The next day we headed to San Antonio.  We had stopped here also in 2006, but this time we spent more time--what a great city!  We camped at Lackland AFB.   The fam camp was far from empty with folks visiting relatives for the holidays, but our site afforded a great vista to the east, and of course, we enjoyed the sunrises for the three days that we were there.

Our first excursion into the city was by bike.  We drove to one of the missions outside of town (Mission Conceptión) and biked along Mission Trail.  There are several picturesque, old missions in the area, including The Alamo, which are now maintained by The Nation Park Service.

First we rode away from town to a similar-looking mission, the San Juan, but then we doubled back and rode toward the city to The Alamo.  The park rangers here all wore cowboy hats.

While the facade of the Alamo is relatively famous and we saw it only at night on our previous stop, this time we enjoyed roaming amongst the rest of the grounds and loved the courtyards with their arched passageways and old  pergolas that were shaded by large live oaks.   

We rode our bikes back to the first mission before darkness.  We'd come back the next 2 days via bus.

We parked at a transit station near the base and took a bus to the center of town, where we showed our Medicare cards and drivers licenses to obtain senior San Antonio bus passes, good for five years, at no cost.   The buses and trolleys run their route every 10 minutes, so we could move easily around the whole downtown.

<< These orientation signs made it easy to figure out where we were and which bus or trolley to take to get us to the next destination.  

This fountain is on one side of a large central plaza and this church is on the other.  The wide spaces like this are one of the things that make San Antonio a pedestrian-friendly city.

The town hall is an impressive white limestone building with arched windows and a public plaza shaded by huge live oaks.  The public spaces are well cared for with gardens and planting of all types.  

Like many historical cities, there are horse-drawn carriages, but here the drivers wear cowboy hats and add a little more flair like braiding their horses' tails.  (This driver was writing something on the horse's hoof.)

Some streets have planters and streetlight posts with embedded mosaic tile work.
    

And then there's the famous and lively river walk.  Some of it is located on the San Antonio River itself, but much of the commercial activity is on canals that have been constructed with flood gates for protection.  

Most streets in the area have stairs to the walk and after you've woven through the area on the walks, there are orientation signs so you can figure out where you are when you come back up to the street level.  

<< This area of the walk, located on the river, is more serene.  The photo below is another half mile down the river where you can see the dam/waterfall, which controls the level of the river.  The walks continue down the banks of the river here, but with more elevation above the water.  

This photo shows one of two passages from the canals to the river.  The flood gates can be lowered when necessary.  Otherwise the two entrances provide the tour boats and dinner boats a way to make a continuous, but circuitous, loop through the area.  >>

Below is a new canal that was constructed when an entire shopping mall was built here in downtown a few years ago.