Eventually, all of this Oracle training I've been getting is suppose to have a payoff. As such, this was to be the first of our "face-to-face" Oracle transition team meetings with our sister facility in Lemoore, CA. Since it was roughly half way for each of us, and since our back end support was to come from our San Antonio facility, San Antonio, TX was naturally the place to hold the meeting. And, it gave me a chance to catch up with Christina, my old work partner and good friend, since she transferred to S.A.
Meetings were to be from Wednesday (the 5th) through Friday (the 7th) with travel on Tuesday and Saturday. The flight up was fine...
Again, the flight from Jacksonville to San Antonio, via Atlanta, came off without a hitch. Barry (my boss) played the part of GPS/Navigation System, and was completely successful in reading the directions to get us from the airport to the hotel. And speaking of the hotel, we were booked at the Homewood Suites on the Riverwalk in down town San Antonio. As hotels go, it was quite nice.
I didn't get a lot of time to play on this trip... the schedule was very tight. It went pretty much like this:
Tuesday - Travel...
Wednesday - Meetings...
Thursday - Meetings...
Friday - Meetings...
Sight seeing was pretty much limited to Friday afternoon. I had a lot I wanted to do, and a very short time to do it. I wanted to take one of the boat rides down the famous San Antonio River Walk. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and didn't get to do it. But, as all of the eateries were within walking distance of the hotel, and most of those were on the River Walk, I still got to see a fair amount of it. If one travels to San Antonio, the River Walk should be on the "must see" list.
I also wanted to see the San Antonio Missions;. All of the missions are now under the care of the National Park Service except for the Alamo which is under the stewardship of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Interestingly, according to Park Rangers, all of the missions, except the Alamo, are still active churches holding regular Sunday services. The Alamo is now a museum.
There is so much to do and see in San Antonio; things like historic attractions, arts, parks, sports, and much more. It's a beautiful city, and according to some of their tourist information, it's the eighth largest. I didn't know that. As for the Missions, my time at each was fairly brief. But, I did get to see them and it's chronicled below. I started at the bottom and worked my way north into town...
Mission San Francisco de la Espada (Mission Saint Francis of the Sword) has the distinction of being the oldest Spanish Mission in Texas. Mission Espada was originally founded in 1690 as "San Francisco de los Tejas," and it was transferred to the San Antonio River area and renamed in 1731.
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The Espada Dam, built in 1745, was one of seven constructed to divert water from the San Pedro Creek and San Antonio River to irrigate crop fields at the colonial Spanish Missions. I didn't get to see it, but there's a picture of it on the Espada Dam and Aqueduct website.
The Espada Aqueduct, also built in 1745, was built to carry water over Piedras Creek. It still works, and it still carries water to the Mission fields. Using technology that dates back to the Roman Empire, the Espada Aqueduct is the only aqueduct anywhere in the United States that still functions from the Spanish Colonial period. Pictured below are both, the Espada Aqueduct, and its span over Piedras Creek.
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Mission San Juan Capistrano was originally established as Mission San José de los Nazonis in 1716 in Eastern Texas to work with the Nazonis Indians. Yet, it failed. In 1731, it was moved to its current location on the eastern bank of the San Antonio River, where it was given its current name. It couldn't keep its name as Mission San José because there was one already in the area. This was a recurring habit of the Spanish Colonial Missions.
Accordingly, there are several Mission San Juan's. If you're curious, this isn't the one with the annual swallow migration; that would be instead, the California Mission San Juan Capistrano, which is the seventh in the California Mission chain.
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Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo was founded in 1720 by Franciscan missionary, Father Antonio Margil de Jesús. The mission was named for Saint Joseph and the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo who was the governor of the Province of Coahuila and Texas at that time. Mission San José was by far, the largest of the San Antonio Missions, and would ultimately come to be known as the "Queen of the Missions."
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Originally founded in 1716, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Concepción de Acuña was named for Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and the Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico), Juan de Acuña, the Marqués de Casafuerte. It was transferred to the San Antonio area in 1731. Before being moved to its present location, the Mission was originally built by Franciscans to impede incursion by the Louisiana French into Spanish territory (eastern Texas).
Today, Mission Concepción remains as both, the least restored of all San Antonio Spanish Colonial structures under the National Park Service's care, and as an outstanding example of Spanish Colonial architecture. The architecural style pays homage to Spains own earlier invasions by the Romans and the Moores.
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Although Mission Espada is the oldest Mission in Texas, it didn't become part of the San Antonio chain until 1731. Originally founded as Mission San Francisco Solano in 1700 near the Rio Grand river, Father Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares began moving what would become Mission San Antonio de Valero in 1716. Completed in 1718, it is the oldest of the San Antonio Missions. It would be almost one hundred years before a Spanish cavalry unit stationed at the Mission would start calling it the Alamo (Spanish for "cottonwood") in honor of their hometown, Alamo de Parras, Coahuila.
Of course, today, it is remembered for the battle when on February 23, 1836, Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army laid seige to the Alamo and the nearly 200 Texans and Tejanos trying to defend it in the name of freedom. Thirteen days later (March 6th), Santa Anna's forces overwhelmed and seized the Alamo. Symbolically, the story is known for its representation as a heroic struggle against devastating odds where men made the final sacrifice for liberty. Worldwide, people have heard the battlecry of the Republic of Texas, "Remember the Alamo."
As I toured the grounds, Long Barrack, Mission Church, and comtemplated names like Travis, Crockett, and Bowie, I got a tremendous sense of history. Indeed, I was enveloped with an eerie sense of desparation thinking about the men that gave their lives at the Alamo. However, on the way out, between the gift shop, the high rise buildings on the skyline, and the constant barrage of visitors (of which I was one), for me, the experience seemed to morph from one of historical perspective and hallowed ground to that of a modern day tourist trap. I left feeling cheated in some way.
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San Antonio to Atlanta.
Atlanta to Jacksonville.
I made it...