Seeing San Antonio

Dan and I finally got the chance to go to the temple again. We sure miss living so close in Washington, but the distance somehow makes us appreciate it more. Our temple district is actually the Lubbock, TX temple, but it is farther than the San Antonio temple (3 1/3 hour drive - plus there is more to see and do there). We will go to Lubbock next, but yesterday it was all about San Antonio!

San Antonio has a small temple, but I was blown away by how beautiful it was. The woodwork, paintings, and the amazing stained and textured glass designs were breath-taking. It was so refreshing to be there. It is so peaceful. Going to the temple helps me function better. When I go I am a little less quick to get angry, offended, and sad. I feel happier and more content. Things run smoother. I guess you could say that going to the temple is to me as gasoline is for a car. (How's that for a simile? :O)
After the temple we drove into downtown San Antonio and wandered around The Alamo. I learned so much! I always had a little bit of an idea what had happened, but I never saw the big picture of the Alamo in the struggle between Mexico (Santa Ana) and America, or that TEXAS was at one point it's own republic, or country! Now I understand a little more about this Texas Pride deal! Anyway, after we went to the Alamo we tried to wander around the mall and downtown, but it has been quite some time since we have been in the "city" and it was a little noisy and overwhelming (not to mention all the crazies the city attracts). So, we didn't spend as much time in San Antonio than we originally thought, but we were ok with that.
On our way home we had dinner at a famous BBQ spot called Rudy's. You would never guess that the shack-looking restaurant had some of the best BBQ I've ever had. FINALLY, BBQ to live up to the Texas hype (I was starting to think it was a myth)!

All in all we had a wonderful day, a peaceful drive, enjoyed each others company, and got to see a beautiful green Texas (we just had a ton of rain this weekend - everything will be brown again in a day or two). It was a happy day.