2019-02-14 Lake Braunig Get Together

On my way home from the Texas Ramblin' Roses rally in Goliad, I spent a few days at Braunig Lake RV Resort just south of 410 in San Antonio. I went there because a group of my Pink FlaminGoes friends were in town. We had a busy few days. Some had never been to San Antonio and some hadn't been in a very long time so sightseeing was definitely in order.

First we went to Mission San Jose. There are five missions in San Antonio. Probably the most well known is the Alamo. Now the Alamo is obviously important due to its prominent place in Texas history; however, the other four missions are better examples of actual missions.  All five are National Historic Parks. They are jointly run by the National Park Service and the Catholic Diocese of San Antonio because they are active churches. It is a partnership that works out very well as the Catholic Diocese is responsible for the actual church and the National park Service is responsible for the rest.

This is the church part of the mission.

This is part of enclosure around the mission. I should have mentioned that there is no charge to tour the missions and a park ranger gives regular tours. They are great but keep in mind that you will be standing for some time in different areas while you hear the history.

Artifacts from the mission days.

One of the entrances into the courtyard.

Front of the church.

There are numerous placards with info about the history. The missions were built more to occupy and hold the land than to help the Indians. In fact, the Indians were not treated very well at all.

After the ranger finished his tour, several of us walked outside the wall to check out the mill.

This is the Rose Window in the church.

Another day found us touring the Witte Museum. Just a hint for visitors, entrance is free on Tuesday nights. We were there during the day but we enjoyed it never the less.

The museum has several different diverse areas.

There is a wonderful early Texas section.

Next up they had a demonstration set up for riding a bicycle on a high wire. Of course, Karan was up for the challenge.

There she goes. She to pedal forward going across and then backwards going back.

Then there was the evening we headed down to the Riverwalk for the Lantern Parade. We had dinner on the balcony at Rio Rio Cantina overlooking the Riverwalk.

We never did see the small lanterns you could build and float yourself but we did see all the lanterns on the flatboats.

We also made it too the San Antonio Zoo.

First thing that greets you at the zoo is the bronze stature of the lions.

Pink flamingos for the Pink FlaminGoes visitors. Yeah, they are really more coral than pink.

Last event was a trip to Mi Tierra for dinner. It was Annette's birthday.

Mi Tierra is a very colorful place both with decorations and murals.

After lunch we walked across to the Mercado.

There was lots going on in the open area in front of El Mercado. This singer was really belting them out.

All in all, it was a great few days with friends old and new.

Sunday with a Mission

Helen had never been to see the missions in San Antonio. Since it was over a year since we took the grandkids there (before Helen arrived in San Antonio, we figured that Sunday would be a good day to hit the mission trail.

There are five historic missions in San Antonio with the Alamo being the most well known. They are all part of the National Park System (NPS). The NPS maintains the grounds while the San Antonio Catholic Diocese renovates and maintains the churches themselves. It is a unique partnership that works very well. The churches all have regular services unless they are being renovated. You are welcome to go inside and look around unless services are in session. We didn't include the Alamo on this trip so we started with Mission Concepcion. It has been many years since I had been there and it was everyone else's first time since we only did Mission San Jose last year.

Church services were in session so we did not go inside the chapel part but got a good look at everything else.

People and doors were much shorter in the 1700's.

Our next stop was Mission San Jose which is a must see for this group of missions. The NPS has a headquarters here with a movie, exhibits, gift shop, and ranger led tours. These missions were so much more than churches. They were whole self supporting communities with farmland.  The Spaniards also utilized these missions to establish their position in the area. The Indians were given Spanish citizenship and they were considered Spanish colonists once they learned Spanish and became part of the mission life.

If you only have a couple of hours, visit Mission San Jose, watch the movie, and take a ranger led tour.

Next we were off to Mission San Juan Capistrano. We weren't able to get right up close to this one because it is under renovation.


Each of the missions has a different look.  One tower, two towers, bells......

The final mission is Mission Estrada.


The Espada Aquaduct and dam are also close by for viewing.
     

I definitely recommend a visit to the San Antonio missions. It will be well worth your time.

Mission San Jose National Historical Park (Jr Rangers)

Saturday we were looking for an interesting activity to enjoy with the grandchildren.  We found it at Mission San Jose National Historic Park in San Antonio.  Founded in 1720, the mission was named for Saint Joseph and the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo, the governor of the Province of Coahuila and Texas at the time. It was built on the banks of the San Antonio river several miles to the south of the earlier mission, San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo).  You can see the mission in the background but first we went into the Visitors Center.

Once inside the Visitors Center, there is a wealth of information available.  The missions were more than just churches, they were whole communitities.

There were lots of pictures to look at depicting early life in the missions.

There was also a relief map of the San Antonio River area which showed where the missions were located.

We arrived in time to be part of a ranger led tour of the mission.  Our ranger guide was young and very personable.  She tailored her narration to the whole group including the kids.

This is the entrance to the mission grounds with the church on the far side.

The ranger did a great job of telling the group about the kind of life the inhabitants of the community led.  The missionaries were there to teach the Indians a whole new way of life in addition to converting them and it was very clear who was in charge at these missions.

Here the kids and their Dad were inside of the defense post on the corner of the grounds.  The hole in the background was for a cannon.  Up above was a ledge with smaller holes for guns.  There were usually only a very few soldiers to defend the mission but the mission was well built and very secure.

This was one of the many ovens scattered around the grounds.

This is a side view of the church with the quarters for the Franciscans located on the right up above.  Down below were classrooms used to teach the Indians trades.

This is a front view of the church.  Although this is a National Park, the church itself is owned by the local diocese which has a unique partnership with the park.  This church is in use for regular services.  The ranger told us that we were welcome to go inside and look around as long as services weren't in progress but she would not give her narration in there and disturb people who might be there using the church.

You may have noticed the folders that the kids were carrying as we looked around the visitors center and during the tour.  They were participating in a great national parks program for kids called the Junior Ranger program.  They had to fill out their booklets and turn them in to the ranger in the visitors center.  Our tour ranger saw them talking to another ranger at the desk and quickly came over to say that she wanted to "swear them in" and present their badges because she enjoyed having them on her tour.  They each received a badge and a really nice cloth patch.  She also stamped their booklets and then had them each stamp their own booklet with a special mission stamp.

The kids were thrilled with the whole process and I highly recommend this program if you are traveling with kids from 6 to 12 years old.  They had a "special set-up" for picture taking of new rangers so naturally we had to take advantage of it.  Here are our new Junior Rangers.  It was all they could talk about the rest of the day.

We finished off the trip by stopping at a nearby "panaderia" which is a Mexican bakery.  It was quite small from the outside but the whole inside was filled with cases of interesting looking cookies, donuts, and breads.  We let everyone choose what they wanted and the kids picked out big cookies with colored sprinkles on them.  Unfortunately I missed getting a picture which is too bad because it was a very colorful and friendly place.  Every time my son asked what something was, the lady behind the case wanted to give him a sample one so he could try it.  We walked out with a bag of goodies.

Although it was cool and very overcast when we visited the mission, there is a park with picnic tables for a lunch if you like.  We only had time to see this mission but the others are not far from there and I look forward to visiting them at another time.