San Antonio

Weather:

Sunny, hot, muggy

We started our road trip on Wednesday, April 6.  We went to Sierra Vista with the Jones family, who are visiting us in Arizona for a couple of days.  After a day of birding we had dinner with them.  The next morning we left Sierra Vista and headed for Texas. 

We spent our first night in Van Horn, Texas, which is just one of many tiny towns in western Texas.  We had dinner at the historic Hotel El Capitan, which has just been restored and reopened.

The most remarkable thing in Van Horn is the nightly roosting of a couple hundred turkey vultures on the water tower in town.  It was fun to watch them come in.

The next day we traveled through the Texas hill country, toward San Antonio.  We stopped for lunch in Ozona, Texas, another tiny town, but very nice.  This is the courthouse.

We arrived in San Antonio late in the afternoon.  After checking in to our hotel room, we took a walk along the river.  The San Antonio River runs through the city.  And after a serious flood in 1921, it was decided to put in flood controls and make a pedestrian walk along the banks.  It was opened in 1941, with restaurants and shops along both sides.  It was designed to remind walkers of Venice. 

We also visited the Alamo.

As it happens, it's Fiesta time here.  From what I can tell, it's kind of like a ten-day Mardi Gras.  We'll spend another night here and then tomorrow head for Galveston.