Biking the missions of the San Antonio River March 15

March 15--- We hooked the bikes onto the Jeep and headed into town again, this time to see the other four Catholic missions that were built up and down the San Antonio River along with the Alamo. (The Alamo was originally a mission, not a fort ). We parked at the national park headquarters, toured the Mission de Concepcion, and rode about four miles down the road on our bikes to the San Jose Mission. There was so much to check out, we killed the whole day there, and never made it to the other two. We even witnessed a wedding at the San Jose church. Even though we couldn't see in the church, when the bridal party came outside, a ten piece Mariachi band began to play, and everyone was taking pictures and enjoying the music.
We closed the mission down at five o'clock, and decided to ride the San Antonio Riverwalk Trail all the way to downtown San Antonio. It is a beautiful trail, on both sides of the river, with many bridges crossing side to side, and lots of landscaped and well designed rock and wall features, just like the downtown section that we walked two nights ago. The whole trail system is connected if we wanted to ride to the busy downtown section, but we chose not to go too close to the busy area.
Over the last three days we have learned a ton about the history and culture of this area, and would recommend San Antonio to anyone who is looking for a different type of place to vacation. It is not overpriced like many vacation destinations, and there is something to do for everyone.

Altar at Mission Conception

Mission Conception

Outdoor altar at Mission Conception

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Wedding at Mission San Jose - Mariachi band

Cactus growing on a roof at Mission San Jose

Altar at Mission San Jose

Riding on river walk trail

This is the tree we have been everywhere - finally found out its name - HUISACHE (pronounced we -sa-chi)

Lone Star Brewery alongside the bike trail.

Bike trail along the San Antonio River