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Winter trip 2026 - Day 9: San Antonio

We were up and on the road by 815, headed into San Antonio. I found the best deal on parking ($5 all day) and we walked a few blocks to get to the Alamo. It opened at 9 and we were one of the first people there. 

I really should have brushed up on my Alamo knowledge. The majority of what I knew before getting there came from PeeWee. 
We did the self guided tour and started reading, but still confused. This was a church, but then also the site of a battle? Luckily there was a docent there and she gave us a really great overview of the life of this building. Neat history, including the story of why there wasn't originally a roof (stonemason was having an affair with another guys wife, stabbed the other guy, got chased out of town, no one else knew how to build a roof that wouldn't collapse).
After we had our fill of the Alamo, we walked about 2 blocks away to the Riverwalk. This was a really cool area, restaurants and bars line the river on each side. I bet this place is packed on the weekends. 
We walked through a little historical art district and Joe tried (but failed) to make a new friend.
We left San Antonio and headed southeast to the coast, through Corpus Christi, to Padre Island. Here is 60 miles of the island where you can drive on the beach. We stopped just before mile 5.
Once we got settled in we walked the beach, picked up a ton of trash, watched birds. 

The wind started to pick up close to sunset. We walked into the dunes so we could look west. 
The wind was coming from the north, so sat on the south side of the van and used it as a wind block. We were just sitting there and saw a coyote sneak out of the dunes about 50 feet away. We watched him for a bit, and then I turned my head and right at the top of the dunes behind us was another one, watching us. They left, headed north through the dunes, and we could hear them yipping and howling.
By this time the wind was really picking up. We ate dinner inside and played some games. I don't know how to describe how strong this wind got, but for the rest of the night every once in awhile it would sound like something crashed into us, but it was really just an intense burst of wind. 

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