San Antonio - Padre Island Day 3&4

Tuesday, Mads and I set off for San Antonio to see the Alamo. When we were walking up to it, Mads told me to have no expectations of what I may see there or else I would probably be disappointed. So we are walking the city streets and turn a corner and BAM!

There it is in all it's glory! It's all free unless you want to purchase an audio tour but I never though the idea of putting a "phone" that probably hundreds of people put up to their ears very appealing. As we walked in, they took our picture and told us to pick it up somewhere else on the compound. Who knew history would be so similar to Six Flags? They also ask that all men remove their hats when they are inside. They never said why, just that is what has to happen. Walking around the grounds was pretty nice they have a lot of plaques and boards with facts and artist renderings. I thought it was kind of funny that in all the little scale models of the, "Battle of the Alamo", the actual Alamo had a large ramp that went from the front door to the back window on the "second" floor so cannons could be brought up. So really we were walking where no fight of the Alamo was fighting just where they pushed their cannons. Oh history. That reminds me of the story of the ""Battle of San Jacinto" that they talked about when we were looking at the painting in the capitol building. The tour guide was talking to the grade school children saying how this was a pivotal battle in Texas' independence. He also mentioned what was weird about the painting. A child said that a lot of the Mexican's were laying on the ground to which the guide said, "That's right, the Texans attacked when the Mexican army was on siesta. So they were sleeping when the battle started." Hearing other historians at the Alamo, they never mentioned this little fact. I really wanted to ask about the truth to that fact but I figured I would be beaten for such insolence.

After we had our fill of the Alamo and promised to never forget it, we headed to the riverwalk. It's like Naperville, only better and more popular. There are a ton of restaurants that line the river and tour boats are constantly floating by. It really does look nice.

Following a suggestion from my friend James whom I play basketball with on Tuesdays, we went to a restaurant called Casa Rio. It's nothing super special but it was one of the first restaurants on the riverwalk (circa 1946 or so). The prices were very reasonable and their margaritas were delicious. Mads and I were able to get a seat on the riverwalk instead of on the other side of the sidewalk or inside the actual restaurant. There are tons of ducks floating along trying not to be crushed by the tour boats. They are also battling for a tourists attention with pigeons. When someone leaves their table after eating, 6-10 pigeons fly up and eat all the left over chips. I never noticed if they finished the salsa too.
Finished with lunch we jumped in the car and drove twoish more hours to Corpus Christi. We had to stop for some ice so we could keep our pop and beer cold. I couldn't get a picture but we went to another H-E-B which was next to a small strip mall. This strip mall had (I'm serious) a Little Ceaser's next to a San Antonio Police Dept. "mini station", which was next to a liquor store. I would call that your one stop shopping place! This part of the trip was Mads doing. She really wanted to see the Gulf with me. When we got to Padre Island National Seashore, we were lucky enough to score the last tent camping spot. To our amazement, our spot was about 200 ft. from the actual Gulf of Mexico. When we unzipped our door in the morning, we were greeted with the view of the sun coming up over the Gulf. Truly a beautiful site.

Also, you may have noticed, I'm not great at taking pictures with my cell phone yet. The problem is I can't see the shot and I have to press a button on the touch screen which is no where near where a real human can hit naturally. This is why my photos with us in them have us looking like we A) didn't get the shot and are frustrated or B)not sure if my finger actually hit the button when, in fact, it did but we did not know.

This was also Mads first time using her tent that I bought her for X-Mas. Might I say, I picked a damn good tent. The constant breeze coming off the Gulf had nary an affect on her mighty tent. we saw tents twice her size being tossed in the wind.

The next morning, Wednesday, we packed up and drove to another spot that my buddy James mention we should check out in the area. Port Aransas (like Arkansas with out the k) is this little island off of Corpus Christi which is part of a chain of islands that are like barrier islands. When we got there and stopped in the visitor information building, the woman there said she wasn't sure what was open since they had a big Mardi Gras parade and festival last night. This was evident when we attempted to go to the local brewpub on the island, which was closed. As fate would have it we went to another place next door called Pelican's Landing. I thought this place might be good because I had seen some senior citizens coming out of it. I think this is a good test as to whether a place is worthy of going in when you are traversing in unfamiliar territory. Boy was I right!! I had the freshest fish and chips and Mads had some amazing fried shrimp. I would recommend this place to anyone who happened to be in Port Aransas (which I feel might be pretty often:)).

Our bellies filled with seafood and lemon water, we made the 3+ hour trip back to Marble Falls and the soft twin mattress of Mads' bed. That's it for today, I hope you guys are enjoying this blog so far. We still have quite a few adventures left to write about in great (not THAT great) detail. PEACE.