Swimming and the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park

When we got home from The Alamo, Scott took the kids swimming.  I took the dogs for a walk and went to the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park Visitor's Center to get my book stamped.  The visitor's center was only 1 miles right down the street from us, so Scott did very well in booking this RV park location.  The mission and visitors center are both located at 6701 San Jose Dr, San Antonio right off Roosevelt.

Visitor's Center on the left
(Web photo)

The visitor's center is also adjacent to Mission San Jose.  There are 5 San Antonio missions.  

• The Alamo
• Mission Concepcion
• Mission San Jose
• Mission San Juan
• Mission Espada

The Alamo is also considered a San Antonio mission but because the State of Texas claimed it as a state monument, it is not part of the US National Parks System as they are a separate entity.  I had wondered why The Alamo wasn't in my national parks book and learned that was why.  But, I did get stamps at The Alamo regardless.

Mission San Jose is adjacent to the visitor's center and I decided I would only go to this mission. The heat was 96 degrees and very humid and I was hot and getting dehydrated although I would have loved to see each one.  The mission is a walled one with individual doors for residents around the fort. The 300 year old mission is known as the "Queen of Missions", it was fully restored in 1930. Services are still used here today and the chapel is small but quaint. It is also the largest of the missions.

I really fell in love with the Rose Window along with the rustic artistry of the structure.

The Rose Window of plaster, stone, wood and iron.

The interior of the chapel is very simple, yet ornate.

I love the heavy solid wood carvings in the Sacrament Chapel Door.

On another note, the visitor's center also have a very simple Junior Ranger program.  After I came home from the visitor's center and Mission San Jose, I told Cierra that I saw her coins at the visitor's center.  She was really excited about it.  I told her the Junior Ranger booklet was super easy and she begged Scott to take her over there.  Since he had to get fuel for our trip and some food, he took her and she came home with her 5 coins, a junior range badge and a patch.  Hunter missed out on this one because he was in a foul mood and didn't want to go.  When she came back with all her goodies, he wasn't too happy.  Oh well.  You must learn to accept consequences for your decisions.

I LOVED this park ranger.  He was very nice and helpful when I was there
 getting information that I shared with Scott and Cierra
about the coins and Junior Ranger program.

After Cierra and Scott got back, everyone was still so miserably hot that we all decided to go back to the pool and just hang out and cool off.  Pool water NEVER felt so good!  Ahh.  Now, to start packing up and getting ready to go to Louisana tomorrow and hit Creole country!

The missions are a wonderful thing to see and I would highly recommend this if you are ever in San Antonio, Texas!