Remember the Alamo

I wrote “See the Alamo” on my bucket list probably close to 15 years ago. So when our travels landed us in San Antonio for a weekend, I knew there was one (or two) “toursity things” I had to do.

First stop, the Alamo.

Remember the Alamo

I was a little nervous visiting the Alamo during COVID, as it was our first major tourist stop in our trip, and we’d be there on a Saturday, oy!

But the Alamo is doing the best it can to help keep crowds to a minimum and social distanced. A maximum number of 75 people are allowed inside the church at a time and visitors have 30 minutes to explore the inside of the church. Inside the church you must wear a mask, but honestly the social distancing rules get a little fuzzy just based on the people who happen to be in your group.

You can reserve your free timed ticket online so we picked the first time slot of the morning in hopes of beating the late morning/afternoon crowds … and it worked! We practically had the place to ourselves on a Saturday morning!

You can arrive 10 minutes prior to your time slot, and I was only the 4th person in line. It was wonderful!

The Alamo isn’t dog friendly (for obvious reasons), but we didn’t want to leave Butters back at the camper for that long so she came with us and we played the tag-team game. What that means is I went in and enjoyed myself, got the souvenirs, took pictures, etc. etc. while Anthony relaxed outside with Butters. Then we switch, he goes in reads some stuff, takes maybe one picture and then meets back up with us. It’s time consuming, but it works, we just have to plan ahead and know some places will take twice as long as they normally would.

There are no photographs allowed inside of the building, and the travel blogger in me was screaming in anguish! But, ya know it was kind of nice being able to just be in the moment and listen to the guides and soak in the fact that I was standing inside the freaking Alamo, without having to worry about catching that picture perfect shot!

The grounds of the Alamo are beautiful, and if you didn’t have a fiancé and an impatient doggo waiting for you to return, I highly recommend spending some extra time strolling the property and reading even more about the men who fought here and the history before and after Davy Crocket’s infamous standoff.

The San Antonio River Walk

Only a few blocks from the Alamo is the famous San Antonio River Walk .

When you tell someone that you’re going to San Antonio, they tell you to go enjoy the River Walk. It’s actually the top ranked attraction in all of Texas, and it’s easy to see why

I was particularly excited for the River Walk because it’s dog friendly! Yep, your doggo can enjoy 15 miles of riverside strolling through the bustling town of San Antonio.

With it being a Saturday and with temps starting to rise, we opted to bring Butters’s stroller. It’s really handy to have in crowded places where people may not be looking at their feet making sure they don’t crush my best friend under their size 12 cowboy boot.

If you want to avoid crowds, hit the Alamo up early and then head straight to the Riverwalk. We enjoyed the open sidewalks before the lunch rush set it.

When lunch time did roll around we decided to eat at the iconic Casa Rio. Did you know that it was the first restaurant to open on the San Antonio River Walk?

You’ll see it coming with it’s bright riverside umbrellas and the smell of fresh tortillas wafting through the air.

It was an early lunch for us so we opted to split a cup of soup and the chicken nachos.

And wow … wow. Ladies and Gents, I give you the perfect nacho.

Every chip had every flavor of nacho goodness topped with the perfect amount of cheese.

They were heavenly, and I still crave them to this day. Nachos are forever ruined for me, unless they come from Casa Rio.

We enjoyed watching the tour boats pass by, Butters keeping the pesky pigeons away, and some tequila before 12 p.m. No River Walk experience would be complete without a stop at Casa Rio.

San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

While the Alamo may be one of the top destinations to visit in San Antonio, you can’t forget about the missions that helped establish this city.

In our quest to collect all the National Parks passport stamps in our book, we discovered the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park.

Confession, I originally thought that the Alamo was going to be the National Park, I mean it totally could be right? Nope, it’s not associated with the NPS at all!

About 20-30 minutes away from the Alamo lies the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park.

The Visitor’s Center was closed due to COVID, but a staff member was kind enough to take my book and stamp it for me, WooHoo!

There was only one other couple there this morning, but just incase we ran into a Karen who would give us a hard time about Butters walking the grounds, we placed her in the stroller. She didn’t mind as she gets to be cozy in her blankets and be pushed around in her chariot like the queen she is.

The grounds are so peaceful, but oh wow, the mission is stunning!

Being from California, we’ve seen some missions in our days, but every time you see one you’re in awe at the meticulous detail of their craftmanship.

The inside of the chapel was closed for a wedding that day (awe!), but I was able to take a quick peek inside and it was beautiful.

They did have a cute little gift shop on the grounds that had an array of crosses, rosary beads, and other Catholic novelties. I’m not Catholic, but I’m a child of God, so I purchased an adorable multi colored painted clay cross that will hang in my home office someday to remind me of this spiritual place.

Kool for a KOA

KOA Kampgrounds are the cilantro of the RV world, you either love them or hate them.

Personally, I love them during RV life. Would it be somewhere I would normally stay back in our weekend warrior days? No. I camped to get away from people. But since hitting the road full-time we have come to love the comforts of a KOA.

We’re currently moving every week so one night a week we end up at a KOA. It’s our laundry night because they always have clean and secure laundry facilities, and it’s our movie night because we have a plug-in and good reception to stream Netflix.

Some KOA’s are nothing special, but the San Antonio/Alamo KOA was something else!

It had a fishing pond, pedal bikes to rent, it backed up next to a nice pathway, it was gated which felt secure in a big city like San Antonio. It was NICE!

This KOA even had an on-site Hunt’s Brother’s Pizza that had a $10 pizza delivered to your campsite at no extra charge! We glamped in style this weekend y’all!

The KOA is only about 15 minutes from the Alamo & the River Walk so after a fun morning and lunch in the city, we decided to relax the rest of the afternoon and enjoy the amenities of such a nice campground.

And by relaxing, I mean letting Butters watch and chase squirrels to her heart’s content. Spoiler alert, there is no heart’s content, she would do this all day long if we let her.

I have never seen so many squirrels in one campground! Butters and Tiskies were in heaven!

Some KOA’s even have little snack shacks on site where you can get out of cooking for a night and not even have to unhitch your truck.

This weekend was a perfect mix of relaxation and being a tourist. We checked some biggies off the ol’ bucket list, but also took the time to slow down and enjoy this life we’re living as a family.

Happy Trails,

The Traveling Tiongsons