San Antonio

Back in 1998, I took a trip to San Antonio, Texas with some great friends. I didn't know what to expect, but I kept an open mind. We had been doing a lot of the nature hikes around Austin and so we decided to take a break and head on down to San Antonio.  People hear a lot of things about Texas, some good and some bad, and I was no different.  I wasn't thrilled about spending time in this VERY large state, but my friends lived there and I needed to see them.

This trip taught me to always keep an open mind about travel.  Not only was I blown away by the beauty of San Antonio; I actually considered living there! We had so much fun seeing all of the Missions(7 total I believe).  It was hot and muggy. You can only imagine what that does to one's hair. Mine got out of control on this trip. However,  I highly recommend seeing this place because it has a lot of cultural history PLUS amazing gardens.  Around the Alamo, you might spy the gardener walking around who manages the grounds.  We did and had a great talk about some of the challenges and fun that happen around the Alamo.  What did you talk about?  I remember the Master Gardener speaking about tourists walking all over the grass and that being his constant battle.  The solution was putting in natural and artificial barriers to keep people off the sacred lawn area.  If I remember correctly, this is where I began to see people's views change about lawns and their purpose in our landscape.  In Wisconsin, you walk on the lawn, picnic on the lawn, and drink coffee around the lawn, but in several parts of Texas, the lawn was for decoration only:)  Maybe it's different now, but I remember on more than one occassion that it was taboo to cut across grass....so I stuck to the sidewalk:)

A gold mine for Spanish teachers, El Mercado, while touristy, is a short walk from the river

Food. Dance. Mexican culture!  If Tucson were attacked by Klingons:), I would consider living in this city.  It's on my top 3 list of places to live in the US.....1. Tucson 2. San Antonio 3 San Diego.  The gardens are stunning and the people are really wonderful. 

I have one more post on Texas that I hope gardeners/naturalists find useful...well those of us outside of Texas.  Most of you who live in Texas probably already know most of this and it's nothing new:) For more information on this incredible place, go to http://www.visitsanantonio.com/

PS.  The Alamo does NOT have a basement:)