道圖豐說: Hop, Step and Jump in USA in 2019

Hop, Step and Jump in USA in 2019

Part 2

Diversion from Las Vegas: the Antelope Canyon

We had a 2nd day trip by bus from Las Vegas to the Antelope Canyon in the state of Arizona. It is about 450 km away from Las Vegas. The journey took near to 5 hours either way, passing through the state of Utah.

Near the Canyon is the Horseshoe Bend where the mighty Colorado River makes a reverse meander. The valley is about 300 m from the viewing rim. Spectacular landform.

The Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon caused by erosion (wind and water) of the sandstone formation. The rock faces show whimsical shape and spectacular shades of colour due to the difference in light intensity reflected onto the rock.

We visited the Lower Antelope Canyon. The entry down to the canyon is through several flights of metal stairs shown in the 1st photo and the exit is via a narrow passage shown in the last photo. Visitors were divided into groups of 10 each led by 2 local guides. Walk mostly in single file, about an hour. Simply too many tourists. No time to really admire the structures except snapping photos here and there. The 2nd guide at the back is there for the sole purpose of harassing the herd to move on faster.

A great show of Nature. But possibly the worst guided tour we ever had.

Las Vegas: New York – New York

The theme of decoration of the New York - New York group is of course about the city of New York. It was built in 1997 and has 2,000 rooms. The towers show the New York skyline, like Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Time Square, etc, and a 46-m tall Statue of Liberty.

Las Vegas: other big hotels

There are a few more hotels worthy to be featured. The Luxor, built in 1993 with 4,400 rooms, follows the theme of ancient Egyptian civilisation while the Mandalay Bay, open in 1999 with 3,200 rooms, follows that of Myanmar.

Then the Mirage, built in 1989 with 3,400 rooms, has the Polynesian theme. It has a huge domed atrium with palm trees and hosts nightly outdoor volcanic eruption shows.

The Malaysian group, Getting Berhad is building a hotel here, Resorts World Las Vegas, 1st photo, still under construction. Due for opening in late 2020. The next photo is the Wynn Hotel. Does the Resorts World hotel look like the Wynn's? The Wynn people thought so and they sued Resorts World in late 2018 for intentionally making Resorts World's buildings look like Wynn's.

(Note in 2021: the legal case between the parties has been settled out of court. The opening of Resorts World has been postponed to 24 June 2021 due to the pandemic.)

One older hotel here is the Circus Circus, open in 1968 with 3,760 rooms. It hosts the largest permanent circus in the world. The 2nd photo taken at the location as the first is dated to May 1982, a scanned copy of an old photo. We were here 37 years ago.

Las Vegas: Vegas the Show

Las Vegas is famous for shows. We watched a variety show called "Vegas the Show". Delightful and entertaining. The theatre is in Planet Hollywood, showing the ceiling of the walkway inside and the façade of the building.

And of course as an entertainment centre, there will be sex on offer. Big mobile advertisement trucks roam the streets, for patrons of both sexes.

Las Vegas: Guardian Angel Cathedral

We attended a midday mass at the Guardian Angel Cathedral in Las Vegas. It was first built in 1963 with a simple A-frame structure, adorned with large pieces of stained glasses of contemporary design. Capacity: 1,100.

And that ends our stay in Las Vegas.

San Antonio
The last leg of our 3-city hop, step and jump in the United States is San Antonio in the state of Texas, flying time from Las Vegas about 2 and a half hours. San Antonio is the oldest city in the state of Texas, population about 1.5 million. Just the 2 of us, our old friend CL has gone to Los Angeles instead to visit her relatives.

Some readers may wonder why we went to this relatively unknown place. The reason is that this is the gateway for us to visit another city: Austin which is nearby. Easier to fly from Las Vegas to San Antonio than to Austin, more flights to choose.

San Antonio: Spanish influence

The city was founded as a Spanish mission and colonial outpost in 1718. The founders were 56 Canary Islanders who took a year to migrate here. Shown the Founders Monument and a statue of St Anthony of Padua whom the city is named after and now the city’s patron saint. The other 2 photos show scene at the Spanish style Market Square where our hotel is located. About 63% of the population have Spanish blood.

