This first gate is from the Briscoe Western Art Museum the rest of the gates and fences are from Mission San Jose in San Antonio, Texas.
I will be sharing a full post on Mission San Jose soon.
Linking up to Good Fences #112 with TexWisGirl at Run*A*Round Ranch Report.
Another sunny stretch here in the Seattle area. I hope May isn’t stealing our summer this year. Today I have to give our lawn a haircut and fill the larders. What are you up to?
One of the mornings we were in San Antonio we walked from the car rental agency back to the hotel and we saw these signs. Boudros was along the River Walk and although we didn’t get a chance to eat there I am told they have a table side guacamole they are known for. Wish I had some right about now!
Here’s is who the city of San Antonio is named after…
I’m linking up with Lesley for signs, signs.
While in San Antonio, Texas a large tourist draw is the River Walk in the downtown area. They say it is the number one Tourist attraction in the state of Texas. I’m happy to have seen this area but it was not my favorite from my San Antonio experience.
Most of my photos were taken in the early morning hours when the walkways were clear of the hoards of people you’ll find here later in the day and evening. I’m not a fan of Disneyland like crowds so the walk wouldn’t be my first choice for a meal even though you’ll find a very large selection of restaurants all along the downtown part of the walk. I preferred heading up and out of this area to find a place to eat. Despite my feelings this is a treasured area in San Antonio.
Some treasures from Washington State in my very own yard are these rhododendron bushes. Four of the bushes were here and well established when we moved into this old house in the fall of 1998. The small yellow bush is a recent addition from 4 years ago.
Rhododendrons are the Washington State Flower.
Our youngest rhoddie.
And my last photo are of some of my favorite human treasures in front of our rhoddy bushes!
I’ll be linking up to Tuesday’s Treasures with Tom The Backroads Traveler and
ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and administered by Roger and Team for R is for River Walk and Rhoddies.
I’m headed to Canada (British Columbia) early Tuesday morning and will be gone all day so I’ll be late in visiting participants in these two memes. We are promised beautiful weather for most of the week in the 70’s! Hope your week is starting well.
When we were visiting our kids in eastern Washington the girls took walks each morning while the guys worked on some projects. These are some of the sights we saw on the early morning walk. This property is adjacent to our son’s. I thought the horse corral was very nice. The horse farthest in the photo above is named Hutch. (As in Starsky and Hutch) I don’t know the name of the one closest to the fence.
I’m linking up to Good Fences hosted by TexWisGirl at Run*A*Round Ranch Report.
Erected in grateful recognition of the supreme acct of heroism of the thirty two men from Gonzales who gave their lives in the Alamo in response to the appeal of Travis.
San Antonio and the Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. In December 1835, Texians and Tejano volunteers battled Mexican troops quartered in the city, forcing General Martin Perfecto de Cos to surrender. The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo and strengthened its defenses.
On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio Lopez Santa Anna nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo, sent out couriers carrying pleas for help.
On the eight day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Even though outnumbered ten-to-one, Travis’ men believed the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were willing to defend the post to the last man. Among the Alamo’s garrison were James Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former Tennessee congressman.
The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836, the thirteenth day of the siege. Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back several Mexican attacks. Regrouping, Santa Ana’s soldiers scaled the walls and rushed into the compound. The desperate struggle continued until the defenders were overwhelmed. By sunrise, the battle had ended and the garrison slain.
While the facts surrounding the siege of the Alamo continue to be debated, there is no doubt what the battle has come to symbolize. People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against overwhelming odds- a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. For this reason the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the shrine of Texas Liberty.
ht: THEALAMO.ORG
I’m linking up for Tuesday’s Treasures hosted by Tom The Backroads Traveler.
I was pleased that the Alamo was walking distance from our hotel during our short stay in San Antonio. No photos were allowed inside the Alamo and proper respect was required. I also visited the cathedral where some of the remains of the Alamo heroes are entombed. I’ll share more photos of the San Fernando Cathedral soon.
I’ll also be linking up to signs, signs with Lesley on Wednesday.
I was melting yesterday in the unseasonable heat we had here in the Seattle area. Our poor Spring plants don’t know what to make of it! I am thankful that we didn’t have the sauna like humidity that we experienced in San Antonio, though.
