of taxi drivers....You know....The Bone Collector movie.....Yikes!

I want this!

This is the oldest Catholic Church in the U.S.  Being Catholic, this holds interest for us.  Plus it played a part in the Alamo story as the Texans used the bell tower to spot the approaching Mexican army.  On our walk, I started noticing that everyone wears silver, gold, and sparkles in Texas.  I love it!  I was thinking I should have worn my sparkle clothes!

We arrived at the plaza in front of San Fernando Church right before noon mass.

 We were treated to the Angelus ringing out on the bells.  We ventured inside hoping to light a candle for the person we killed on the railroad tracks yesterday. (Mike's idea.) There were hundreds of candles, but they were already taken. We walked around the church looking at the statuary and artifacts.  There were many people there for the next mass.  We even walked behind the altar to the chapel.  What a lot of gold. 

At the back of the church there is a tomb box stating that the remains of David Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Travis are in the box.  Anyone who has studied any part of the history of San Antonio,  knows there are so many reasons that this box in the church cannot possibly hold those remains!  The Catholic Church leaders can be so arrogant!!!!  It was fun for our family to puzzle it out.  To take the facts that we had learned and try to piece together what really happened.

 We didn't stay for mass because we were getting hungry.  The Mexican market called to us......