October 22, 2008

Good Bye, Vacation....

Good-bye to San Antonio and good-bye to our extended trip of this fall. We had very beautiful weather while we were in San Antonio. The day is rained, we were visiting the missions, just south of the town. It was dry for most of this exciting visit. We learned about the change of culture, initially mediated by the Roman Catholic Church and enhanced by immigration of Europeans from the north-east, the thirteen colonies. These change ultimately caused the formation, – founding, if you will, of Texas. Of course, the dictator of Mexico had a lot do with that. “Remember the Alamo....” It made our re-visit to the Alamo more significant as well.



Mission San Jose















The Alamo






TheViet-Nam Memorial, -- very expressive!
Tower and Torch
View NW from the Tower of the Americas,
can you find the Alamo?
and the Torch?

San Antonio is a beautiful city, teeming with life.
We walked the Paseo del Rio at least once every day. On our trip to "Fort Sam," Rick found his kindergarten-first grade school and it had not changed at all.
The housing area where we lived in 1974 no longer exist though. But lo and behold: Brackenkridge Kiddie Park is still there; unchanged! The rides are still the same, I think even the colors are the same, still. The train still runs throughout the park, but we did not see any paddle boats. I remember buying tickets for the kids to take rides, now you get a stamp. Other than that, it was déjà vue. Unfortunately Fort Sam Housten is also closed now, due to security risks. The old Brook Army Medical Center is now an office complex, but the new BAMC is much more accessible for patient care, located outside of the post security zone. It was fun, to drive across this base and reminisce.


Our trip home was uneventful; it is good to be back home after nearly two months.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Do ya mean good by or good bey? A philologist joke maybe? haha. Anyway, it's great to have you home. Good pics. The stories are better. It's definitely good to have been there! Makes me want to go!

Unknown said...

I fixed it! Now it is bye...
Yet the word-play is cute, we buy, go by as well as bye and sail the bay. Bey is merely a "moorish" ruler
My Dutch phonetics tripped me!