Rain and now sun in San Antonio

Well, the bus tour was a bust. We spent an incredible amount of time getting picked up and waiting for others to be picked up. We then got dropped off at what purported to be a Japanese garden. It was much smaller than what we have in Portland and a good part of it was closed. We just got dropped off and told to come back in 15 minutes. Then we got driven to the Alamo and got dropped off and told to come back in 45 minutes. (Make your way around and figure it out yourself.) There were people on the bus who were taking a whole day tour and some of us taking the half day tour. The driver kept talking about the logistics rather than telling us anything. The Alamo was disappointing. Very little of it was original - only one wall, and the rest was just a park with a gift shop. the best part was a gorgeous tree out in front of part of the original wall. I will try to attach a picture. We then left and went to the Mission de San Jose - which was very interesting. But our guide knew very little. I could hear the park ranger giving another tour (which was free) and he was telling so much more. Bob actually asked the driver to let us off early - he was so frustrated with the waste of time.

We then walked across the street to a small Mexican restaurant. We were the only gringos in the place. The food was great. Our rv park is right on a bus line which goes straight into downtown San Anontio. So we took the bus into town. We walked the entire riverwalk, which is beautiful and relaxing. It was raining, but much of the walk was covered and protected. It is all restaurants on either side and there is a small boat which goes up and down the river. We did not take the boat because it was raining. We then went to an IMAX presentation showing the history of the Alamo. We really enjoyed that. Finally, I wanted some Texas Bar-B-Q so we went into one of the restaurants along the riverwalk and got ribs. They were good, but not anything different than we can get in Portland.

Last night it rained pretty hard. We got up this morning and decided to get some chores done. We drove around to a couple of stores and got some stuff for the trailer and some groceries. We tried to find a bookstore. It turns out that the only one on the south side of town, where we are, closed. There is a Barnes and Noble in the north side of town. I called and they do have some of the books that Bob wants. We started to go there and ran into rush hour traffic. So we came back. We can go tomorrow. (We are so spoiled in Portland with our many bookstores. )

The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny tomorrow. So we decided to stay an extra day here and just enjoy the sun tomorrow. Tonight we went to a pot luck here in the rv park. These people live here for many months and there is quite a social life going on. They are all very nice and the food was great.

Overall there are many very nice things about San Antonio. I did not realize how large it is. There is a lot to do and see and a very vibrant downtown. I would come back again.