San Antonio in a day (Jasper becomes a National Park bark ranger)

 Yesterday morning started off with a phone call from my stepmother telling me my father had been airlifted from Tucumcari, NM to Amarillo, TX due to chest pains. This threw me in to a small panic of what to do. My father is not new to chest pain and heart issues. He had his first 2 stints placed in 2005 while I was backpacking the Appalachian Trail. His first heart attack was right before my husband and I got married in 1998. So, this was not his first experience. He carries his nitro, and is very familiar with the signs and symptoms. This of course did not make me feel better not going up to Amarillo to check on him. The other part of that was that my husband was on his way down and planning on staying in Tucumcari for the night. 

So, after deciding to continue my trajectory to San Antonio, I headed back on the road west. I had booked a cheap hotel about a mile from the Alamo and the River walk after being rejected from the KOA due to Jasper being too big for their pet policy. The plan was to get in to San Antonio, check in, and wait for Jasper and my husband. I did just that, getting in early such that I quickly checked out one of the nearby missions to find out what the next day would be like. Around 9pm, my husband and Jasper arrived. We went to bed to try to be well rested for the next day. Jasper and my husband had slept in the car the previous night and were happy to have a bed for the next few nights.

                                                                                            Arbol de la Vidas

 

Between the hotel and downtown was so much construction, that we happily walked from the hotel to the riverwalk and then to the Alamo. Near the Alamo, we found a spot to eat where we could eat outside. The place even provided a small bit of chicken for Jasper, what a spoiled boy. Because we spent our day at the missions, we did not make it to the Alamo before they closed. So, only photos of the outside were obtained, and I did not get the chance to talk to Enid & Inez about maize or to ask the tour guide about the basement of the Alamo (that’s a PeeWee’s Big Adventure reference for those who don’t know). It was neat and crowded along the riverwalk, but the more enjoyable part was a cathedral that video displayed the history of San Antonio on its front side. We watched that beyond our being tired, and then returned to the hotel. Again, we were thankful to have a bed, despite the plastic sheet on the bed that made sleep sweaty at times.