THE SISTERS

Winter is fast approaching and I want to delay it as long as I can. Nancy and I agreed we could use a short diversion before winter sets in, we decided on a trip offered by Sunshine Tours. It was for five days and headed to warm, sunny, San Antonio, Texas. Nancy has visited the area before but it would be a new experience for me.
We met in Springfield on November 29th and spent the night at the Plaza Hotel so we only had to cross the parking lot in the early morning. Our tour coach departure was for 6AM.
The first day was mostly spent in travel, the first break was in Pryer, Oklahoma at a truck stop. It was said to have the largest McDonald restaurant in the country. It is also the first town in Oklahoma to have electricity and also where Will Rogers was raised. Google is also to come here and will bring 100's of jobs to the area. After a late afternoon break, we ended the day at the Hampton Inn in Waco, Texas.
After a nice courtesy breakfast in a rather pretty lounge of the hotel, we were on the road for San Antonio. We arrived at the Club Plaza for an elegant buffet lunch. At our table, we met a couple from Mountain Home, Arkansas, as well as a nice 91 year old and her daughter, that joined our tour in Joplin. Everyone is friendly and easy to talk with. After this delicious lunch, we traveled to the Tower of Americas. This was built in 1968 for the World's Fair. The elevators to take you to the 750foot high observation deck are on the outside walls so you can see out as you go up to the deck. I was able to get interesting pictures of the San Antonio area from up there as well as pictures of the beautiful water falls around the plaza leading to and from the tower.
We then drove to down town San Antonio and our hotel, The Emily Morgan. It was once a hospital, then offices before becoming a hotel in the 1970's. It is now part of the Hampton Inn Company. We were right across the street from the Alamo and on the other street we faced the courthouse and post office. We were on the 10th floor in a large, comfortable room. We were later told by two different parties sharing the elevator, that our floor is known to be haunted. We did not see any ghosts, but who knows who were the people talking to us or the family that just sat in the chairs near the elevators the second night.
After a freshen up, we wandered over to the Alamo. There was a tour going on so we wandered around the 4.2 acre complex on our own. It is impressive to think that this represents 300 years of Texas history. Built in 1718, then in the 1800's it was under Spanish rule, it is part of the original Mission San Antonio De Valero, built by Spanish Friars to minister to Native Americans. The Battle of Bexar in 1835 and The Texas Revolution, the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. Walking through the area, I was impressed with the wrought iron work you would see on the doors, windows and in the hanging lamps. The trees were another thing that impressed me. Everywhere we went, the Alamo, the River Walk, the parkways and everywhere else, there were large, bent and gnarled trees. I do not know what type they are, possible cotton Woods?
After a great buffet breakfast, we drove to the Hill County" where we toured the ranch of Lyndon B. Johnson, our 36th President, called "The Texas White House' We were met by a National Park Service Guide, he is a very enthusiastic, informative man who loves this history and his job of telling about it. He walked us into "the office", there was a piano, desks, telephones, TV's and a fireplace. We were told LBJ liked the 50's Pop Music and tuned into that all the time. This station now plays hard rock on the LBJ-FM radio station, wouldn't LBJ be surprised?
As we went to the other rooms we were told the three TV's in each room would all be turned on if the president were in the room. He watched the news all the time and the three would be because at that time had ABC, CBS and NBC as the only networks. The dinning room was set up for dinner, because Lady Bird Johnson liked color, the dishes reflected this. The dishes were of Mexican pottery, brightly colored floral design with the center of each depicting an animal. It was not overly fancy for this was their home away from Washington DC. Outside we saw the airstrip and the airplane used to transport the president and his wife. There were also buildings with his cars on display. We visited the home where the president was born as well as the family cemetery on the way out. There were pecan trees around the area as well as long horn cattle, bison and white-tailed deer and a man plowing a nearby field.
