ALL PERSONAL PICTURES AND TEXT ARE COPYRIGHTED BY DON AND SARA SCHULTZ. (ACQUIRED GRAPHICS CREDITED)


The famous ill fated travel plans of Davey Crockett after losing a bid for the US Congress in 1835, "You all can go to hell, I am going to Texas", came to mind as Sara and I decided on a locale to celebrate the Christmas of 2009. We, like Davey, decided on San Antonio, Texas.

We would have preferred to be in Wisconsin or Minnesota with our daughters and new grandchild but not even family ties could draw us to the upper Midwest in December. News of over twenty inches of snow and howling sub freezing wind during the holidays reinforced our decision. Since living on the road for the past five years, Sara and I don't do snow unless it is on a mountain top, part of a glacier or in a snow cone.

Besides, we have observed from Christmases past in Southern California and Arizona, that during the holidays what the South and Southwest lack in wintry white, the residents more than make up for with lights, millions and millions of lights. The timing of the Fiesta de Las Luminaries, or the lighting of the way for the Holy Family, varies from community to community throughout the South. Some concentrate on Christmas Eve, but most communities enjoy their displays throughout December. A quick check on the Internet confirmed our choice of where to celebrate Christmas 2009. San Antonio with its famous River Walk, Spanish missions and mild weather seemed like an excellent choice, Davey Crockett's fate at the Alamo not withstanding.

San Antonio is the second largest city in Texas covering over 3,000 square miles and has population of over 1.3 million. It is the third fastest growing city in the country and has been voted one of the 10 best Christmas cities by America's Best along with such notable locations as North Pole, AK; New Orleans, LA; Mackinac Island, MI and Kennebunkport, MA.

A visit to San Antonio any time of the year will be memorable. Nicknamed the Alamo City, San Antonio has countless historic buildings and over 17 sites on the National Park Service Register of Historic Places.

This past year over 20 millions tourists visited San Antonio, pumping over 11 billion dollars into the city's economy. Travel Advisors Website lists 175 attractions including the Alamo, Institute of Texan Cultures, Sea World San Antonio, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Japanese Tea Gardens, Hemisphere Urban Park, and the San Antonio Zoo which boasts over 3500 animals, 600 species on 35 acres and is one of the top rated zoos in the nation. Each spring San Antonio holds Fiesta which is a two week whirlwind of parades and entertainment highlighting native music, food and art.

Knowing that our time was limited, Sara and I narrowed our itinerary to these activities: touring the famous Missions of San Antonio, tracing the Festival of Lights through communities that surround San Antonio, dining at the famed Chart House Restaurant atop the 750 foot Hemisphere Tower on the grounds of the 1968 World's Fair, visiting the Institute of Texan Cultures Museum, attending a Mariachi Mass and finally visiting the famous River Walk.


THE MISSIONS OF SAN ANTONIO

No visit to the city would be complete without touring the five Spanish missions of San Antonio.

It is no coincidence that each is located along the river that springs from the Edwards Aquifer to the north and runs through the center of the city. Each mission needed life giving water to survive and flourish. Like knots spaced unevenly on the prayer cords of the Spanish Franciscan friars who are responsible for their construction, the missions are the jewels of the city and would make even the eyes of St Francis of Assisi, the 13th century founder of the Order, beam with pride.

The oldest mission and the most famous of the five is the Mission San Antonio de Valero or commonly known as the Alamo. Located in central downtown, the Alamo is to a native Texan what the Kaaba at Masjid Al Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is to every Muslim. It is the beginning and the end. It is sacred ground, the "Cradle of Texas Liberty". It is where 189 Texas volunteers, including William Travis, Jim Bowie and Dave Crockett died defying a siege of 13 days by thousands of Mexican soldiers. Santa Anna announced a "glorious victory" but the cost to his army was enormous. His aide noted privately: "One more such glorious victory and we are finished". And as every Texas school child can tell you, Sam Huston finished off the Mexican army and Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto a mere month later.

Most of the 2.5 million visitors to the 4.2 acre mission complex each year are amazed at how small the buildings really are, and gentlemen visitors be warned, you will be expected to remove your hat out of respect before entering the main chapel. If you don't (I missed the sign) you will be told to do so by one of the biggestTexas Rangers I have ever seen. As the T-shirts say, "Don't Mess with Texas". Be sure to allow enough time to visit the other four missions. Each is managed by the National Park Service with the Mission Visitor's Center at Mission San Jose. Admission is free and each is unique. Allow a full day to tour the missions of San Antonio.

THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

It is no understatement to say that the small communities that border San Antonio celebrate the Christmas season in true Texas tradition. If "Everything Is Bigger In Texas" or "You Would Not Understand, It's a Texas Thing" phases often seen on bumper stickers are true, Christmas in rural Texas can be summed up in one word-Lights. We have never seen so many Christmas lights concentrated in a single location. Not in New York, not in Miami, not in Phoenix or Salt Lake City. Not even in Los Angeles.

Small towns surrounding San Antonio including Burnet, Dripping Springs, Fredericksburg, Goldwaite, Johnson City, Llano, Marble Falls, New Braunfels, Round Mountain and Wimberley are all part of the Regional Christmas LightingTrail. Each of these towns offer visitors dazzling light displays among the rolling hills of Central Texas. Some communities also have special events such as Wimberley’s Emily Ann Tree Lighting and Trail of Lights and New Braunfel’s Santa’s Ranch, which is a full drive-through Christmas Light Park, with over 1 million lights. College Station’s Santa’s Wonderland features 2.5 million lights spread across 40 acres. The lights cover everything; buildings, huge live oaks and railings, turning night into day.

