Starling Travel

The day we visited the San Juan Mission, we had spent three days consistently overestimating ourselves and ending up dehydrated. The San Juan Mission was no different except we had water waiting for us in the car. We would dash outside, take a few pictures and then retreat back to the car when it was too much for us. I’m sure if we spent a couple of weeks in San Antonio, we would have become acclimated to the heat, but we didn’t have that kind of time.

Fortunately, we didn’t let the heat stop us. San Juan has the most preserved of the mission churches. The inside of the church was beautiful and quiet. The only noises we could hear came from the ceiling fans above our heads. I was surprised at the offerings at the statue of Guadalupe. There were photos, dolls, action figures, jewelry and flowers. I have never seen anything like that in Utah. That’s why traveling is so invigorating. We get to see things we would have never seen at home.

Where: San Juan Mission
9101 Graf Rd, San Antonio, TX – Google Map

Phone: (210) 932-1001
Fax: (210) 534-1106

There are four missions in the San Antonio area. Mike and I were able to visit three of them. San Jose Mission was the first we saw. I was surprised at how much detail survived over the years. It was only a couple days later that we learned that San Jose wasn’t even the best preserved.

The heat was in the lower 100s and the humidity was much higher than my desert skin is used to. After our trip to this mission, I was dehydrated and desperately needed water. When you go to the missions, make sure you pack water and crank up the air conditioning.

“Don’t forget The Alamo.”

I think I heard that phrase manipulated into a joke about twenty times over the course of our trip to San Antonio.

You are not allowed to take photographs within the Alamo buildings, but I was able to click many, beautiful pictures outside. What you can’t experience from here is the size of the place. It is both large AND small. The church, (first photo on the slideshow) is what I equated with the Alamo. I imagined a large wooden fence around this church and that’s it. The church itself is MUCH smaller than I imagined, whereas the grounds covered a lot more acreage than I expected. In fact, the Alamo was actually much larger than the park that is there today. Some walls of the Alamo and the remains of buildings were found all the way across the street. It was both more and less than I expected.

I didn’t know enough about history to know the story of The Alamo. I don’t know how I got a 4 on the AP American History test without being able to say anything more than, “Davy Crockett died there, and I think it was the Mexicans that killed him…” Fortunately, there is a wonderful exhibit in the Long Barracks that explains this history. They even had an episode of a show from The History Channel showing. I recommend going through the Long Barracks before you go into the church, even though the church is the first thing you encounter when you come on the grounds.

We went to The Alamo three times while we were in San Antonio, mostly because our hotel was right next to it. I loved taking pictures there. The preservation societies in San Antonio have created such a sunny and beautiful atmosphere there that photography is simple. A trip to San Antonio isn’t complete unless you remember to visit The Alamo.

Where: The Alamo – San Antonio, TX
300 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, Texas – Google Map
Telephone: (210)225-1391, ext.23
Fax: (210)229-1343
Email: giftmuseum@thealamo.org

Admission: Free (Please make a contribution)
Hours: 9:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. Monday through Saturday and 10:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. on Sunday

Josh Leo lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Recently, they have renovated an area called Gaslight Village. Here is his video about the rennovation.

I love the different answers from each person he interviewed about the sculpture. Josh didn’t seem to like the way Gaslight Village turned out, but his video has made me want to visit his town more than ever.

Los Angeles is a bustling metropolitan area, one of the biggest in North America, yet there are strange, forgotten pockets that have been abandoned. For a different travel experience, that’s free unless you get caught trespassing, try visiting the ruins of southern California.

• Metroblogging Los Angeles: Ruins of Southern California

The one that looks the most interesting to me is the former site of the Los Angeles Zoo. Empty cages and imitation caves. I can’t wait until the next time we go to California to see these unique sites.