We left the ranch and traveled to Fredericksburg, an old town of German and frontier heritage dating back to the 1840's. There were many shops, galleries, boutiques as well as lots of old buildings to see. We ate at a nice outdoor restaurant, hearing how generous there meals are, Nancy and I shared the burger and fries, but each had our own bread pudding dessert before our meal. . After shopping, we all boarded the coach and headed for a trip through the hills to Bandera, "Cowboy Capital of the World:. We went to a ranch for a hay ride, a Texas style Bar-B-Q and a "Roper" for entertainment. The roper, Kevin Fitzpatrich, was a fun, informative man. He knew more trivia about past cowboys and horse and roping history than you can imagine. He is also champion roper. He did all his roping tricks while standing on his horse, Bullwhip. He did the Butterfly, the Rollovers, Wedding Ring, Cowboy Hopscotch, Jump Through's and the Texas Skip. I ended up getting roped as did our guide. Kevin ended by telling a story about his 94 year old father that was there with him. His father was a world champion roper, he was given one of the first gold belt buckles 30 plus years ago to signify his achievement. After many years of the buckle being missing, only a few weeks earlier, a man called from California to inquire about his father. It turns out that someone came into this mans pawn shop with this buckle, the store owner wanted to check it out. A few days later, Father had his belt buckle in hand, the store owner sought him out and mailed it to him. That made us all feel good, what a nice ending to a great day.
Friday morning we were met at the tour coach by a walk-on tour guide. He was interesting, informative and fun. Our first stop was the Town Hall then we walked across to the San Fernando Cathedral that was founded in 1731. It is one of the oldest structures in San Antonio. It marks the original geographic center of the city. The original church is made of adobe and the rest in old rock style. This church is still active with weekly services. It was beautiful inside, a beautiful pipe organ, brightly colored stained glass windows and a beautiful alter. The metal marker is in the church marking the center point of San Antonio, we walked over it to leave. We drove through many old parts of town and learned a lot. We went on to visit the San Jose Mission, this too is still having weekly services. The original walls and building foundations still exist. Parts of the church are being preserved and is in tack. Drove through areas of town and saw one of the oldest and still working mills, makers of White Wing Flour, saw one of the three Air Force Bases in Texas and other things of interest as we drove to the SAS (San Antonio Shoe) Shoe Factory for time to shop.
We got back to the hotel early afternoon and Nancy and I chose to eat at the hotel restaurant. It was the best Italian Pasta meal I have had in years. Nancy actually finished her meal too, so you know it was good. We met some of our traveling group and went together for our barge ride at the River Walk. The young man who captained the barge also gave a very informative history of the river walk, the buildings, etc. Nancy and I walked around the area then drove the street cars around to check out the rest of the town. We returned to the river walk at dark to photograph the beauty of the Christmas lights hanging from the trees and the luminaries that lit the whole River Walk and all the many bridges over the river.
Saturday we started the ride back to Springfield, we drove to Austin and got out at the State Capital for picture taking and a short walk around. Then drove on to Irving for our night stay. We arrive in time for the courtesy buffet they set up for the guests at our hotel.
Sunday we drove into Oklahoma, our first break and I bought coffee and a local newspaper. Another lady and I went into a separate area where gambling machines were set up. We asked how to play the quarter machines, a lady showed us how and on my third spin, i won, Three Dollars, Wow, first time to gamble and I won, I will quit while I am ahead, it was fun. My partner lost two dollars but also had fun. Further down the road we stopped at a community run farm, they offered lessons in weaving, carpentry, home schooled their children and farmed, gardened and did it all. We were all in shock at the prices of all their merchandise, most of us looked but did not buy. On down the road we in the middle and back heard a small bang then another. Then we heard some rumbling. Soon a white car drove up side us then dropped back soon they drove up front and held up a sign that said flat tire. They pulled over and so did Rory, out coach owner/driver. It turns out that they both are coach drivers, deadheading back to their base and noticed one of the inside back tires flat. Our guide called the emergency road number Rory had and they led her to a nearby company that could meet us at our lunch stop to change the tire. When we pulled in for lunch, the tire truck was there. After a nice farewell lunch, we had fun singing the Twelve days of Christmas. Nancy's part was Five Golden Rings, mine was Eight Ladies Dancing. It was a good time for all.
The trip was fun. While down loading the 500 plus pictures I took, it brought back just how much we did see and how much fun it was. I am so glad we went and now I will get through this winter with ease. Marge