And who often sponsors these incredible light shows? Often it is the local Electric Cooperative. The nation's first electric cooperative was established in 1935, in Bartlett, Texas and the rest is history. There are now over 930 Coops throughout the US providing 34 million rural Americans power. And as one local Texan at Johnson City, population 1600 people and home town of President Lyndon Baines Johnson pointed out to us as we marveled at the lights, "Yah all gotta known, dah Coop the only people in these parts dat can afford this all".

The Festival of Light in rural Texas is not to be missed and the best part is that it is free to the visitor.

DINING ABOVE THE CITY OF SAN ANTONIO

San Antonio’s diverse culture makes it a prime location to try cuisine from all over the world. Countless restaurants line the downtown River Walk, but Sara and I decided on something special. We live frugally on the road but on rare occasions decide to splurge. Our last extravagance was a $400 plus airplane ride around Mt. McKinley in Alaska that lasted about an hour. Expensive, but a once in a lifetime experience.

For Christmas Eve 2009 we decided to treat ourselves by dining at the famous Chart House Restaurant high atop the Tower of the Americas. The tower was built for the 1968 World's Fair and boosts a revolving restaurant and observation deck 750 ft above ground. The tower was the tallest observation tower in the United States from 1968 until 1996, when the Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower was completed.

Reservations are required and we made ours to coincide with the sunset over the city. The meal was a delight to the taste buds and the ever changing views of San Antonio as the entire restaurant slowly revolved, with the sun fading to a red glow in the distance and the Christmas lights beginning to twinkle below, made it a night to be long remembered. Even without drinks, appetizers or dessert, the tab will long be remembered also.

THE INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES MUSEUM

One of the most suprising facts about the state of Texas is its incredible cultural diversity. More than 133,000 immigrants entered the United States through the Port of Galveston, TX. Know as the "Ellis Island of the West" new citizens from Africa, Belgium, China, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Irelend, Japan, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Sweden, ,Switzerland and Jews from various European contries all settled and thrived in Texas.

The Institute of Texan Cultures is a museum located in downtown San Antonio on the Hemispheric Park Campus, a short walk from the Alamo and the Riverwalk. The 182,000-square-foot complex features 65,000 square feet of interactive exhibits and displays that tell the stories of immigrant Texans.

The museum is run by the University of Texas at San Antonio and is one of the finest of its kind in the nation. Sara and I spent several hours at the museum and we recommend a visit. We normally don't spend much time at museums unless they are extra special and this one truly is one of the best.

MARIACHI MASS

Mariachi music has long been emblematic of what is Mexico. Band members in their silver studded charrio outfits and wide brimmed hats are often seen as street musicians in plazas, in restaurants and at special events like weddings.

Sara and I have always loved the music with its beautiful trumpet blasts, complicated guitar patterns and violin background. Most mariachi ensembles have violins, trumpets, acoustical guitars, a vihuela which is a high pitched 5 string guitar, a guitarron which is a huge acoustical bass guitar held horizontally and plucked like a bass. We jumped at the chance to attend a Mariachi Mass at Mission San Jose.
The service begins at noon but be warned that if you want a seat arrive at least half an hour early. The Catholic Mass is led by Franciscan priests and is in English. The band is accompanied by an excellent Spanish choir and the service can only be described as uplifting. As the music reverberated off the walls of this 280 year old church, one could not help but look around and know that many of the people near you had relatives that surely had helped built it. What stories these walls could tell!

The priest started by asking who was from out of town and all visitors were given a real Texas welcome. After the Mass those celebrating birthdays or anniversaries were called to the front of the church to be honored with the band playing first Happy Birthday and then the Anniversary Song. Regardless of your religion the Mariachi Mass at Mission San Jose is not to be missed. Be sure to tour the grounds after Mass and see the famous Rose Window on the south side of the Church.

THE RIVER WALK

If your visit to San Antonio at Christmas were limited to a single attraction it would have to be the famous downtown El Paseo del Rio or simply The River Walk.

Attracting over 5 million visitors a year the River Walk is lined with restaurants, bridges, walkways, small parks, hotels, shops and access to major malls and convention centers. There are several access stairs and elevators to the River Walk one street level below downtown San Antonio The Walk consists of 8,500 feet of riverbank and 17,000 ft of sidewalks. The river varies from 20 to 40 ft in width and is only 4 feet deep. It has 31 stairways, 3 dams, 40,000 shrubs, plants and trees, many of which are towering cypress. The walkways are lined with stone, cement and cedar benches. We were told that over 30 people a day fall in the river during Fiesta each spring!!

Completed in 1941, the River Walk was the brain child of local architect Robert Hugman. A flood in 1921 that killed over 50 people and inundated the downtown with over 9 ft of water, resulted in a dam being built up stream and river park in the downtown area.

Hugman's dream was to turn the park into a "Venice of America" with boats polling along the bends passing shops, restaurants, and stone staircases and bridges. His dream was realized and the rest is history thanks largely to the WPA project after the Great Depression of 1929. Completed in 1941, The River Walk has been expanded and upgraded several times.

The River Walk along the San Antonio River is indeed the crown jewel of the city. And during Christmas this jewel sparkles with thousands and thousands of colored lights. And the very best way to experience the River Walk at Christmas is by boat. For a mere $9 a person, ($6 for seniors) you will be magically transported through this wonderland of lights in a Venice style boat, complete with fascinating narration and a festive mood shared by your fellow travelers. Bring your camera.

There are so many places to be at Christmas. At home with family and friends would be most people's choice, but if that is not possible, take the advice of Davey Crockett and go to Texas. In particular, San Antonio, the Alamo City. You can't go wrong.