I'm in San Antonio. I could probably write a book about the misconceptions of this city. (I still remember the amazement of the lady in the furniture store in Honolulu, when I told her about the river. Wha, we don't have water in Texas?) But my favorite remains the persistent tourist belief that the Alamo is out in the countryside somewhere.
I'll explain this just once for y'all, so pay close attention. The Alamo is the remains (very little still stands) of a
presidio, or in other words a fort. It was not a mission, even though a lot of people think that. It was a fort built to protect the other missions. Its name was San Antonio de Bexar. And, just like any other fort, the city grew up around it, and took its name from the fort (and the county did as well; we are the seat of Bexar county). This means that the remains of this fort--the chapel and what if memory serves was part of the barracks--are what you know as the Alamo, and they are smack in the middle of downtown. I cannot count the number of times as a teenager I stood within a block of it and
argued with tourists over where it was, because they had apparently watched one John Wayne movie too many.
I have also lived as a child in West Virginia and as a Navy wife in Groton, Connecticut (of which was often said "There's so much to do there! You can go to New York, and Providence, and Boston!"), Norfolk, Virginia, and Honolulu, Hawaii. And from my all-to-brief time in that last I will share a small bit of information for any would-be tourists: You can't "go to" Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor isn't a city. It's a Navy base. It's not open since 9/11 (I got the impression it had been once), and even if it was there's frankly nothing to see there unless your tastes run to overhead steam pipes and ordnance used as lawn ornaments.
here i am
I have been reading this site, wow so much.
