San Antonio, TX

 San Antonio original home to the Payaya indians, was discover by Spanish Catholic explorer's in 1691 it wasn't until 1709 when Father Antonio De Oliveras decided to build missions and a settlement there. It was 1716 before it was approved and 1718 before construction began and the town was founded.

The Mission San Antonio De Valero
 "The Alamo" as it would later be known,  built in 1744.
This is just one of five well known missions in San Antonio, Espada,  San Juan and mission Cincepcion which were built in the 1600's were moved in 1731 to San Antonio, San Jose mission,  they filled the missions with local indian converts for labor, due to the mixing cultures the Spanish married into the payaya's and Texian's which

created what would become Tejano's. In 1719 the Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo requested that the Spanish government send people from the Canary Islands, Havana and other places to populate Texas, Later in the 1800's people from England, Ireland and other places came to melt into this huge pot of cultures. In 1821 the Mexican army gained control of the Alamo after the Mexican War Of Independence, from then until 1835 it was manned by General Martin Perfecto De Cos, after the Texas Revolution Colonal James C. Neill stationed his 100 Texians believing the war was over, he also had another 200 sent to fortify it.

On Feb. 23 1836 he found out he was wrong,  General Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo that killed everyone but the women and children. Men like James Bowie, David Crockett, William B. Travis (who's statue looks like Liam Neeson) Just to name a few well known men died that day.
That defeat however gave texians the courage to fight for freedom and defeat the Mexican army once and for all some months later, giving Texas the try and take it attitude of today.

                                                                              
Depicted in the above picture is the original Bowie knife that James Bowie used in his famous fight, I got in a lot of trouble for taking this photo. Below is a memorial for lost men of the battle. 













The San Jose Mission The mission was founded on February 23, 1720, though the first buildings were just made of brush, straw, and mud, were quickly replaced by large stone structures, including guest rooms, offices, a dining room, and a pantry. A heavy outer wall was built around the main part of the mission, and rooms for 350 Indians were built into the walls. In 1768 the Church was built and in 1782 it was completed.

 The mission is still used for prayer and reflection though no one lives there anymore.

Below is the San Antonio Riverwalk, great place for shopping and a boat ride, also the spot on the bridge where part of the movie "Selena" was filmed, hence they call it the Selena bridge.



This has been one of the harder blogs for me to write, right in the middle of this trip we lost a very special family member, coming back to this entry seemed impossible, I didn't know if I could finish it, but they loved travel as much as I do and they wouldn't want me to give up, on anything, so I am ending with the last things I did before leaving and trying to keep happiness in front of me. Until next time.

New Orleans,LA

La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded May 7, 1718, by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, on land inhabited by the Chitimacha. It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of the Kingdom of France at the time. His title came from the French city of Orléans.
 Napoleon sold Louisiana (New France) to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
The story goes that Napoleon originally was gifted New Orleans by the Spanish king, Napoleon wanted it because he had sugar plantations new there and could sell and ship his sugar better with that port, but when his sugar plantations burnt down and he no longer needed the port he offered it to the United States for 10 million dollars, he then realized he didn't need any of that region anymore and told them if they through in another 5 million he would sell them the whole state, they excepted and it became the Louisiana Purchase.

  The french Quarter is full of bustling streets, Jazz music and french creole architecture.

 Marie Laveau was the so called voodoo Queen of New Orleans, she was actually a hair dresser and devout catholic whom used superstition and the salon gossip to elevate herself in a world where the only opportunities given to women of color were the ones you took.






Since Hurricane Katrina it has taken this city 8 years to even come close to where it was, there is still old business buildings that need to be demoed and replaced but the spirit of New Orleans has returned.

The Cafe Du Monde opening in 1862 by a creole freed slave women,  whom sold coffee on the side and earned enough money to buy he freedom, she opened the Cafe as well as buying carts to sell the coffee on the city streets and employed other slaves so that they would also earn the money to pay for their freedom. They have been serving coffee and beignets out of the building ever since. They survived two major Hurricanes, the French, Slavery and inflation. Cafe Du Monde is a Historical gem and a must visit anytime your in town.

  

Orlando, FL Vol 2

Well here we are again, I wish I had an amazing amount of history or info on this half of our trip but sadly it was all spent at Universal Studios Theme Parks, which in a whole are not that special historically. It opened July 7, 1990, one of the key partners was Spielberg. A funny tidbit about Universal Studios Film Company, which started in 1912, is that they are the very people that stole Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from Walt Disney, which I learned that they just got the rights back for about a year ago, they traded Universal a sports caster, yep they traded a human for a cartoon.

 We went to the Harry Potter area where rode the Hogwarts Express, look through the shops and rode the rides.

 Here are some of the characters we saw, Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Minions, Beetle Juice, Bumble Bee.

 We also got to see these guys perform as the blues brothers, they did a really good job.

this was the simpsons area, I really wanted a duff beer.
they had a Moe's Tavern that looked just like the real Moe's.

 Sea World, the shows here were really cute,
lots of cute tricks.

 I got to feed these guys some fish, they yelled at me when I ran out.

 these guys were so cute, holding hands, hugging, they were really having some fun together.

This little emperor penguin was off in a corner all buy himself looking sad, he must have been naughty and got grounded.  

 This was at Busch Gardens, I got to pet the Kangaroos, feed the giraffes and lorals.

 the giraffes were trained to let you rub their necks, I loved it.

the birds kept screaming in my ears when I wasn't feeding them, after the food was gone one hung around and tickled my ears for a while.













