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San Antonio is not my first rodeo

26th May 202316th June 2023 funtime65

San Antonio is not my first rodeo and God willing it won’t be my last American Travel Fair so gracias Texas, it’s been excelente.

And as I while away the time in San Antonio airport I’m relieved, as always, that I managed to stay on.

Buckin’ hell: The electronic one in Denver

It probably helps that my bull this time was plastic but I’m taking that as a victory anyway.

Particularly after the ignominy of my feeble efforts out West to stay on the electronic bull inside Denver Broncos’ Mile High Stadium.

With my fall being relayed to everyone in the stadium on the big screen.

More action

But then they do say in showbiz you should always leave the audience wanting more.

We could all do with more of the type of entertainment and experiences San Antonio has to offer.

And the lasso artist twirling his rope as we entered Alamo Plaza was certainly giving us that.

We’d been here before with lassoing albeit under very different circumstances.

Good ol’ Southern Boys

When we witnessed a Good Ol’ Southern Boy in the bar where we were eating, lassoing along with the action on the screen.

And while we’re talking about southern boys a shout-out to the musical acts which have been entertaining us all week.

And in particular the cowboys, Bryce Leatherwood at the Aztec Theatre and Dierks Bentley.

Both of whom brought the house down.

See y’all next year y’all

Now as I make my way back across three flights I’ll console myself with the knowledge that San Antonio is not my first rodeo.

And the beauty of the American Travel Fair is that you meet people who will tell you where you can get your next rodeo.

And that’ll be Let’s Rodeo San Antonio where the crackers (that’s Texan for cowboys) will be riding out from next February 8-25.

Here’s a glimpse of this year’s action… so see y’all next year y’all.

America, Countries

The Alamo is one to remember

25th May 202329th May 2023 funtime65

It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well, the Mission San Antonio de Valero, but the Alamo is one to remember.

The heroic last stand by William Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett et al is now a shrine in the city that has built up around it in Texas.

Flying the flag: The foreign nationals who fought at the Alamo

And a hobby horse of Phil Collins (yes, that one) who has curated the biggest collection of artefacts.

From the 1836 battle between the Mexicans and Texans.

And donated it to the city of San Antonio.

We are in hallowed company the night we visit, the closing party for the American Travel Fair, the IPW.

Getting your Phil

Alas not Cowboy Collins but someone from the other side, the great, great something or other son of General Sant Anna.

Who just happens to be in our party being guided around the old church and the spanking new museum.

Sant Anna looms large over the Alamo, as does Travis, Crockett and Bowie, the latter who spent the battle in bed.

Not because he was lazy or cowardly, anything but because he had been struck down ill.

And went down maybe not with his boots on but shooting from his bed.

Plaza dazzler

The Alamo Plaza Historic District houses all things Mission San Antonio de Valero.

And all pilgrims which means tonight the couple of thousand delegates from our fair.

Paying homage to those Alamo heroes you’d hope around the beautifully-carved Cenotaph.

And also eating meaty barbecue Texan treats, craft beers and Margaritas from the stalls that have been erected for us.

From all around Texas, Corpus Christie, Houston, Dallas and all points in between.

And listening to the best Country and Southern Rock.

Lone star of the show

In Texas where everything is bigger they fill the night sky with symbols of the Lone Star State.

A rodeo rider, map outline of the nation’s second biggest state, guitar, barbecue sausage and Margarita among other delights.

While down on ground level we channel our own Bucking Broncos on a life-size model.

I smile when asked to fill out an indemnity form before climbing on Bully.

Before being stopped as I approach the Alamo by a dapper Texas ranger who alerts me that my calf is leaking blood.

War wounds

I am donning my Davy Crockett raccoon hat I bought earlier on the River Walk.

I feel heroic with my battle wounds and can share with y’all…

The Alamo is one to remember.

America, Countries, Cruising, Culture

Friday nighters’ splash in San Antonio

24th May 202324th May 2023 funtime65

So I dipped my toe in the water today on my Texas trip… and happen if I stay to the end of the week I’ll be joining the Friday nighters’ splash in San Antonio.

I got my feet wet but never my trademark Bandana with an early-morning swim in the open-deck pool at the Westin Riverwalk Hotel.

Before taking to the Riverwalk again… on foot.

Obvious you might think but weekend revellers have been known to end up in the drink.

Which we discovered on our excellent Go Rio Cruises jaunt down the San Antonio River.