San Antonio: the Alamo

The biggest tourist attraction is the Alamo at the Alamo Square. It was a Spanish Catholic mission and fortress established in the 18th century. The place was taken over by the Texan Army after the Spanish withdrew. In 1836, the Mexican Army retook the place in the Battle of the Alamo. The 300 strong Texan Army was decimated by the 1500 strong Mexicans. What remains today is the old church of the fortress and parts of ruins here and there. It is now a museum and part of the San Antonio Missions UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 3rd photo shows the old well under the oak tree.

San Antonio: the Alamo Square

Around the Alamo Square are the memorial of the casualty of the Texan Army, a pavilion, shops, entertainment arenas and horse carts for tourists.

San Antonio: Missions National Historical Park

The park include grounds of 4 of the 5 Spanish frontier missions established in the 17th to 19th centuries for evangelisation purposes. The 5th is the Alamo. Together they form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We visited 3 of the 4 missions. The 1st 3 photos show the ruins of the Mission Concepcion founded here in 1731. The next 2 photos show the ruins of Mission San Jose established in 1720. There is a small chapel inside.

The 3rd one is in better shape, Mission San Juan Capistrano establish here in 1731. Some buildings were restored in the 1960s and further stabilised in 2012. The main church is now functioning.

San Antonio: River Walk

One major attraction in San Antonio is the River Walk, a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River. The walk is lined with restaurants, shops, parks, etc. The initial 4 km of the walkway was completed in 1946. Since then the walkways have extended to over 20 km. An open barge cruise along the waterways is a parallel activity of the walk. We had lunch at the Casa Rio Mexican Restaurant, the first restaurant opened along the River Walk in 1946. We took the 40 minute cruise too.

San Antonio: churches
Attended a Sunday morning mass at the San Fernando Cathedral, first built in 1750, and rebuilt in 1868.

Attended a midday mass at St Mary's Catholic Church, erected in 1924 to replace an older version. A beautiful church with beautiful stained glasses.

San Antonio: Briscoe Western Art Museum

This is a non-profit museum telling the many faceted story of the American West, in art, history and culture.

Diversion from San Antonio: nostalgic visit to Austin

We made a day trip to Austin, the capital of the state of Texas, some 130 km away and about 80 minutes in travel time by bus. The city population is about 790,000.

This trip is a nostalgia. In 1981/1982 we lived in Austin for 17 months. I was on a government JPA scholarship to do a Master of Science (Civil Engineering) degree at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), the main campus.

Austin: The University of Texas

UT is a big school, present enrolment around 50,000, strong in the engineering fields. UT is currently ranked the 5th best civil engineering graduate school in the USA. The famous MIT is only 7th.

After a lapse of 37 years of course I could recognised very few buildings. The photos show the new academic buildings and the familiar old admin office, called the Texas Tower.

The 1st photo shows a new sculpture at the Biology Department while the 2nd shows the same old idyllic campus atmosphere. It was summer break. The building behind me in the 3rd photo is the ECJ building, where most of my graduate classes were held.

The last photo shows the Texas Memorial Stadium with a capacity of 100,119 and ranked in the top 10 biggest stadiums in the World. UT is a power house in college sports. The current most recognisable sportsmen are Kevin Durant in basketball and Jordan Spieth in golf. The university is traditionally strong in swimming with students winning more than 50 Olympic swimming golds over the years, one of them by the Singaporean Joseph Schooling in 2016. Our mascot is the Longhorn, a breed of cattle.

Austin: the Capital Building
The only other place we visited on the day trip is the Capital Building and the surrounding. The Capital Building is the seat of the state government, with the legislature and governor's office, etc. It was built in 1888. The dome is 3.5 m higher than the dome of the National Capital in Washington DC. The joke is everything is big in Texas. Shown also the interior of the dome.

There are many sculptures here. That in the 2nd photo is called “the Rough and Romantic Riders of the Range”, 1929. That in the 4th is part of the group called “Tejano”, 2012, to honour the Mexican Americans, while the 5th is “African American History”, 2016, to honour the African Americans. The 6th is “Price of Liberty”, 2017.

The next two photos show the same setting in front of the statue of the Terry’s Texas Ranger, erected in 1907. One was taken on 3 June 2019 and the other a winter day near year-end in 1981. The exact angle of shooting could not be repeated as the branches have grown to obstruct the view from the old location. We have grown old. The 2nd photo is a scanned copy from an old print.