Last Updated: May 2026
After a week in the remote stretch of Texas Hill Country around the Frio River — no cell service, quiet roads, nearly empty restaurants — the return to civilization had its appeal. We set up at Spring Branch, about forty minutes north of San Antonio, and spent the next several days doing the things that only a large city makes possible: Costco, HEB grocery, restaurants with actual menus, and a few of the historical and cultural sites that put San Antonio on the map for everyone who doesn’t live in Texas. The Alamo. The Riverwalk. And — on the occasion of arriving just in time for Thanksgiving — a home-cooked meal in a motorhome that turned out considerably better than we expected.
The Alamo
The Alamo began as a Spanish colonial mission — the Mission San Antonio de Valero, established in 1718 for the education of local Native American populations and their conversion to Christianity. Its transformation into a military and political symbol came more than a century later, in the crucible of the Texas Revolution. The context matters: Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, and Texas was Mexican territory. Through the 1820s and early 1830s, American colonists — Anglos and Tejanos (Mexican Texans) alike — flooded into the region. When the Mexican government under President Antonio López de Santa Anna centralized power in 1835 and curtailed the rights of its citizens, both groups pushed back. The Texas Revolution had begun.
The Battle of the Alamo ran from February 23 to March 6, 1836 — thirteen days. Colonel James Bowie and Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis commanded a garrison of roughly 180 to 200 Texians inside the old mission compound. Santa Anna’s army numbered somewhere between 1,500 and 6,000 depending on the source. The defenders knew they were outgunned and undersupplied; they sent repeated calls for reinforcement that were largely unanswered. When the final assault came in the pre-dawn hours of March 6, the compound fell in about ninety minutes. Nearly all the Texian defenders were killed, including Bowie and the frontiersman-politician Davy Crockett. Santa Anna ordered the bodies burned.
“Remember the Alamo” became the rallying cry for Sam Houston’s Texas army six weeks later at the Battle of San Jacinto, where Houston’s forces routed Santa Anna’s army in eighteen minutes and captured the general himself. Texas independence was secured. Nine years later, in 1845, Texas was annexed as the 28th state of the Union — a move that contributed directly to the outbreak of the Mexican-American War.
The Alamo complex includes a museum dedicated to James Bowie — an American pioneer and soldier whose fame rests as much on the large, distinctive fixed-blade knife that bears his name as on his role in the Revolution. The Bowie knife display traces the evolution of the design through dozens of versions, from the original large hunting knife to the countless adaptations it inspired. Bowie himself died at the Alamo, likely from illness during the siege; accounts of his final hours vary. Davy Crockett — frontiersman, three-term U.S. Congressman from Tennessee, and the most colorfully mythologized figure at the Alamo — was killed during or after the final assault, with accounts of the circumstances still disputed by historians.
San Antonio Riverwalk
The San Antonio River Walk is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, running about fifteen feet below street level through the heart of downtown. The below-grade position is the key to its character: it’s quieter than the streets above, shaded by cypress and oak trees that lean over the water, and lined with restaurants, cafes, hotels, and bars that face the narrow canal rather than the traffic. It feels like a city within the city — European in its pedestrian scale, distinctly Texan in its energy.
We went on Black Friday, which was a choice. The Riverwalk was packed — not unpleasantly so, just densely human in the way that a popular public space on a holiday weekend tends to be. Later in the afternoon a parade took to the water, boats decorated and moving slowly along the canal while the crowds lined the banks above. We found a restaurant with an outdoor patio that welcomed Jake, ordered beers, and watched the boats and the parade and the steady flow of people with the contentment of people who had just spent a week with almost no one around. The contrast was appreciated. San Antonio does holiday crowds gracefully.
First Thanksgiving in the RV
Thanksgiving 2017 was our first in the motorhome, and we had departed the Frio River just the day before — narrowly missing Parkview Riverside’s legendary feast of twenty deep-fried turkeys (a decision we still second-guess). We made it work in our own kitchen. The motorhome galley is compact, but it has a real oven, real counter space, and enough room to produce a proper meal if you’re willing to work in sequence rather than simultaneously. Turkey, dressing, roasted Brussels sprouts, and champagne. We managed it all without sacrificing either quality or her good humor. It was a genuinely good meal.
