Monday, April 18, 2005

San Antonio Tourists

We had a really busy Monday morning.  We started off with a visit to the Air Force Personnel Center to review our official military records.  Each AF member is authorized permissive travel (meaning the individual incurs the expense for the travel) to make a personal review of his/her records.  After getting the "official business" portion of our visit taken care of, we decided to play tourists.
When we'd gone to the wedding, I noticed the new temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was near when Jenn and Brian were married.  Plus, there was an open house to the public.  As Russ had never been in an LDS temple, we made a stop there.  No pictures were allowed inside the temple, and for some reason, we didn't take any outdoor pictures either.  It was very lovely and peaceful inside.
What visit to San Antonio is complete without a trip to the River Walk?  We ate at a Mexican restaurant outdoors and were visited by some duck who thought the tortilla chips were pretty tasty.
 
 
After eating at the River Walk, we went to visit the remains of a former San Antonio mission.  This particular mission was run by friars and offered protection to local Native American tribes, mainly the Coahuiltecans.  In return for the protection, many of these Native Americans changed from a nomadic lifestyle to a farming community.  Obviously, the average person was much shorter a few hundred years ago.

 
To protect occupants from the hot weather and invaders, the walls were built extremely thick of rocks and adobe.  The hole below was used by canon or rifles.


This was part of a mill house using a water wheel for power to help grind the corn. 

 
After visiting the old mission, we stopped by Lackland Air Force Base and took a tour of the basic training graduation grounds.  It was a great visit to San Antonio!


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