Sunday, 22 April 2018
JBSA Fort Sam Houston FamCamp — San Antonio, Texas
Temps: 83F(28C) / 56F (13C)
“… it is more important to occupy this Post than I imagined
when I last saw you — It is the key to Texas …”
~ William B Travis ~
Blue skies and sunshine … made all the difference in the world. So did feeling less achy after Friday’s tumble. Even my right pinky finger was no longer as black and blue as it was yesterday. So, after breakfast off we went to see The Alamo.
It’s not that we haven’t tried to visit the site that is now a shrine to those who lost their lives in the battle that jump-started the Texas Revolution. We have … every time we’ve come to San Antonio. But something always interfered with our plans. Not this time.
Knowing there was no way I’d get a people-free photo of the church
façade, I went prepared to The Alamo prepared to buy a postcard.
Before we got going with our sightseeing plans, however, Mui wanted to clean the Phaeton’s windshield and front cap so the bugs that ‘committed suicide’ on our drive from Houston to San Antonio weren’t baked on by the sun. We would come to regret that decision because Alamo Plaza was crowded by the time we arrived there shortly after 10:00a. Oh well — we have a clean coach to start the next leg of our road trip tomorrow.
Cleaning house takes on a whole new meaning when you live in a motorhome ;-)
If you know the names William Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett, you likely know the story of The Battle of the Alamo. If not, here’s a link to a Wikipedia article to get you started.
The gist of the story — and I hope I got it right — is that The Alamo started off as a mission near the Rio Grande River in 1700 … moving to the San Antonio area in 1724. At the time it was named San Antonio de Valero. By the end of the century, the mission was under Spanish rule, and was converted to a frontier outpost and military garrison.
From one of the exhibit panels: “Construction on the Mission Compound
began in 1724 and continued until San Antonio de Valero closed in 1793.”
Near the end of the first quarter of the 19th century, the mission was freed from the Spanish … in an odd coincidence by Antonio López de Santa Anna … the same man who, in 1836, would cause the destruction of the outpost … and the death of the 186 Texians, Tejanos, Americans, and Europeans who tried to stop him. This was the Battle of the Alamo that spurred Texas to gain its independence just over a month later. Independence didn’t end the battles … which continued until Texas joined the United States in 1845. The Alamo then became a US Army outpost, and even served as a commercial warehouse until the State of Texas purchased it in the 1880s and later turned it into a memorial.
The Alamo — West Side Main Plaza ... (1849) by W.G.M Samuel.
The plaza we visited today is much smaller than The Alamo of 1836. Only the church, the Long Barrack, and the mission well is original … at least within the walls. The area outside, which was once part of the footprint of the outpost, has a modern cenotaph raised in memory of those who fought and lost their lives in response to Travis’s galvanizing words in a letter to the people of Texas and all Americans in the world: “… I shall never surrender or retreat. … “Victory or Death. …”
Detail from the Cenotaph showing William Travis and Davy Crockett.
I’ll admit to a bit of disappointment in our Alamo visit. I knew the site was small and that not much remained from the early mission ... no surprise there. Free admission — good, but probably served to increase the crowds … which can present a problem when visiting the exhibits. No photography inside the church or the Long Barrack … knew that too, so I wasn’t expecting to get many photos.
Detail from the entrance to the gift shop. The building was constructed in
1937 as one of nine Texas Centennial Museums honoring the hundredth
anniversary of Texas independence. The date on the lintel honors
the centennial anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo.
No, all that was OK. What caused me the most consternation was the commercialization. To give you an example … the entrance is through the church … where there was a queue. OK, so they limit the number of people inside at any given time … or so I thought. No, that wasn’t it. Turns out a photographer was taking snapshot of visitors in front of the famous façade. No skipping the line. The photo package could then be purchased at the gift shop for $27. Not that we planned to buy it, but we did look at the photo later … it wasn’t a good one … the photographer had not even waited for the people before us to leave the frame before she clicked the shutter.
A selfie will do just fine to commemorate our visit to The Alamo.
For us, the best part of the visit was the 17-minute overview film, produced for The Alamo by the History Channel … and shown in the Long Barrack. A very well done and succinct retelling of the events. Unfortunately, the museum — also in the Long Barrack — was too crowded to really spend time browsing the exhibits that chronicle the 300-year history of the mission/military outpost/battleground. The Fortress Alamo Exhibit wasn’t as crowded and we were able to spend some time reading the many informative panels there.
Prickly pear bloom popular with a couple of bees.
Despite the small disappointments, we enjoyed the visit … especially loved being out and about on such a glorious spring day. Mother Nature certainly cooperated, giving us blue skies, sunshine, comfy temps, and negligible humidity.
When we were done at The Alamo, we debated going for a stroll along the Riverwalk, but decided to return to the famcamp and enjoy our lovely patio instead. With a 300-mile+ (480+ km) drive ahead of us tomorrow, that was a smart decision.
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Yup, that’s me … enjoying the patio and working on the blog post for The Alamo!
We have a couple of one-nighters on the road next. There may or may not be any stories to tell … we’ll see.
© 2004-2018 Two to Travel's Phaeton Journeys. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.
We were also a bit disappointed when we visited there,mostly because of the crowd, we did not have enough time to read the displays and look around. But as a whole, our visit to San Antonio was fine.
ReplyDeleteI sent you an email on your yahoo acct. hope you have a good connection where you stop for the night.
Growing up in TX and leaving before I ever visited the Alamo I too was surprised at how commercialized it was, too bad they didn't have the forethought to hold onto more of the plaza area. The first time we went I wasn't prepared for the smallness. Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteWe visited San Antonio for a week in January and were surprised at the rampant commercialization of the Alamo, too, although we did enjoy the film that you mentioned. We really loved biking the trail to the other missions, and enjoyed them much more than the Alamo. I think your selfie at the Alamo is great!
ReplyDeleteWe (especially John) had a wonderful time at the Alamo. I don't remember a crowd thank goodness. Love the selfie in front of the Alamo...a keeper post card:)
ReplyDeleteGreat story of the Alamo. Good idea about the postcard:)
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