I have a confession…   when I was an elementary school kid I had a fairly big fascination with the history and story of The Alamo.  I don’t really remember why or how it started, but I needed to know more.  So I did what everyone did pre-internet when you had to know more about something.  I went to the library and checked out and read every book available on the topic, and the people involved.  Histories of the battle itself, and the war for Texas independence, biographies (more than one when they were available) of every character that had one; Davy Crocket, (of course) but also Jim Bowie, William B. Travis, and Sam Houston.  And, of course, watched the John Wayne (Already big in our house) movie every time it was on TV. (Don’t judge me, I was a kid, it’s all there was, and TV was the only way to see an already released movie back in the dinosaur days)   Interestingly enough, today, you could do a week-long internet deep-dive so extensive that you can watch half a dozen actual documentaries on YouTube, (for crying out loud) read half a hundred wiki-pages and web-based historical accounts, including actual diary entries or letters home of Alamo defenders or obscure soldiers in General Santa Anna’s army, and never even have to pick up an actual book.  Amazing, but also sad and awful.

So, although I can’t really say it was on my adult bucket list, it was still kind of a big deal for me, walking up to the Alamo Plaza for a visit.  Touching the warm, sun-drenched, rough limestone originally built in 1718 was special.  All I can say is that like Tom Cruise, Jon Snow, Dalton in Roadhouse, and no doubt everybody else who sees it, I thought it’d be taller/bigger.  Still, an extraordinary place of living history nestled in a veritable, modern-day mecca of hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, (Ripley’s Museum, Guinness World Record Museum, Ripley’s Haunted Adventure, etc.) saloons, bars, horse and carriage rides, parking lots and an absolute glut of electric scooters and E-bikes, and mere blocks from River Walk, boat tours and even more restaurants and gastro pubs than you can shake a stick at.  Downtown San Antonio is a Commercial Center.   And The Alamo lives in that.  What a crazy-odd world.

“Come and take it,” was an early flag and a taunt to Mexico in the movement for Texas independence, (dating back to the Battle of Thermopylae — 300, anyone? — and also used during the American Revolution) and while it doesn’t have the gut-punch and staying power of “Remember the Alamo!” it’s got a good “nuts,” quality that feels right.  Especially these days. And maybe they will make a good Alamo movie remake someday.