Margarita time

Most of which I’ve forgotten… you’ll forgive me but booze had been taken, Margaritas in one of those plastic yard glasses.

So beloved in Sin City Vegas.

Now despite being named for a saint, San Antonio’s citizens and visitors here know how to sin with bars hugging the riverfront.

Just as well then that the river was named and blessed by a priest.

With its bridges a favourite vantage point for weddings and Jennifer Lopez and Sandra Bullock chickflicks.

Feathered chicks proliferate on the river, sleepy ducks, well you would be in this 30C heat.

And if you’re lucky you might get to see Mother Turtle and her offspring.

Or the caricature version for the kiddies.

Cruise San Antonio

The riverboat cruise is an absolute pleasure with the knowledgeable guides breezing through San Antonio history.

And pointing out buildings which were physically moved from one point to another on stilts.

This being a river then naturally it has been at the mercy of the elements.

And you’ll learn of the challenges of a flood which rose to 10ft.

It pays then to have God on your side.

And San Antonians built ornate churches by the river complete with gargoyle grotesques carved into the exterior.

Some of which look like me after a night of post-partying at IPW, the American Travel Fair, more of which later.

Fun on the water

Back at the pool: At the Westin Riverwalk

And with that I must return to dry land, another riverside bar or restaurant.

And listen to another mariachi band and keep an eye out for a floral parade which is sure to pass by.

Now taking a bend in thus here tale, much like the San Antonio river did I not set you some homework.

To tell me about a famous fortification where we will bring this party to an end tonight.

The Friday nighters’ splash in San Antonio will have to wait.

Tonight, I’ll get someone to hold my drink, I’m off to fight at the Alamo.

America, Countries, Culture, Music

San Antonio will Mex your day

23rd May 202323rd May 2023 funtime65

Whoever won, whoever lost at the Alamo know something, San Antonio will Mex your day.

With the jewel of South Texas a smiling, dancing riposte to Donald Trump’s mission of division.

The missions are a good place to start when exploring San Antonio, southern Texas where the travel world has gathered for America’s annual travel fair.

The Spanish missions which are Texas’s only UNESCO World Heritage site.

Which UNESCO tell us are an example of the interweaving of Spanish and Coahuiltecan cultures.

Footsteps of history

The missions history which includes the unforgettable Alamo is, of course, a challenging chapter of colonisation.

Which we discovered as we walked in the footprints of the first nation Native Americans, Texans and Mexicans (and Germans).

On our 300+ years of history coach tour of the San Antonio environs.

We’d got a taste of the Mexican influences in this, the seventh biggest city, in the country with 1 and a half million, at breakfast.

This being Texas where everything is bigger we’d feasted on barbecue beef, Mexican tacos and chicken and the fruits of the land.

All washed down with Texan cerveja and margarita, the latter which they made us work for.

On your bike

On a bike where they hook up the blender for you to power the mix.

All this brunch partying to extravagantly costumed and oversized-headed Mexican caricatures on a Sunday.

At the natural history and Mexican heritage Witte museum.

And you feel duty bound to beg Deo for forgiveness at any of the well-preserved churches the missions.

Alas, we are too late for the mariachi mass and have to make do instead with paying homage to the muscular friar Francis who founded the Franciscan order.

An order of discipline, devotion to Deo, poverty and great beards.

And they run in my family too through my mum’s cousins who were at the heart of the Nunraw Abbey near my new homestead North Berwick in Scotland.

And who I followed out to Medjugorje in Bosnia & Herzegovina where a Franciscan friar told us how he accidentally set his whiskers alight.

At a candle ceremony.

But I digress… and I have been going around in circles, particularly on the spectacular Riverwalk in San Antonio.

Around San Antonio

Super trooper: Buffalo Soldier Turner McGarritty

So if I deviate into Buffalo Soldiers, German towns, country, jazz and more.

I always seem to get back on course too.

Know something too though that San Antonio will Mex your day.

But maybe remind me the best way to get to the Alamo to channel my best Davey Crockett.

I should be OK as all signposts on the walk point to the famous fortification.

Countries

Remember the Alamo

23rd February 202323rd February 2023 funtime65

If you want to get ahead get a hat went the advert and my headdress of choice was always a Davy Crockett one… remember the Alamo.

The gung-ho soldier’s notoriety followed him around the world.

While for a time, and 150 years later, a Scottish counterpart’s fame was building just from wearing the racoon skin.

The furry hat with its instantly recognisable tail was a feature.

On the head of the editor of the Aberdeen University newspaper around town.

