Alamo

Well it rained on us at the Alamo but not too hard, many of the inside areas don't allow photographs, so I don't have many pictures of the Alamo. It was smaller than I had visualized it. There were quite a few Tennesseans at the Alamo.

The Live Oak Tree pictured was planted there when it was 40 years old, back in horse and buggy days.

Buckhorn Saloon And Museums

We had lunch one day at the Buckhorn Saloon. They have a cafe, bar and museums upstairs including a Texas Ranger Museum (most of which was behind glass cases and wouldn't photograph very well) and a very large collection of about any kind of animal (Taxidermy) you could think of.

The first several pictures you see are made from Rattlesnake rattles, it seems the founder of the saloon would trade Rattles for a drink, looks like he made lots of trades.

You can easily spend a few hours looking around their museums.

San Antonio Riverwalk

The Riverwalk is very nice, lots of shade and any type of restaurant you could think of. There are lots of nice old buildings to look at. Many of the restaurants have outdoor seating right on the river.
I got out early one morning and saw a boat with hydraulic arms with nets skimming the top of the river and another boat with a pressure washer cleaning the walls from the river up to the side walks. They also have a few fountains that help to circulate the water, all that helps keep down any stagnant water smell.
The boat driver we had on the vote tour was very interesting. He warned us all to use sunscreen, he said when he started this job he was a 6' 3" white white guy (see picture of boat driver). He also said he had relatives that fought at the Alamo. He said his Aunt and Uncle were there 3 weeks ago and got into a really big fight.

It's a nice area and in walking distance of the Alamo, so if you venture to San Antonio stay on the Riverwalk.

Joe Gish's Old West Museum

We drove to Fredericksburg, about 1.25 hours, because I didn't want to be that close and not go to Texas Jacks. Texas Jacks is the ultimate store for most Cowboy Action Shooters. I was a little disappointed that they had almost no B- Western clothing. I did find a Sheplers in in San Antonio though. While in Fredericksburg we found out about Joe Gish's Old West Museum. This is one man's private collection. An add in the local paper said when I'm home it's open, call or come on by. We were lucky and he was home.
Joe is 85 years old and he and his wife go to the gym and work out 3 times a week. He said he'd always been interested in the old west and just collected anything he found interesting.

If you ever make it to Fredericksburg go by and say hi to Joe and look around, it's worth your time. I don't think you'll find any Cowboy Action Shooter that wouldn't love to have such a collection.

San Antonio Bound

My wife, Lannie and I went to San Antonio Texas this week. We stayed on the Riverwalk which was very nice, you could walk out of our Hotel directly onto the Riverwalk. Cheyenne Thornton recommended this place to us and it was great. The Drury Plaza Riverwalk. This building was originally the Alamo National Bank Bldg. and it is a beautiful old bldg.

They serve a full hot breakfast, buffet style (included in room price) every morning. They have free cold drinks and popcorn about all day. You get a drink card when you check-in and every night from 5:30 to 7:00 they have a reception with drinks and snacks.
Your card gets you 3 free drinks per night, and they still have the free soda machine if you're not interested in Adult beverages.

I'll make this into several posts so the slide shows run better.