Hola Hola...I'm back Y'all

Hi Everyone. I realized this morning that I never uploaded last Tuesday's post explaining that I would be gone for a few days and not be able to post. Sorry about that. I threw the post up there this morning anyway in case you wanted to read it, it explains why I wasn't going to be able to post until today.

I was in San Antonio, Texas! It was great, oh so warm, and completely exhausting. I was there for few days and packed a shit ton of stuff into my schedule while I was there. The first thing I did was go to the Alamo.

I was so disappointed in the Alamo mainly in part because there are signs everywhere explaining to visitors that the Alamo is sacred ground and that there should be no talking when inside to respect the holy space and to respect those who lost their lives there. This is what it should be like there, but unfortunately it was packed with schools children on field trips, that in and of itself was not the bad part, it was the fact that the teachers had the children doing a scavenger hunt at the Alamo which cause the children not to walk through silently and ponder the importance of the space, it made them frenzied and caused them to run around looking for artifacts to jot down on their check-sheets. There was no mention of respect to the place they were in. It just made me think back to last summer when I visited Pearl Harbor. No one made a sound at the memorial, it was so somber and stoic, and it made an impression on all who visited, unfortunately the Alamo does not receive the same respect.

Front Facade of the Alamo

Walk way at the Alamo

The second trip I went on was to see the other San Antonio Missions. Mission Concepción was the first mission I toured, and is the most well preserved original mission in San Antonio. See Below.

I also toured the San Jose Mission and the San Juan Mission. They were really interesting and offered a glimpse into Spain's most successful attempt at extending its territory northward from Mexico. These missions are the greatest concentration of Spanish Missions in North America. The missions stood as an example to the French in Louisiana that Texas was Spanish territory. If you would like more history on the Missions please click here http://hotx.com/missions/history.html.

The next trip was to 3 wineries. Yes, who knew that Texas had wineries, but see...those are grape vines. Now, I have toured wine country and drank a lot of wine in Italy and I must say that the wines in Texas seem very immature compared to the wines in other regions of the world. I think part of this is due to the fact that the vines are new, some of them only 5 years old.

All the wined I tried seemed very basic and not very complex. That's not to say that they were not good, because they were, I just think they are a simpler wine than most people are used to.

Who knew Texas was so green and lush, huh?

Anyway, yes, I did also do work when I was there, and I did see Al Gore. He gave a wonderful and thoughtful speech, and hit on a lot of very personal issues for me and global issues too. He was quite captivating and really, honestly seemed so passionate about what he was talking about that you couldn't help but be moved by him.

Also, in Texas I saw a lot of Mariachi singers and walked the Riverwalk countless times. (See Below)

Going away is so wonderful (yes even for work) but there is nothing like coming home and sleeping in your own bed and cooking your own food which I simply can't wait to do. My refrigerator is empty and my oven is cold, but I hope to change that tonight. So glad to be back.