Mission Trail and River Parade

Monday we did all the Missions. Again, all were so close by, it was a breeze. The four southernmost Spanish colonial missions—Concepción, San José, San Juan and Espada—are included in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, which officially opened in 1983.

The beautiful Mission Concepcion was dedicated in 1766 and stands as the oldest unrestored stone church in the U.S.

me - feeling Texan :-)

San Jose

Founded in 1720 is the best known Mission; San Jose. The size of the complex testifies to San Jose's reputation as the " Queen of the Missions". The Missions residents learned to use firearms to fend of Comanche and Apache raids.

Enough pics of churches. After a while they all look alike. Well, they are not. We saw a lot and heard many interesting facts. On our trail we past a cemetery. I guess, the influence of the Spanish can't be denied. Most plots are decorated with flowers, all the time. What we saw here was so unusual, that we turned around just to take a picture.

Most plots were decorated with Easter ornaments. Mostly plastic and trashy for our taste. Nevertheless, they do care for their deceased.

 

This black and white was bigger than Dicker, taking all the little space there was.

A little rest in a shady place after all this walking

Rupert is contemplating the Mission Trail.  After going through it all, and being raised strict Catholic he concluded - he is still not "saved" and will go to hell in every religion. A quick pit stop at home before we went to the River Walk once again. A River (Walk) Parade was scheduled with 51 floats. Along the river was seating available for $12-24. We did not know that those seat were to be ordered online in advance, so we had to settle of standing only. Next to us was a local who provided us with many interesting facts. Starting at 7 PM we had to wait 1 hour until we finally saw the first float.

The first 10 or so floats were from different branches of the Military. Quit a show. Kenny, you would have loved that spectacle.

Approx. $ 300,000,- from this event will go to 40 different organizations. All for kids in need.

The way out of town was well organized, but tricky. We got bumped as one car was trying to get in our lane. It sounded like a lot of damage. No way we could (or would) stop. Even the cop waved us through after evaluating the situation, besides there was total grid lock, no way to stop. Once home we checked our truck out. The other car had hit our back fender. It looked no more than a speck of dust. I was sure he had some damage on his car. I have to say; I was quit nervous, waiting for a phone call, since our # is on the back of the truck in bold numbers. We've heard nothing. He must have realized that is was his own fault. Phuh....

Ta-ta