Mission Espada ornamentation
Once in a while I get to slip the surly bonds of earth, and
make my way outside of the Houston area on business[i].
I relish any chance to see new sights
without having to spend the precious coin of scarce vacation days to do so.
While I’m all about the business during the day, one of my favorite diversions
is exploring urban streetscapes by night[ii].
The saving grace of my limited range of
work travel is that Texas cities mostly have pretty unique character[iii]
and generally lend themselves to exploration.
I recently gave a presentation at a conference in San Antonio
on a paper I co-authored. I love “San
Antone”…it’s a great city. Austin’s fun, and has great music, BBQ, and outdoor
activities, but it’s also a little pretentious[iv].
San Antonio has its blighty
unfortunateness, but it also has a more organic sense of community. Either is a bit preferable to the ersatz,
noveau-riche swamp gardens of Houston[v]
and the cowtown boringness of Dallas/Fort Worth. I’m pretty happy, however, to
explore urban areas in general[vi].
San Antonio is a great mix of history, with its chain of Spanish missions and
historic buildings; culture, with its thriving Latino community and festivals;
and “western” terrain[vii].
It’s a deceptively populous place for
all its sleepy feel, which means there’s a lot more to do and see there than I
ever have.
Sights of San Antonio: The Rey Feo, The Buckhorn Saloon
I stayed at one of our favorite haunts[viii],
the Menger Hotel. I can’t get enough of this place…it’s a grand, old style of
hotel[ix]
with a luxuriant main lobby of marble, and Texas limestone and ferns, and
adornments from the turn of the century. There’s a large amount of display space and a
whole bar given over to Teddy Roosevelt memorabilia. He recruited his famed
Rough Riders at and near the Menger, and this was certainly his kind of place.
The whole place has a certain sort of grandness that can’t be bought by fancy
new places. I have never run into any of the famed ghosts of the Menger, but
walking down the hallways one does get an impression that one is not alone[x].
The Menger hotel, Menger patio, Menger interior, Roosevelt memorabilia, Menger lobby, Old timey glass, The Menger Bar, Come Play With Us
Forever and Ever
This jaunt I was only in town on an overnight. I got in late
in the day prior, and immediately headed out for dinner and some urban
exploration. The Menger has the advantage of being literally next door to the
famed Alamo, which is decently cool as tourist traps go. It’s run by the Daughters of Republic of Texas
to this day, even though there have been several efforts to have it transferred
to the decidedly more historically objective Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department. We’ve enjoyed visiting the Mission, but the way history is
presented there, especially by the DRT, is a wee bit unbalanced. I was almost
asked to leave by a grumpy DRT member once because I was discussing both sides
of the history of the Goliad massacre/battle of Gonzalez amongst our party[xi].
Still, it’s well preserved, given its
history[xii]
. I spent a little time photographing it in the last light of the afternoon,
before heading to the Riverwalk for dinner.
The Alamo, Alamo Lights, The Alamo,
Statuary in Alamo Plaza, Alamo Window, Alamo Exterior Wall, Alamo Wall
The River Walk is simultaneously a monument to tourism and
also an innovative and progressive urban design project. A long term
flood-management-meets-tourism-potential project, The River Walk is touristy
while still being worth seeing. A story below the city streets, the sidewalks
along the River wind through narrow canyons festooned with colorful shops and
restaurants, with Spanish architecture beneath a canopy of oaks and cypress. If
you can get past some of the overtly touristy elements[xiii],
it is really quite lovely, as reclaimed-sewage-effluent-public-works-projects
go[xiv].
My favorite San Antonio restaurant, Las
Canarias, is located along a quieter section of the Walk, and was where I
headed that night. It’s a beautiful Old Spanish style upscale restaurant with
great views and equally great food.
River Walk streetscape, River Walk,
River Walk, Glass Teardroppy Thing in River Walk Store, Las Canarias, Las
Canarias interior, Las Canarias interior, Table with a View.
A filling meal and a jaunt around the River Walk in the
evening, and I decided it was time to head back to the Menger for a nightcap.
On my way, I stopped to take some pictures of the River from street level at a
bridge crossing. A somewhat disheveled looking fellow with a large cup
approached me and asked me if I was getting good pictures. I assumed he was
asking for money, given his appearance (sorry John!), but he ended up being
just a local interested in striking up a conversation. I have found this to be
the absolute best way to really get a feel for a place. I talked with John for
about 20 minutes, and he told me ghost stories, the history of some of the
buildings[xv]
and general lore. He was a really wild character, and I’m glad I ran into him,
and gladder still I didn’t just brush him off.
John the Storyteller
On the way back, I wandered. It’s almost too easy in this
day and age to get efficiently from point A to point B. My greatest discoveries
and best times in urban exploration have almost invariably come about as a
result of being desperately, joyously lost[xvi].
I eventually meandered back to Alamo
Plaza, and grabbed some shots of the mission at night before retiring to the
Menger Bar for a drink[xvii].
Various views of Alamo plaza and the
Alamo Mission at night
After I got through with my presentation and lunch with a
consultant the next day, it was too late to make it back to work in Houston by
the end of the day, so I took an hour or two to tour Mission Espada, my
favorite of the Spanish Missions (part of a National Historical Park). While
the Alamo gets all of the attention, the other Missions are really far superior
in terms of sense of place and grandeur. One can only imagine what the Native
Americans thought when what used to be a field in a river valley all of a
sudden was an armed compound bristling with cannon, with imposing and austere
missions towering over the grounds[xviii].
As always, I could have stayed for hours
waiting for good light to photo the architecture and details of the Mission,
but home was calling.
