Carl's Blog

For this year’s bring break I decided to visit Canyon Lake, Texas and stay at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Hill Country Resort. I’m planning on the final post in this series to be a full review of the resort and my current thoughts on the Holiday Inn Club Vacation. Now on to what I got up to yesterday, March 11th.

I cooked myself breakfast, a bacon, egg, and tomato taco. I forgot to buy cheese and I’m just realizing that I forgot to buy cheese again yesterday before I returned to my room for the evening. Going to have to make that a priority for today.

The plan for the day was to visit The Alamo, and its museum, then visit Natural Bridge Caverns and finally end with dinner in Gruene, Texas.

Canyon Lake is about an hour from The Alamo. I had plans to get to The Alamo at 9 AM when it opened, but I wanted a 2nd cup of coffee and was enjoying the latest podcast from Going Medieval. If you like history I recommend this podcast. While listening to the podcast, I was also trying to determine the best plan for parking in downtown San Antonio. I ended up parking at the parking garage that houses the Whataburger in downtown San Antonio. This was the first time I brought my dslr camera with me and I didn’t rely on my cell phone for all the pictures.

San Antonio and The Alamo

I arrived around 10:30 AM and exited the parking lot walking toward Commerce Street. This art deco structure has already amazed me.

It is called La Antorcha de la Amistad, “The Torch of Friendship”. It was created by Mexican artist, Sebastián. He is known for creating massive steel structures. “More than 200 of his monumental creations can be found all over the globe, including Mexico City, Paris and Jerusalem.” You can learn a bit more about him here in this MYSA news post (2019) that I quoted. News post about Sebastian.

As you walk toward The Alamo at the time of this post (March 2024), there is a major construction project in the works to transform Alamo Plaza. In the space available, they are trying to reconstruct the buildings that have long been lost to history and provide visitors with a view of The Alamo during that 1836 battle. The building across from the plaza has been taken over for the new Alamo Museum, so the places I would buy T-shirts and ice cream have been forced to close. Don’t worry the buildings across from the Menger Hotel are still open for business so you will still be able to buy T-Shirts and tourist trinkets.

The line to purchase tickets to visit The Alamo church was large in size; however, I joined Friends of the Alamo and with your membership you get free tickets to visit The Alamo and the museum exhibit on site. So I ordered my tickets using my membership and was able to head over to the line to get into The Alamo. OMG, if I thought the line to buy tickets was long, the line to get into The Alamo was 3 times it’s size. At least it moved quickly and if I understood the podcast from Alamo Podcast, “The Battle of the Alamo,” we were in line where the Mexican army made its final assault along the long barracks toward The Alamo church were the Texans made their last stand. The church was also where the women and children were hiding during the fight. Every person fighting inside The Alamo was killed. At the start of the battle, Santa Ana had raised the red flag, signaling to all the defenders of The Alamo, that the Mexican army was not taking prisoners and they would be killed even if they surrendered. The battle last about 90 minutes and the only survivors were the women and children.

One thing I want to note about the church. In 1836 it was more ruins than a functioning church. It didn’t have a roof and had been fortified by the Mexican Army before the Texans took it over and setup a defense inside. Also, the defenders were expecting to get help from the other Texans mustering in the East. History shows that help was on the way, but it wasn’t able to get there in time. This leads me to the big news of the year. The Travis Letter.

The Travis Letter is on display in the museum behind the Alamo. Along with many other artifacts and Phil Colins’ collect. Yes, that Phil Colins, the drummer of Genesis. He even does the voice over inside the museum that retells the battle. But back to the Travis Letter…

How do you know this is a big deal? Out of view of my picture is an armored Texas State Trooper who is facing the Travis Letter. Normally, security is standing by the door or in the corner surveying the room. Not this guard. I don’t have a clue what the letter is worth, but being as it is one of a kind and is one of the last letters that Travis wrote asking for more help before the fall of The Alamo I’m guessing it’s near to priceless.

I mentioned there were a variety of artifacts in the collection. These are the ones that interested me the most so I’m going to include them here with my own ramblings. 🧐

This is a statue of Joseph. According to the note at the base, it is missing the baby Jesus normally found with statues of Joseph. What I found the most interesting is the ability to bend the elbows and rotate the arms at the shoulders. It was designed so someone could move the arms and reposition them.

I didn’t get the exact date when this wallet of flints was in use, but I like how it connects us back to Stoneage humanity. Modern humanity isn’t really much different than ancient humanity.

I’m going to conclude my Alamo visit with some of the pictures on display of the Alamo. From 1850 to present date, tourists have been visiting The Alamo. You can even see a picture of the Pope, Queen Elizabeth and a ZZ Top.

Natural Bridge Caverns

Back to the truck and $30 to get my truck out of the parking garage and off to Natural Bridge Caverns. I’ve trying to remember the last time I was at Natural Bridge Caverns, and I can’t remember the exact date, but it had to be over 10 years ago and the complex has changed. It is no longer just a place to go see a cave. Above ground they’ve added picnic areas, areas where you can “pan for gold or artifacts”, and rope/climbing course and an area for concerts.

In the gallery below you will see pictures from Natural Bridge Caverns. The tour has changed dramatically since the last time I visited. Before you when down with a tour guided and they lead your through the cave and gave you speeches about the formations and the history. Now you follow the path from tour guided to tour guide and at each stopping point you hear about the formations and history and then you move on to the next location. I miss the old way, but I can see how this system is much more efficient and the improvements to the path along with all the handrails is much appreciated.

Gruene, Texas

Off to the final destination, the historic city of Gruene, Texas.

This little city, now part of New Braunfels, Texas has really learned how to trap tourists. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to shop at some unique stores, you will find them here. If you want to listen to local singers and musicians, you can find them here. What you will have a hard time finding is parking. There is one main parking area, and it is very large, but it was almost full when I arrived at 4 PM. Now most of the shops close by 5ish. Yes, I’m right 5ish I should have taken a picture of all the stores that operation hours. Basically, if people are in the shop still buying items, they won’t be closing. Smart move on their part. I would recommend a visit but bring a friend or two or at least a designated driver. Some places allowed you to purchase, “to go” beverages.

I finished the day with a meal at the Gristmill Restaurant. The main course, bronze catfish, was good but the M.L. Special, a desert was the winner of the night. It’s a fudge cake with pecans, ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream. I have to give a shout out to my server, Gigi, for recommending it.

Day one’s adventure ends here. We started our day visiting a historical site in the birth of the state of Texas, traveled to a natural wonder and enjoyed a bit of nature, and we concluded the day visiting a historic town in central Texas. Was a good day overall.