From Wilda beasts to Gazelles to Rams, they had it all.

 Kennedy Space Center, this is Dennis trying to lay in one of the first examples of the capsules, to say that they were a tight fit is an understatement.

 Here we are sitting in a two man capsule, still cramped but not as bad.



Below is a copy of the Hubble Telescope and landing capsule that went to the moon.

A real Apollo mission capsule , the new orbit crafts by boeing look a lot like this.

 this is the actual Atlantis space shuttle, it was displayed after the very last shuttle mission in 2011.

 This is a piece of the Challenger shuttle that crashed shortly after take off in 1986, a school teacher was lost in this crash.

 this is the windshield of the Columbus Shuttle,
which exploded opon re-entry in 2007.
Though very tragic these two accidents resulted in NASA making changes that would ensure that these kinds of accidents will never happen again.

 This is the VAB, it is where the shuttles were made, they are looking to reuse it somehow later.

 the control room at the control center, just as it was after the last mission in 2011, now it is being changed for commercial and private launching companies, (boeing, elon musk ect.)

these were real rockets that sent the shuttles up.
so much to see here but I'm glad its over, we are exhausted.

Orlando, FL

Walter Elias Disney, distant relative to Robert d'Isigny whom traveled with William the Conquer  to England was born Dec. 5, 1901.

Born in  Hermossa, IL to Elias and Flora Disney, he was the son of a farmer, his parents struggled with the farm and eventually in 1906 when he was four moved to Marceline, MO to try again where his brother Roy had just bought some farmland. Growing up in Marceline Disney developed his love for drawing with one of the family's neighbors, a retired doctor named "Doc" Sherwood, paying him to draw pictures of Sherwood's horse, Rupert. Walt spent the other part of his youth copying cartoons from the paper and watching the railroad cars, Walt's fascination with trains started here.

 In 1911 his family moved to Kansas City and he attended school for only the second time in his life, he was able to graduate 2nd grade here, this is where he met Walter Pfeiffer whom introduced him theatre, vaudeville and motion pictures, he also started attending the Kansas City Art Institute on the weekends, later in 1911 Disney purchased his own newspaper delivery route, he woke up at 4:30am to deliver the morning paper, then attended school and from 4pm to dinner time he delivered the evening post. Walter said that it was very exhausting and he would often fall asleep in class.

He continued this paper route for 6 years. His brother Roy joined the army and Disney wanted to join him, so he dropped out of high school but being only 16  he was to young for enlistment, so a friend told him about the red cross and he joined with them and was an ambulance driver.

  

In 1919 he moved back to Kansas and started a job cartooning for Pesmen-Pubin Art Studio, eventually leaving and starting his own company after marrying his wife Lillian, he started to work on an

animation with a girl named Alice. (1925 ish) , he then made a rabbit called Oswald, who became popular but Disney forgot to trademark him so he was stolen as well as several artists from his company, Disney was devastated and told his wife that he would create his own production company with trademarks and that it would never happen again, on the train ride home he started to doodle and ended up with a little mouse, who he named Mortimer but his wife thought that was awful and suggested naming him after her uncle Mickey whom everyone loved and so Mickey Mouse was born.

 Walt Disney dreamed up Disneyland from taking his daughters to carnivals and fairs but disliking how dirty, filled with fowl language and smoke they were.
He thought what if there was somewhere that you could take your children, have them be safe and enjoying the place as an adult too, but he wanted it to be a community, to feel like home and to be innovative, so when he attended the worlds fair he was inspired.

 He saw a way to make a magical place where everyone from around the world would come, have a piece of their home and a place that would always grow, change and build to be better.
Its a small world was the child of such a dream, it was one of a few that were shown at the worlds fair before becoming an attraction in his park.

 A lot of his Animation's were created out of real life or real people, though changed, it was life that inspired him.
Alice was a real little girl, Doc was from his childhood, snow white was also inspired by real life and stories from his childhood.
The Disney team has continued this by using parts of his life, like Arundel was the name of his great grandfather, that's where Anna & Elsa live.

 He took old stories that inspired him as a child and made them come to life, like Cinderella and Pinocchio. These traditions were continued by his company with recreating stories like Repunsel, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.

 He was also fond of making the characters look like the people that they were inspired by or were doing the voices for, this also has continued, don't believe me just look up the voice actors for like every Disney animation ever, they look a lot like the cartoons they play.

 Disney wanted everyone to know that if you believe in a dream, don't give up and work hard you can achieve anything, his quote of dreams really can come true.
He wanted everyone to feel like they mattered and were important, which is one of the reasons his company has supported many charities over the years and in the present, Walt had a big heart for those less fortunate, especially orphans, just look at all of Disney's animations, Bambi's mom dies, Cinderella lost both her parents, snow white lost her dad, anna and elsa lost both parents and pretty much every other Disney film ever...

 Disney thought that it was important to try to help the less fortunate or those in need, His Moto of 'where dreams really do come true".

The Disney company gives thousands of dollars a year to the make a wish foundation alone, in this they are continuing his dream of giving everyone a happily ever after.

 Disney was quoted saying " I hope no one ever forgets that all this started with just a little mouse".

   Walt was very grateful to mickey for all his success, he was also very grateful to his brother Roy and his wife lillian, he said that without them and the help of a mouse he would not have achieved all that he did, we are all grateful to the little mouse too,

 Thanks Mr. Disney, may the force be with you.