A tail of Aberdeen and Canada

Fur he’s a jolly good fella: Back in the day

It had been my parents’ idea after returning from Canada for my brother’s wedding…

For those cold north-east of Scotland winters.

But it soon became a fashion statement (at least for me) and one of my staff had a laugh at my expense when they took over my mantle.

And modelled me up, and remember this was the Eighties, in racoon hat.

Which they called ‘Lola’ and long johns next to a piano.

All of which was meant to tickle the funny bones and ivories for that week’s edition.

But it grew legs when the diarist for the Glasgow Herald fell upon the story and carried it in that journal, which my parents read.

Hat’s the boy

Hat again: In my Davy Crockett hat in Colorado

Modelling’s loss was journalism’s gain,

And almost 40 years later I am still scribbling although in different head gear.

Any one of my bandanas I have picked up on my travels.

I still keep an eye out for Davy Crockett hats and found one a mile high in of all places Denver in Colorado.

But I dare say there will Davy hats aplenty in the town where he is most closely associated, San Antonio in Texas.

Recreating the Alamo

For San Antonians today, February 23, is always special because that was when back in 1836, during the Texas war for independence.

When Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna began a siege of the Alamo.

It was captured after 13 days and it, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and the gang, all became a symbol of heroic resistance to Texans.

This year and in a grand tradition the delegates from San Antonio will be flying the flag for their town.

Wall, this is what it’s good for: The Alamo

Usually it’s as a stand among hundreds of others at the American Travel Fair.

But this year they will be hosting the event.

And we will go through the usual badinage, or bandananage.

Where I ask them again and again what happened there in 1836 and they play along saying Remember the Alamo.

America, Countries, Ireland, Oceania, UK

Visit our Neighbours

29th July 202229th July 2022 funtime65

They may have left but Ramsay Street is still there and you can guarantee we’ll be back to visit our Neighbours… and other soap sets.

Everybody needs..

Neighbours: Yes, you can tour around Vermont South (that’s the Ramsay Street neighbourhood) in Melbourne. Austraylya..

And sink a cold one in The Waterhole or Lassiter’s, or a cup of tea in Harold’s Cafe.

Who knows if you’ll see an overalled Aussie tomboy mechanic too just waiting to burst out into hotpants?

Corrie on regardless

Coronation Street: If only the walls of England’s most famous pub, the Rovers Return could talk.

But the guides can, and do, and what they don’t know about the cobbled streets of Weatherfield ain’t worth knowing.

You’ll get everything you need to get you through the day in the Manchester suburb… a Weatherfield Recorder at The Kabin.

A fry-up at Roy’s Rolls before a night in the Rovers.

Dallas in wonderland

Dallas: Not all soap is the same and Texas’s most famous ranch is a world apart from Newton & Ridleys and Our Kid.

And while Corrie has hotpots it has hot plots too and that it does share with the Ewings and Barneses of Dallas in Stetson Country.

What is now Southfork was once Duncan Acres ranch (yes, that Joe Duncan) near Plano, Texas, and now fittingly belongs to a dude called Rex.

You’ll get to see the gun that shot JR, Lucy’s Wedding Dress, the ‘Dallas’ Family Tree, and Jock’s Lincoln Continental.

Kilcoole for cats

Down on the farm: Glenroe in Co. Wicklow

Glenroe: From the sublime to the agricultural and Holy God it’s Glenroe.

And for people of a certain age in Ireland then Glenroe, the everyday tale of farming folk in the Garden County of Co. Wicklow, conjures up nostalgia of a more innocent time.

It also has a special resonance for those of us for whom it was the next village (real name Kilcoole) down the train line from my old stomping ground in Greystones.

Glenroe has, of course, been replaced but certainly not upgraded by the grittier Fair City which is set in fictional Carrigstown in Dublin.

I’ll be in Scotland before you

Glendarroch: And as with everything Ireland and Scotland move pretty much in step, even with their soap names.

And so the Jocks had their Take the High Road set in Glendarroch, which is really picturesque Luss in Loch Lomond.

Before moving on to River City,set in Shieldinch in Glasgow.

And where Glenroe had the Biddy and Miley plotline Take the High Road had busybody Mrs Mack.

Much like Mrs Mangel to make a parallel with Neighbours.

And where the Aussie soap gave us Kylie, Russell, Guy and Margot, Take the High Road gave us James Cosmo.

So all you soap fans there’s something of everything to keep you going.

As we contemplate to visit our Neighbours… and other soap sets.