Saturday, April 27, 2019

Texas, San Antonio - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - Tour of San Antonio Riverwalk



On Tuesday we planned to see a bit more of Fredericksburg but it was really rainy and most of the places we wanted to see were closed anyway.  We headed out on Wednesday for a short drive to San Antonio.  We thought we were going to get there before the rain hit again, but we weren’t so lucky.  Greg does a great job of keeping the outside of the coach looking good, after that drive it’s a mess.

After we left the campground we took Ranch Road 1376 south to I-10.  The scenery here was more interesting than on I-10.




The Tower of the Americas is visible throughout the downtown area.  The last time we were here the elevator was broken.  Not sure we will attempt a trip to the top this time.



Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was our choice for lunch.



If you put up the “Stop Forrest Stop” sign, the waiter comes by.  If you put up the “Run Forrest Run” sign, the waiter knows you are ok.



We opted to eat inside since the wait was longer for outside seating.



The four shrimp entrĂ©e (which we split) seemed to be really popular.  Each of the cones held a different kind of shrimp – grilled, tempura, coconut and breaded.  At 1420 calories it was still a hit to the diet to split it.



The Riverwalk was beautiful as always.  Lots of greenery, but not too many flowers yet.





This duck sleeping among the just planted flowers didn’t care if it was crowded.



We are here during Fiesta time.  Bleachers, porta potties and closed roads are everywhere in anticipation of two parades which will take place on Friday.  Since I think the crowds are bad enough today, we won’t be coming in town until after the Fiesta is over on Sunday.  We will be here until Wednesday so we’ll still have some time to explore.
We walked over to Alamo Square.  Since we’ve taken the tour before, we didn’t wait in line to go in today.




I had never noticed this statue before.  It was erected in 1936 in memory of those who sacrificed their lives at the Alamo March 6, 1836.  It commemorates 100 years of Texas independence.





The stop at Ghirardelli was a nice treat.  We did limit ourselves to each having one scoop of ice cream in a bowl.



The Freedom Torch is eye catching but right now I don’t know the story behind it.



The Emily Morgan Hotel right across the street from the Alamo has intrigued me since the first time I saw it.  So I decided to find out a little more about it and who was Emily Morgan?    Right now the hotel is a DoubleTree Hotel (love their cookies!!).  It was built in the 1920’s as a Medical Arts Building housing about 400 doctor and dentist offices.  It is the 3rd most haunted hotel in the world.  Some think that is due to the fact that the medical facility had a morgue, crematorium and psychiatric ward on site.

In 1984 the hotel was named in honor of Emily Morgan amid some controversy.  It seems Ms. Morgan was a legendary figure in the Battle of San Jacinto.  Emily was an indentured servant to a Mr. Morgan from New York who owned a hotel in Texas.  She was sent to work in housekeeping there.  In April of 1836 she and several other hotel workers were kidnapped by Santa Anna’s army.  Santa Anna took a great liking to Emily which worked to his disadvantage when he was “otherwise occupied” with Ms. Morgan and failed to note that his location was being invaded by Texas troops led by Sam Houston.  The battle of San Jacinto lasted only 18 minutes.  The peace treaty signed after the battle dictated that the Mexican army leave the region paving the way for the Republic of Texas to be an independent country.



The Casa Rio is one of the two original restaurants on the River Walk.  We are thinking about eating there later in the week.



Back home again at Travelers World RV Resort.



Here we are tucked back in the corner.  There are two tour groups in here this week so it is really crowded.  We’ve never been back in this area, but it’s rather nice.




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