Our Mission: visit the Missions!

Our "mission" for our second day in San Antonio was to visit the 4 missions that were established along the river in the 1700's. These were just as interesting (maybe even more so) than the Alamo. Each had unique features that set them apart from each other.

Our first stop: the San Jose Mission, also known as San Jose y San Miguel del Aguayo. This was my personal favorite of the four. The complex around the San Jose Mission is large and the grounds are beautiful.

This is the side view of the mission once you enter into the expansive courtyard. Building began in 1768, and it was known as the "Queen of the Missions".
If you look at the above picture, you can see a large window on the side of the building, below the round dome. This is the famous Rose Window. Folklore credits Pedro Huizar with carving this window for the church. I met one of his descendants (6th generation)near the church doors, where they are restoring the facade. He gave me some interesting information about the church that you won't find in the literature given out to the public. A distant cousin of his that fought in the Civil War is buried in front of the church.
Below is a picture of the courtyard where 350 Indians resided in the 84 two room apartments during the 18th century. In the 104 years that Mission San Jose served as a mission, over 2000 Indians were baptized. It ceased to be a mission in February, 1824, when the Mexican government ordered that the church be turned over to Chaplain Maynes. There are still families that worship here today.
Our second stop was only a few miles north. Mission Concepcion has been restored to it's splendor of the mid-1700's, when it was the center of religious activity. The full name is Mission Nuestra Senora de las Purisima Concepcion de Acuna.
This is a closer view of the towers. Outside, some of the weathered facade still shows traces of the beautiful and colorful painted frescos.
This church is also still being used for religious services. Experts restored the original frescos on the conventon walls and ceiling in 1988 and conservation efforts this year exposed more frescos the the santuary and nave. I loved the peaceful colors used on the inside of the church. After a stop for lunch, we drove south to Mission San Juan Capistrano. It started out in 1716 as Mission San Jose de los Nazonis to serve the Nazonis Indians. Because it wasn't successful there, the mission was re-established by the San Antonio River in 1731 and renamed San Juan Capistrano.
When we got here, there was some plein air painting in session. Various budding artists were taking a class and and most had chosen their spots under the shade trees. One lady that we talked to had taken up painting after retiring and was loving it. Retirement does allow you to pursue interests that you put on the back burner for a long time while working and raising a family.
This is a different view of the church, with wood cross standing among a large group of prickly pear cactus.
Don't the pads on this cactus look like lobster claws to you? Or is it because I'm still wishing I could be closer to Maine and all that wonderful lobster? I digress. Anyway, this type of cactus had no needles and some of the buds were in the middle of the cactus pads, instead of on the ends.
Our last stop of the day was Mission Espada, founded in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas. This is the oldest of the East Texas missions, and was moved to the San Antonio River in 1731.
This mission is the only one that is made out of bricks. It served as a buffer against the French encroachment from Louisiana (maybe that's because they didn't like beignets and cafe au lait brought over by the French).

The front door to the church has a broken arch over it. Some speculate that this was a mistake of the builder, but he isn't around anymore to confirm or deny this. Let's just give him the benefit of the doubt and tell everyone that the ground sunk afterwards.

San Antonio and the Alamo

One of the things on Sandy's bucket list was to do the River Walk in San Antonio and to visit the Alamo. We discovered this was an easy enough task if one is willing to park in the downtown area and do some walking. Fall had not come to San Antonio yet.....Monday's high was 95 degrees with plenty of humidity. We had just become accustomed to fall weather with the cooler days and now it was time to start up the air conditioning in the 5th wheel trailer again.

We were glad it was foggy and overcast when we started out at 9 AM. There was so much moisture in the air that you could feel the little droplets on your skin as you walked. No need for a moisturizer, that's for sure!

First stop: The Alamo, which originally started out as Mission San Antonio de Valero. This is the place where David Crockett died (I'll always think of him as Davy Crockett because of the TV show that was on during the time I was growing up). The Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. It was there in 1836 that the Texans defended the fort for 13 days against the huge army of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The Texans lost the battle, but the story of their heroic struggle will live on forever.

Inquiring minds want to know: is the favorite dessert here pie "Alamode"? And if the infantry men divorced, did they pay Alamo-ny? If anyone knows the answer to these two questions, please email me.

