Zoocap

It’s been years since I was last in San Antonio, but I remember distinctly two things about it: The Alamo and The River Walk.  Known at first as the Mision San Antonio de Valero, The Alamo has existed on its current site since 1724 or two hundred and eighty-six years.  Sixty-nine years after its inception, the mission was secularized and given over to Indian residents who farmed the fields; by the 1800s, the Spanish military a cavalry unit, who called the place the Alamo after their hometown, Alamo de Parras.  In 1835, the Alamo entered history when General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna arrived with an army outside San Antonio, taking the people inside the Alamo by surprise.  The defeat of the Alamo and the victory of Santa Anna has been recreated many times in film, giving rise to the expression “Remember the Alamo!” as a rallying cry against such a crushing blow.  Now a museum, the Alamo keeps that memory alive, open every day of the year except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The River Walk has an even older history than the Alamo, stretching back as far as 1536, when Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, at the time shipwrecked and a captive of Indians, saw and later described the River; much later, in 1691, a Catholic priest camped near a stream known as the Yanaguana and decided to celebrate a mass on St. Anthony’s Day and so renamed the stream San Antonio.  Several centuries later, in 1959, the river became a city park, officially starting the development of the River Walk.  In 1962, a landscaping program along two miles of the river walkway planted seventeen thousand trees and shrubs and vines.  The El Tropicano, which was the first riverfront hotel, opened.  Today, in the 21st Century, the River Walk remains a unique addition to the city, filled with shops and luxury San Antonio hotels.

As much as I extoll the virtues of the San Antonio River Walk, you should know that the River Walk is actually drained for maintenance, this year from January 3rd to the 12th; however, this means that San Antonio is holding the Michelob Ultra Mud Festival!  Each year, once the river is filled up again, the Mud Festival is the place to be as media and civic celebrities and politicians attempt to capture the title of the Michelob Ultra Mud Queen and Mud King, attempting to raise money for the River Walk Association.  Included in the festivities are Ultra Mud Pie Ball, Ultra Mud Coronation, and the Ultra Mud Parade.  If you miss it, Bud Light will be holding a Mardi Gras River Parade in February!