There’s something that recalibrates when you make a holiday meal in a 400-square-foot space in a parking lot forty minutes from San Antonio. The effort feels more intentional, the result more earned, the table — even when the table is also the desk and the dining room and the living room — more meaningful. We’ve had Thanksgiving in bigger houses with bigger kitchens. This one we remember specifically.
Spring Branch RV Park
Spring Branch RV Park sits about forty minutes north of downtown San Antonio in the small community of Spring Branch — far enough out to be affordable, close enough to make day trips practical. Our site had 50-amp service, 55 psi water pressure, and internet fast enough to stream Netflix without interruption, which by that point in the trip felt like a genuine luxury. There was some road noise from the adjacent highway, a reliable tradeoff for the urban proximity. The dog park was enormous — one of the largest we’d used all year — and Jake made full use of it daily.
Boerne, Texas
Boerne (pronounced “BURN-ee”) is a small Hill Country town about thirty miles northwest of San Antonio that punches considerably above its size. It was founded in the 1850s by the German Forty-Eighters — a wave of liberal, educated German immigrants who had fled Europe following the failed revolutions of 1848. This was a particular group: intellectuals, freethinkers, and idealists who spoke Latin among themselves, held utopian political views, and brought with them a cultural seriousness that left a lasting mark on the communities they built in the Texas Hill Country.
Today Boerne’s main street is a compact couple of blocks of independent boutiques, home décor shops, and a handful of good restaurants — a smaller, quieter version of Fredericksburg with the same German heritage and a similar gift for attracting people who want a genuinely pleasant afternoon. We walked the whole street, found a good lunch, and discovered a shop whose name caught Sandy’s attention immediately: “Cutie Patootie.” Sandy calls Jake cutie patootie on a near-daily basis. That we found a store with this name in a small Texas town founded by Latin-speaking German idealists felt like the universe winking at us.
Visitor Information
The Alamo
The Alamo (300 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX) is free to enter; donations accepted. The church and Long Barrack museum are open daily. Allow 60–90 minutes minimum; the surrounding Alamo Plaza and historic district extend the visit naturally. Crowds are significant on weekends and holidays — arrive at opening for the most manageable experience. Audio tours are available. The complex is managed by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
San Antonio River Walk
The River Walk is accessible via numerous stairways and ramps from street level throughout downtown. River taxi and boat tour services run regularly. Restaurant quality varies considerably — walk several blocks before committing to a table, as the best spots are not always the most obvious ones. Dog-friendly patios are common; ask at the host stand. The River Walk is free to access; boat tours charge admission.
Spring Branch RV Park
Spring Branch RV Park is located in Spring Branch, TX, approximately 40 minutes north of downtown San Antonio via US-281. 50-amp service, water, sewer, cable. Internet adequate for streaming. Large dog park. Some highway noise from adjacent road. A practical base for San Antonio day trips without downtown San Antonio pricing.
Boerne, Texas
Boerne is about 30 miles northwest of San Antonio via I-10. The main street (South Main Street) is compact and easily walkable in an hour. The Cibolo Nature Center on the edge of town offers good walking trails and creek access. Boerne makes a natural half-day add-on to a San Antonio stay — combine it with a morning Alamo visit and afternoon River Walk for a full day.
Practical Tips
The Alamo crowds: The Alamo is one of the most visited sites in Texas and can be genuinely congested on weekends and holidays. Arrive at the 9am opening for the most relaxed experience. The exterior and plaza are always accessible; the interior church and museum have timed entry during peak periods.
River Walk on holidays: Black Friday, Christmas season, and Fiesta (late April) bring very large crowds to the River Walk. The parade on the water (Ford Holiday River Parade) is a San Antonio tradition in late November/early December — if you’re in town for it, the viewing spots along the upper river fill quickly. Arrive 45 minutes early for a good position.
RV cooking for holidays: A full Thanksgiving meal is absolutely achievable in a standard motorhome or fifth wheel kitchen — it just requires sequencing dishes by oven time rather than trying to run everything simultaneously. A good convection microwave handles sides efficiently while the oven handles the main. Champagne is non-negotiable.
HEB: If you’re in Texas and haven’t been to an HEB, go. H-E-B is the dominant Texas grocery chain and widely considered one of the best supermarket operators in the country — outstanding produce, excellent prepared foods, a solid wine section, and competitive pricing. San Antonio is HEB’s headquarters city, and the stores here are particularly well-stocked.
