Seeing Texas: San Antonio

While traveling to San Antonio was a distant second to Mustang Island, we did go there three or four times. Our first time involved camping in a park close to the city, again Friday and Saturday night.

The camping was memorable for two reasons: There weren’t that many campers, the moon was full, and there I was carrying Marilyn piggyback on the park road singing “the moon at night is big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas.” I think I may have injured my knees but I certainly didn’t notice it then. The second memorable camping experience on that trip was the late night arrival of at least two motorcycles, loud motorcycles. They were gone by the time we were up the next morning and both of us commented on the likelihood that they hadn’t paid their camping fee.

Still, our first tour of San Antonio involved Marilyn wanting to see all the missions in and around San Antonio. Unlike the Alamo, most of the others were still active churches. One in particular appeared to be closed but my wife wanted to see it so I tried the gate and it was unlocked. We saw the mission. She later confided that she wouldn’t have been so bold but I didn’t see it as bold at all. I felt that if I hadn’t “opened the door for her,” so to speak, she would have done it herself. I wasn’t being bold so much as chivalrous.

Every time we went to San Antonio, we walked the Riverwalk. I think it was this first time that we went to a relatively fancy Mexican restaurant just off of the Riverwalk and enjoyed not only the food but a roving Mariachi Band.

One of our other trips to San Antonio was to show her parents another place in Texas. We camped at the same park and this time our night was interrupted by some woman in a nearby tent shouting: “No! No! No! Yeesss!” Marilyn didn’t take the hint, her parents were in the next tent.

Another of our trips was to visit her sister and brother-in-law. Kroger had moved them for him to take on the management of one of their stores or district in their expansion into Texas. They showed us another great time on the Riverwalk and at some bars/cafes directly on it.

In all of our trips there, we never did ride on the boats that plied the river. Like most other places, Marilyn preferred walking. Most of our trips included stopping by the Alamo. Every time we stopped, we learned something more but the inside was too “touristy.” We much preferred the grounds outside and the juxtaposition of the city buildings with a spot that was reminiscent of a much emptier space. Plus, when I was younger, I always pictured the walls as much higher. Even the sections that hadn’t been reduced to the point that horses could easily jump over weren’t that high.

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Marilyn lost her life to cancer but was able to truly "live" until the very end due to a lymphedema garment from Don Kellogg, inventor and founder of Telesto-Medtech. It is due to the "living" he provided Marilyn and through his suggestion and connection with Saskia Thiadens of the National Lymphedema Network that the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund exists. It needs other people's help to remain a living memorial of Marilyn. Please help other people receive the gift of living by donating to the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund. Thank you.