A couple of Saturday’s ago I took the day to travel to San Antonio, Texas to visit and remember the Alamo.
I had been planning to visit the Alamo since I first arrived in Texas back in August of 2017, but work schedules or weather or other events kept pushing back my plans. And, in speaking with some of my co-workers who live here in Texas, I was warned not to expect too much from a visit to the Alamo. Because, even as proud as native Texans are of the Alamo (it is referred to by them as “The Cradle of Texas Liberty”), they also recognize that its legend and history is much bigger than the actual structures and its location makes it extremely difficult to picture the battle in your mind’s eye.
That’s because the downtown area of San Antonio grew up around the fort and the Alamo is almost anachronistic in its modern-day setting. I tried to hide it in the photos I took by framing them out during the shot or cropping them out in editing the photos, but the old church and fort are surrounded, and sometimes even encroached upon by skyscrapers and the hustle and bustle of downtown traffic and life.
Still, as less than what might be expected, it was an enjoyable 90 minutes spent walking around the grounds, watching some of the re-enactors, and stepping a little closer to the history of this important location and battle.
Here are some photos from that visit.
Map of the Alamo grounds. You can see where the walls used to be on the left. That area is now Alamo street with vehicle traffic and businesses, and a park directly in front of the Long Barracks. To the Northeast, you can see Houston street where a church and tall buildings now exist.
A view of the church entrance, taken from the park area in front.
An exterior shot of the Long Barrack Museum. As the name suggests, this is where those in the Alamo slept and rested.
Part of the exterior hallway of the Long Barrack Museum.
Here’s a look at the north side of the church from the area of the Mission Well.
The Mission Well, in front of the Long Barrack Museum. It has been sealed at a depth of about 6 feet and people throw coins into it.
This is the west side of the gift shop. This building was not part of the original Alamo, but was matched architecturally.
A view of the northeast corner of the church shot from the garden area.
Part of the irrigation ditch that runs through the Alamo, originally fed by the San Antonio River.
Here’s a close-up of the plaque and some of the residents of the irrigation ditch. These large Koi fish would immediately stick their heads up out of the water with their mouths opening and closing if you leaned over the railing, thinking you were going to feed them.
Here are a couple of the re-enactors regaling the crowd with stories and history of the Alamo at the Living History Encampment area.
A close-up show of one of the re-enactors as he speaks to the crowd.
Do you use elevators in the course of your normal day? If not, you may not know about elevator etiquette. Or even realize there is such a thing as elevator etiquette. I use elevators a lot, usually at whatever hotel I may be staying in while traveling because I always request that my room is on a high (if not the highest) floor of the hotel, and sometimes in the office in which I’m working. And yes, I should be using the stairs as much as possible but I can’t always work up the initiative to do so at the end of a long day.
Since I’m on the road for business so often, Cindy and I almost always talk on the phone at least twice a day; in the morning when I leave the hotel to drive to the office and sometimes our evening call is also when I’m arriving back at the hotel. I use my Bluetooth earpiece during our calls, so I will usually say to her, “I’m getting on the elevator” and she knows that while I’m in the elevator car I won’t talk to her if someone else is in there as well. I happen to feel that it’s a bit rude for someone to carry on a conversation by phone in any closed area where others are forced to listen to your one side of a conversation. I also have no desire for strangers to hear my conversation, even if it is only my side.
Move to the back – Yes, though most of the time it will be after I see that someone else is going to get on. And, if it’s just a woman and myself in the car, I will purposely stay to the far side and even with her (not like this guy) or just in front of her so she can always see me. I try to do my best to be cognizant of how uncomfortable it would make a woman to be alone in an elevator car with someone when she can’t see them because they are behind her. I don’t like anyone to be behind ME either. So I think that’s another aspect of elevator etiquette.
Flatulence? Hold it until you get off the elevator and if you can’t…well let it quietly escape and then get out as quickly as you can, lol. And if you’re experience stomach issues so bad that you let one rip loudly, then at least say “Excuse me, stomach problems.” and then get out as quickly as you can, lol.
I’ve written often about the man who possessed probably the greatest scientific mind in the history of man, usually on his birthday. Albert Einstein would have been 139 years old today had he not passed away on April 18, 1955. 
It’s a math nerd’s favorite day of the year, 
The first cold breakfast cereal was invented back in 1863 and was known as Granula. But Granula never really became popular, mostly because it wasn’t truly “ready to eat” since it was necessary to soften the heavy bran and graham nuggets by soaking them overnight so they could be eaten in the morning.
I generally gravitated toward any of the sweetened cereals, especially Frosted Flakes, Trix, Sugar Pops and Alpha-Bits, but my favorite of all-time was a cereal introduced in 1963 called Cap’n Crunch! Its claim to fame was it didn’t get soggy in milk as fast as most cereals of the day did. I could sit engrossed in whatever morning show I was watching before school (Captain Kangaroo) or cartoons I was watching on Saturday morning and not worry that my cereal was getting soggier than a cat in a rainstorm. 
The first live-action Batman I ever knew was 
So it was disappointing to see during the “In Memoriam” segment of last night’s Academy Awards Ceremony (with a very touching performance of Tom Petty’s “Room at the Top” by Eddie Vedder) that Adam West was not included. I know the Academy always leaves out someone or several someones as they weigh how much time they have, but it seems ridiculous that Adam West was omitted.