San Antonio - Gruene - Natural Bridges, Texas

---

From my home base in San Marcos I made a day trip into San Antonio with my niece Barbara Mason. We toured The Alamo which was very interesting. I had just recently read that there were some surviving women and children at the Alamo which I never new before. Such bravery was displayed by all the men who died there and such an important time in Texas history. We then walked to the famous San Antonio Riverwalk for some liquid refreshment and great burritos for lunch. We could watch the people floating down the river on the taxis and took our time just relaxing and taking in the atmosphere. It was definitely a cool place to visit and had a great day with Barbara. As we walked back to the car saw this sporting good store with heads of animals on the outside of the building, only in Texas.

Barbara joined me another day for an outing to Gruene, Texas. It is north of San Antonio and down the river from New Braunfels. In 1845 a German immigrant Ernst Gruene came to settle in New Braunfels but found very little land available so went down the river and established their cotton business at the place. This cotton business attracted 20 to 30 more families to the area and the town was born. The center of the community's social life was the Gruene Hall which is the oldest dance hall in Texas. There is free music during week nights and then other music on the weekend that cost, but a reasonable price. The whole town was put on the national register of historic places in the 1970's and their are lots of interesting shops to visit and a great restaurant The Gristmill in the old mill building. We had a great afternoon browsing through the stores and dinner at the Gristmill followed by listening to some great music at the Hall. It was great to spend time with Barbara and hope she comes north for a visit in the future.

I made a day outing to the Natural Bridges Caverns and the Natural Bridges Wildlife Park. The caverns were interesting to tour but my pictures were lost some how. The Wildlife park is cool with lots of interesting animals to see. You drive through in your vehicle and they give you food for the animals. They were eating out of peoples hands and one Emu put its head right in the window of my truck. A great place to take kids, all the ones I saw were having a great time.

---

Photos

San Antonio Sporting Goods Store
Note the animal heads on the building.