Conference hotel lobby, Bicycle rentals, Conference center mural, Mission Espada view, Mission Espada
interior, Mission Espada, Mission Espada (B&W), Mission Espada cross, the
Mission (antiqued), Past the Mission (far focus)
I usually try to find a nearby park to visit when I’m
somewhere new…somewhere that I might not make the trip for otherwise. The “bonus
park” for this San Antonio trip was Government Canyon State Natural Area[xix].
Unfortunately, no one advised the SNA that they were the lucky bonus park of
the trip, and they were closed when I got there on my way out of town. However,
they had a nice field of wildflowers[xx]
at the front gate, so I got a couple photos in, even if I couldn’t get into the
Canyon itself.
Government Canyon SNA, Checkered White
Butterfly on Gallardia, Wildflowers, Dainty Sulphur, Mating damselflies.
All in all, a satisfyingly packed business trip for just an
overnighter.
NOTES
[i]
Though not as frequently or spectacularly as my wife. I go on trips to Austin,
San Antonio, Dallas. She gets sent to South Africa, Ireland, Indonesia… As you
can tell I’m perfectly ok with this and do not resent it. At all. I’m sorry,
did you hear that over me gritting my teeth into dust?
[ii] Like
Batman, but less angsty.
[iii]
Except Dallas/Fort Worth, whose character is mostly “We like cows and shot a
president that one time.” Don’t feel
bad..Houston’s character is mostly “look at all this cool stuff we bought!”.
[iv] I’m
sorry, Austin. I really do like you. You’re a good time. But you do kind of need
to get over yourself a little. You’re not as weird as you think you are. Weird
for Texas is not weird in general. Just be weird and stop worrying about making
sure everyone knows it all the time. That being said, you have a statue to SRV,
which automatically gets you in the running.
[v] And
more caveats. Houston is awesome in its own way. Its food is pretty intense, it
has greats arts, nice outdoor areas, etc. However, Houston is like a small town
in search of a large city identity..so there’s a lot of posturing. I wrote a
very negative refrigerator magnet poetry poem about Houston when I first got
here. I believe one of the lines comparing Houston to a pariah mother was
something like “beneath your ersatz garden gowns, tawdry loins produce a
juggernaut…screaming tongues howl a crassly-hewn symphony…we birth our gift of screaming
viscour road to summer skies..”. So, you know, we have a complicated relationship,
Houston and I. Dallas is just cowtown
through and through and Fort Worth is where they actually keep the cows.
[vi]
The only place to literally scare me enough to curtail this is Baltimore. Inner
Harbor? Pretty cool. Everywhere else? The Wire.
[vii]
Unlike the flat swampy coast or flat prairies of eastern Texas, San Antonio is
at about the transition point between the flat coastal swamps, forests and
prairies of eastern Texas, and the dry “badlands” deserts of West Texas. It has
the stereotypical terrain one thinks of in terms of Texas’ depiction in old
Westerns, etc.: rolling scrublands of pinyon pines and lush river vallies.
[viii]
The term being fairly a pro pos, given its reputation for being haunted.
[ix]
In fact, it’s on the registry of Historic Hotels of America.
[x]
Also, that one may be invited to play with them forever and ever, and or that
one has always been there.
[xi]
She objected to anything straying from the stridently nationalistic view of the
history of the Texas Revolution being discussed. You know, where valiant
Texians fought off invading Mexicans to keep the land Moses gave them in the
Old Testament…or something. Not this
crazy talk about Texians abusing Spain/Mexico’s fairly generous offers of land
to settle and prohibition of slaves. The real truth is somewhere in the middle,
with Texians disregarding the sovereignty of Mexico, who admittedly was
swinging a bit toward the dictatorial side. But discussing both sides in Texas
is not an emphasized theme.
[xii]
It’s the Rasputin of buildings. It done got blowed up, torn down, burned,
turned into storage, even peed on, during the less illustrious parts of its
history.
[xiii]
Like the never-ending tour boats on the “river”.
[xiv]
During the summer months, the water in the river walk section is fed almost
entirely by treated wastewater effluent from one of San Antonio’s wastewater
plant.
[xv] The
building behind him in the picture was actually assembled room by room, as
individual concrete cells stacked on top of each other.
[xvi] Though,
you’re only really lost if you stop trying to get somewhere. If you make it
where you need to be, you were never lost, you were just taking an alternate
route.
[xvii]
At the time, I was reading one of Roosevelt’s books. It was kind of cool to
read a couple pages while in a place at which he had actually spent some time.
There were some other folks there from my conference (easy to pick out as the
only people in the place excitedly discussing the impacts of regulatory changes
on wastewater effluent limits). I tried to strike up a conversation (again, see
my “talking with strangers is awesome” rule), but they weren’t particularly
friendly.
[xviii]
Except, of course, the Commanche who were, apparently, the human equivalent of
the Honey Badger. It’s scientifically impossible to measure how little of a
damn the Commanche gave about the Spanish. Or, you know, the Americans, the
Mexicans, other tribes, basic humanity, etc. Every stereotype of “savage
redskins” out there finds some kernel of truth in the Commanche. Admittedly,
this was not a civil time in general, but the Commanche took it to a whole
other level before their eventual “pacification”. They were still in nascent
bloodthirstiness at the time of the Missions, but still.
[xix]
While the actual derivation of the name is less obvious, the initial impression
is that Texas had just run out of Park names and just gave it the most literal
description they could. Do we own it?
Check. Is it a Canyon? Check. Ok, we’re good to go on this one. Let’s go secede
from the US now.
[xx]
Luckily I am equally fascinated with vast landscapes and the microcosms of
small ecosystems. I just needed to switch lenses, literally and figuratively.