The Convento Courtyard is shaded by a beautiful tree. The well in the courtyard dates back to the Mission period.
This is a side view of the Alamo building. People were working on restoration of the interior of the Alamo on the day we visited.
The oak tree provided shade and the bench was a great spot for Sandy and Jerry to rest for a minute.
After lunch we decided to take a ride on one of the riverboats that ply the San Antonio River. The river is a dark, murky green and we couldn't see the bottom even though the guide said it's only 3 feet deep. It's drained every January, so if you want to enjoy the boat ride, don't come to San Antonio during that time.
There are a lot of restaurants sitting alongside the river, making them nice spots to have lunch or dinner.
Along with the ride, we also picked up pieces of information about San Antonio and the river itself. You can soak up the atmosphere and history at the same time!
After the boat ride we decided to do some walking along the river. I handed the camera over to Sandy and asked her to take our picture on the bridge as we crossed to the other side. Thanks, Sandy!
Next on our agenda was to visit the King William Historic District not far away from the downtown area. This area was settled in the 1840's by Germans who had migrated to Texas. So many Germans lived there that it was known as "Sauerkraut Bend" to the rest of San Antonio. Most of the gorgeous old mansions here are still used as private residences.
Both Sandy and I loved the use of stone on this mansion. There are only two main streets in the King William Historic district, both of them 5 blocks long. We picked up a guide that gave us information about each house. Even though there are many architectural styles, most of them made use of locally quarried limestone.

It wasn't hot in Hot Springs

We found some nice spots in Lake Catherine State Park, which is quite close to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Lots of shade, peace and quiet, some hiking trails and views of the lake. Sometimes we choose a RV park for it's proximity to things we want to do, but if we can work it out, we'll always go for a state park. Our spot is on the left in the picture, Jerry and Sandy's spot is on the right.

Lake Catherine is only 17 miles from Hot Springs National Park, so we decided to go and see the nation's oldest national park. It was set aside in 1832 as Hot Springs Reservation by President Andrew Jackson.

Before hitting the city streets, we drove up to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower, which sits 1256 feet above sea level and is 216 feet tall. This was definitely the place for me to get some awesome pictures of the countryside. One big problem: I hate heights and glass elevators. This had both! I paid the $6.00, gathered up my courage and camera and headed for the elevator to the top. I stood with my nose to the wall by the door and hung on. There was no way I was going to turn around and look out the glass elevator as it went up!
I was rewarded with some great views of the little town of Hot Springs and the hills below.
Back in town, we passed by one of the many jug fountains. The mineral water here is free, all you have to do is bring your own container. There are 6 fountains that dispense hot mineral water, and 2 that provide cold water. The water is colorless, odorless and tasteless and is tested quite often by the state to ensure it meets government standards.
The National Park Service here inhabits the luxurious Fordyce Bathhouse which closed in 1962. It was restored and reopened in 1989 as the park visitor center and museum. The extensive restoration showcases this beautiful building that had its heydey in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. In 1946 the Maurice Bathhouse gave 67,587 baths! Thats a lot of clean people!
As we walked through the various rooms, we could see that no expense was spared during the construction of the Fordyce. Walls of fine marble still stand. Above the men's bathhall, is an exquisite domed skylight that contains 8000 pieces of glass.
Here is a room that contained a steam cabinet, whirlpool tub, sitz bath and needle shower.
Don't ask me what these were for....the nozzles look ominous!
Here is the music room where people would meet and relax after their bath regimen was done. Men also had a room to play pool, read or play cards. There was a full service beauty parlor for women where they could have a finger wave, lacquer, neck trim, permanent waves and manicures. The people who went here were obviously pampered.
Jerry and Sandy check out the Hot Water Cascade that sits in a park off Central Avenue. You might be able to tell there is steam coming off that 143 degree water. It was hot!
Don and I took a moment to sit down by a hot water fountain that sits in front of one of the 8 bathhouses that are in different stages of restoration. Now there are only two active bathhouses: the Quapaw and the Buckstaff. The Lamar bathhouse is seasonal. I wonder what it would have been like to be here in the 1940's when they so popular.
After seeing a video at the visitor center, Sandy and I decided to go for it. We were going to try one of those mineral baths with the whirlpool, the hot packs, sitz bath, vapor cabinet, needle shower and the Loofa mitt scrub. Jerry and Don would have to figure out how to occupy their time for the hour or so. Next stop: The Buckstaff for Sandy and me.
Here we are, holding up our personal Loofa mitts and standing by the elevator waiting to take us to a place we have not seen in months.....a bath tub! When you're traveling in a 5th wheel trailer, the best you can hope for is a long, hot shower. Sometimes you get cold ones, and other times the water pressure is so low you might as well have used a sprinkling can! We both enjoyed the experience and came out squeaky clean.
This morning I headed for the lake and got a nice picture of the steam arising from the lake at the early morning hour. Then it was time to pack up and leave for Texarkana. Wish we could have stayed here another day or two, but every site was taken for the weekend.