We had our first visit to our son and daughter in law since they were married last June. They live on 7 acres in the northeastern part of our state and the first thing we notice is how quiet it is. Even the dog that our son inherited when he married his dear wife is quiet.
She did not bark once during our whole visit! Here she is greeting us on our arrival.
The girls took a 3 mile walk on Saturday and a shorter walk with a steeper climb on Sunday while the guys worked on a truck and a chicken coop. D & J bought 8 chicks who are growing rapidly and who will need a coop for comfort and laying of eggs. They thought they were 8 chicks but come to find out one is a rooster. That might change the quiet they are enjoying now…
These are some quiet scenes we enjoyed on our walks.
Quail were running across our son’s property. I find them so fun to watch.
The country might be quiet but you have to equip yourself for the possibility of meeting up with wild animals and we didn’t take our walks without bear repellent.
We had a lovely quick weekend with quality time spent with our kids and it was so quiet in the evening and during our walks. We also had a quick storm roll through with the promise of the rainbow when it was over. God’s promise to us. “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday for the letter Q. Q is for quiet, quality, quick, and quail. Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and the ABC team for the start and continuation of this meme.
I’ve got lots more to share from our trip to visit our son and daughter in law that will show up for memes in the future like Good Fences, The Barn Collective and Signs, signs.
Today I will mow the lawn early since we have a forecast in the 80’s again and then I’ll run some errands. Hope you weren’t in the path of the storms that caused so much damage yesterday in the middle of our country.
…it was the worst of drives!
On Friday I got a rental car and drove north on I-35 from San Antonio to Austin. The goal was to meet up with my brother Leonard and his family. I made it to Austin to the spot where we were to meet up for lunch.
This is the original Chuy’s in Austin and it was hopping all afternoon long. When I got here I got a call from Leonard saying they had a flat tire that came with a very long story we won’t go into. The short part of the story is that they got to a Honda dealership in Waco and the dealership gave them a loaner car to continue on their journey to Austin. We had a good meal at Chuy’s and headed to a home of one of their friends to spend some time together.
When I was at El Mercado in San Antonio I picked up a little something for Hope and Andrew. Hope is wearing her flower head piece and Andrew is strumming his gift.
After dinner the kids got ready for bed and my brother drove me back to my car so I could head back to San Antonio. It was real good to see them all face to face.
Now the road drama started for me. After I was out of Austin with an hour to go to get back to San Antonio the flashes of lightning lit up the sky and the rain started. The conditions got really bad for a good stretch of time and I was praying hard. All the cars on the freeway slowed way down. I have never in my life seen so much lightning in such a short period of time. Thankfully there was only one time that I could not see out of the windshield because of water thrown up from another vehicle onto my car. I was so so relieved to finally get to our hotel exit from the freeway and out of the car!
We will be flying home this evening and I’ll share more about the things I saw in San Antonio next week. Hope y’all are doing well!
…the Alamo!
I walked to the Alamo from our hotel and then got on a hop on hop off trolley tour. I have more to share from the Alamo and the rest of the great things I saw today. It was hot and muggy today and air conditioning was really appreciated. Tomorrow I will be driving to Austin to meet up with my brother, SIL, niece and nephew who are driving down from Dallas.
We arrived to San Antonio in the late afternoon and after checking in to our hotel we walked along the River Walk and beyond to a Steak House for dinner before turning in for the night. It was sunny and hot, hot, hot. We were happy to not have rain and hail!
Tomorrow I will go to the Alamo and possibly get on a trolley tour. Dear will be busy in a booth at the Oncology Nurses Society annual meeting. Over 50% of our plane was filled with Oncology nurses traveling to the meeting.
We spotted many farms with barns on our way to our son and daughter in law’s home in Eastern Washington.
This first group are taken from I-90 going at least 70 miles per hour!
This was my favorite that I managed to click fast enough when I saw the barn quilt on it.
The next group I share will be from Highway 395 going north from Spokane, Washington.
Linking up to The Barn Collective hosted by Tom the Backroads Traveler.
We will be hitting these same roads heading home today. We’ve been walking and eating and doing some construction on a Chicken Coop. The trip takes up to 6 hours so if I don’t visit today to see your barns hopefully I’ll get around tomorrow morning.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 