I went for a run this morning, which makes for all three states we visited this trip. The joy of flat and cool mixed with whoa! when I turned from one major street to another and neither sidewalk or shoulder to run on.
We’ve put away the hats and hiking boots, but the sunglasses are still indispensable. I suppose for San Antonio I’d need an urban sombrero instead of my Dockers sun hat. MBH still takes her jacket when we leave the casita, I only wear my light fleece in the mornings around the casita. Keeps me warm and the neighbors from getting jealous.
Today we went to the Missions National Historical Park which has four separate missions: Espada, San Juan (Capistrano), San Jose, and Concepcion. The Alamo, technically San Antonio de Valeria, is at the north end of the mission trail but isn’t part of the National Park.
I picked the mission that was farthest away, and farthest south, Espada, to go to first and thing went truly did go south as the Apple Map app takes you to the Espada Aqueduct or perhaps the original site of the mission if you search for Mission Espada since it was renamed San Francisco de la Espada when it moved in 1731. At first we were the only ones wandering around a field looking at our phones saying I’m getting closer or I’m getting farther. Then another couple showed up and all four of us were wandering around. Then I put in the actual address from the website and we were off to the races – after we told the other wife of our discovery since she had set off down the road while her husband went back to their car.
Then it was off to lunch in the Pearl district. We put our name in at the first restaurant we came to and then we wandered around looking for a restaurant that had a shorter wait. No luck on that, but we did get to see a large chunk of the area while we wandered and the wait wasn’t as long as predicted. We did notice that lack of staff was the constraint on the number of patrons since every restaurant had empty seats, especially inside, but 20 to 30 minute waits. The food was good, but the party next to us didn’t get their food until we were finished despite ordering before us. The manager was supposed to come by and explain what happened, but we never found out why. And that’s how life is like eating at a restaurant.
After lunch we found the north end of the Riverwalk, no sign, just water coming out of a wall and steps up to the street. It came as a bit of a shock.
We finished up the afternoon at the Japanese Garden before returning to the casita and nap time. We plan to go for a walk around a lake at a local park once our energy returns. Plans are good.
He hid his disappointment well when we didn’t want to hear the 45 minute complete history of the mission, or the 10 minute this is the only mission that does something unique and interesting. I have to admit I was curious, but not 10 minutes curious after his exhausting list of every original item.