Nashville Nights (and days)

Five months ago, a lot of Nashville was under water after the city had 15 inches of rain in two days! Good grief! That's more precipitation than we've had at our home in Avondale for two years in a row. We stayed at the Nashville KOA which had been completely remodeled, and the bathrooms and laundry were all new. They even had to replace some of their cabins which had floated away when the Cumberland River ran over its banks and came into their campground.

Our first foray into the city of Nashville was a Nights and Lights tour. It included a tour of the downtown area, a barbecue dinner and then some time doing "honky tonking" as the driver put it. As we passed by the only German restaurant, this southern man tried to say "wiener schnitzel". The operative word is tried to......it just didn't come out right. I guess you can't speak German effectively with a twang!

The sidewalks were crowded and it seemed that most of the establishments here were bars(honky tonks) that had their own band. There was noise, people and lots of cigarette smoke everywhere. For smokers, it would have been a plus. No need to light up one of your cigarettes, just stand somewhere and inhale deeply!

Sandy and I took a liking to this cute fella who had rather large ears.
Also on the streets were lots of people doing their own thing: mimes, singers, "twangers"and everything in between. This trio even had their own hound dogs with them. It has been a long time since I had seen someone playing a washboard! It looks like they came in to the city from the hills very recently.
We spent some time on Sunday afternoon exploring and wound up in the Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Jerry, Sandy and Don are standing on a huge cement map of Tennessee that shows all of the counties, towns, landmarks and rivers.
Jerry is kneeling by the very small town of Belle Eagle where he was born and spent his childhood in.
On Saturday afternoon we toured The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson. The home has been well preserved, and all of the original furnishings remain inside. No photography is allowed inside, otherwise I would have been tempted to take a few pictures of this elegant home. Even most of the original wallpaper is still on the walls. One upstairs room had wallpaper that had been ruined. The historical society here found the same exact wallpaper in a home in France in 1993. They purchased and restored it before it was applied here.
Below is the log building that housed Pres. Jackson and his family from 1804 to 1821 before he had the brick home built. The cabin started out as two stories, but when he moved into the new home, he reconfigured it into a one story cabin for some of his slaves.
Flowers still are planted in the one acre formal garden that sits next to the mansion.
President Jackson and his wife Rachel are buried in the back section of the garden. General Jackson had a strong sense of family and deeded a small section of the garden to serve as a family cemetery. A great grandson and great granddaughter are among those buried here.

Cades Cove Cemeteries

You might think it's a bit unusual to do a blog about cemeteries, maybe even bordering on morbid, but the headstones do reveal bits of history relative to the time and area. Below is a view of the cemetery behind the Primitive Baptist Church, established in 1827.

Sandy pointed the headstone below to me. I wonder who the North Carolina Rebels were and why were they in Cades Cove? Plundering booty? Stealing cattle? Running away with moonshine? Sneaking off with cornmeal? Guess I'll never know.
This is a picture of the Methodist church, which has two front doors. It was built in 115 days for $115 by J. D. McCampbell, who was a blacksmith, carpenter and also the minister here.
Look closely at this headstone. It appears that the person who carved this out didn't plan out the spacing properly. The inscription reads" Was blind here, but now sees the beauties of heaven". The word see shows on the first line, and the "s" shows up on the far left side of second line. Then came the headstone for David Sparks who is somehow related to Mary Sparks, maybe he was her husband. Look closely at all the words with the letter "h" in them. Maybe this was written by a person with dyslexia.
We saw quite a few graves for infants, most of them were topped by a small lamb. I really like the inscription on the bottom of the headstone.