The Alamo is quite the shrine. The familiar "mission/church" is remarkably small, while the entire footprint of the original fortification is huge. Nowadays, the nave of the mission is dedicated nearly entirely to firearms (during the siege, it was the armory). The rear of nave has the names of all 180+ brave men that fought and died in the battle. They are emblazoned on a semi-circular display of brass plaques. It was surprising to see how many countries were represented by the fighters. I am proud to say Connecticut was represented, as well as my ancient homelands of Ireland and Scotland.
The rest of the church was crowded with all manner of battle implements. Both American and Mexican arms had various displays. One of the "park rangers" was in a corner with two glass cases that contained hand guns. Mostly percussion pistols, but a few more modern examples as well. The two tables were nearly encircled three deep with curious onlookers. The ranger was explaining the difference in the designs to one gentlemen, then proceeded to hand the weapon to him. The man grabbed the pistol and immediately put his finger through the trigger guard and onto the trigger as he swept the muzzle across the ranger's chest, then mentioned how heavy it was. Oops, I thought to myself, he's not too familiar with proper handgun handling is he. I guess what really suprised me was the handing of the pistol to him in the first place. It's just not something you see everyday in a public place. There is a certain etiquette that should be shown and expected when the inspection of a handgun is entertained. The presenter should first and foremost show the recipient that the weapon is unloaded, and in a "safe" condition. Then the weapon is exchanged, and the recipient is obliged to point the weapon in a safe direction at all times as he looks it over. The finger should not be placed on the "bang switch" unless the looker first asks if the weapon can be dry fired. Well, I have run this train of thought way off the spur line, sorry. Suffice it to say, if you are in the San Antonio area, and you have not visited the Alamo, by all means, don't miss it.
My next trip was a ski excursion to Park City, Utah. Turned out, that my backyard in Connecticut had a deeper base than the Wasatch Mountain at "The Canyons". The snowmaking there was very well done, and we had a great time. Since John Browning's birthplace was only an hour from the ski area, I decided that I needed to take a day, and visit his firearm museum in Ogden. Another not to be missed venue if you are in the area. It was fabulous to see examples of four generations of Browning designs, and all of John Browning's genius in one large room.
My third trip had very little to do with John Browning, or firearms of any kind for that matter. We went to Belize. Beautiful azure water, lapping against crusty brown sargassum seaweed mounds atop the white coral sand beaches. Quite odiferous, when the sun gets to beating on that vegitation for a spell. The locals were very apologetic about the incessant influx of the noxious sea plant flotsam. Obviously, not their fault. Seems the Sargasso Sea, off Florida, spit out massive chunks of this stuff for some as yet, unknown reason. It then blew steadily westward until meeting the easterly shores of the Yucantan and points north and south. Again, we had a wonderful time.
I'm off to France the day after Easter. My brother has asked for a bit of help on some property he owns in the Carcassonne region. That will be a bit more than a week, then back home to hopefully wake the Harley from its winter hibernation, and polish off the golf clubs again.
Remind me to tell you about the Belgian Superposed in the next entry...
Fare well, and do the right thing.
Gaff
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