Jerry takes trips alone sometimes. A while ago, he went to Gettysburg. Here is his story:

• It’s JerryTime! » Blog Archive » EPISODE 8 (NEW): THE STRANGE TRIP

“I decided to take a walk. I ended up getting disoriented in the woods because, you know, one tree looks like another. And I was walking around the woods and I thought I knew the general direction to get back but I just thought, ‘I’ll take a walk. I’ll survey the scene.’ I was kind of getting a little panicky because I didn’t know one tree from another.”

“I ended going into this clearing where there’s like this long path and there’s headstones on either side. Way off in the distance, I saw this woman taking a power walk… I was lost. It was pretty far away from my car, so what I ended up doing was waiting for her to get to me. When she finally got to me minutes later, I asked her, ‘Can you tell me how to get back to the main road so I can get back to my car?'”

What happened next was far more interesting than most trips to Gettysburg.

“I haven’t been back to Gettysburg since.”

Real Live Preacher traveled to Tennessee to perform a wedding for a former member of his little church in Texas. While there, he sampled the famed Tennessee BBQ and visited the tourist town of Sevierville. Read his adventures here:

• Real Live Preacher – Friday in Tennessee (BBQ East of the Mississippi)

• Real Live Preacher – Sevierville, Tennessee

• Real Live Preacher – A Smoky Mountain Wedding

Next time you are traveling, bring along a notebook and record your thoughts about the places you see. Having a record of your journeys will let you relive your trip over and over.

Last month, Mike and I went to California. Our friends there took us to Old Town. It is a state historical park with antique buildings and shops. I was on a quest for the most beautiful Milagro cross, but I didn’t find it there. Instead, we had a relaxing lunch at El Fandango and listened to the music. Here is a snippet of that day in my life.

There are so many small places that are vying for tourist attention in the noisy tourist haven of Southern California. Sometimes the best time is spent quietly eating tortilla chips and listening to the band in an old building.

Where: Old Town State Historic Park: San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street San Diego, CA Google Map

Official Websites:

• Old Town San Diego SHP

• El Fandango Restaurant

Amanda Congdon toured The New York Museum of Moving Image in Queens, NY and posted this informative video about it.

This museum collects the physical equipment used to make movies, video games and such. While there is a room full of video cameras that might seem a little boring, there is also a collection of the props used in films like The Exorcist. They have many interactive exhibits where you can create your own movie, dub your voice into The Wizard of Oz, or play with a blue screen (it’s green, actually. shown above). If you are planning a trip to New York, there are so many museums and sites to see, but you’ll be rewarded if you try the Museum of Moving Image.

For More Information:

• Museum of the Moving Image

• Sloan Science Cinémathèque

• The Living Room Candidate

Where: The Museum of Moving Image 35 Avenue at 36 Street Astoria, NY 11106 Google Map Phone: (718) 784-4520

MUSEUM HOURS
Wednesdays and Thursdays: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Free after 4:00 p.m.)
Saturdays and Sundays: 11:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

ADMISSION
Adults: $10.00
Senior Citizens, College Students with I.D.: $7.50
Children (5-18): $5.00
Members, Children under 5: Free

Nine miles north of Barstow, California the signs on the side of the road point to Calico Ghost Town. Twenty miles north of Barstow, Mike started asking me if we could go to the ghost town.

“Why do you want to go there?” I asked him.

“You can take pictures of broken things.”

“It’s not going to be like a real ghost town.”

“How do you know?”

“Because real ghost towns don’t have billboards.”

“I still want to see it.”

So, we took the exit and drove out to the “ghost town.” Instead of abandoned buildings, Calico Ghost Town was more like Frontierland at Disneyland. The signs said it all:

“Enjoy the Music and Gunfights”

“Shops, Attractions, Food and Gifts”

“$6.00 Adult. $3 Youth. Children under 5 Free!”

Just to drive into the Calico Ghost Town, it would have cost us twelve bucks. We turned the car around and headed back to I-15. Disneyland and the real Frontierland was waiting for us.

Calico Ghost Town Google Map

Calico Ghost Town – Official Website