San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas May 20 - 25


Up at 0’dark thirty for our flight to San Antonio, via Seattle and Phoenix. Unexpectedly, we received instructions that our citizenship interview and civics test was scheduled for May 21 in San Antonio.

We arrived at the Immigration center and were corralled with about sixty other applicants.

Alan & I were interviewed and tested separately, and both were successful and recommended for naturalization. We were advised that the ceremony was scheduled for Friday, May 24. We were surprised since previously we had been advised that this process should conclude in January 2020. This required some travel plan adjustments to accommodate an extended stay. San Antonio is certainly a much more desirable place than most for an extended visit.

It has been 15 years since we lived in San Antonio and much has changed, while much remains the same. The population has exploded, and traffic is as bad as Austin.

We visited the Pearl District, a recent extension of the famed Riverwalk. Pearl was an operating brewery until the early 2000’s and closed about 2004.

The area has since been revitalized with the stunning Emma Hotel taking over the old brewery, and the surrounding area developed as a walking/retail area, decorated with much of the old brewery equipment. Someone did a fantastic job of preserving the historical integrity.

Our naturalization ceremony was moving and unexpectantly emotional for me. Lee Greenwood’s rendition of God Bless America pushed me over the top.

Prior to the naturalization ceremony, we were informed that we would have to surrender our Green Card, which without a passport, meant that we could not reenter the US after we visited Canada in June & July. This meant that we had to apply for a US passport ASAP. To help us expedite the process, we used Rennert Executive Travel Planners. 


Ain’t nothing comes easy! We needed passport photos and the photographer had dead batteries in the camera. Susann needed several retake photos, so her ears and forehead were clearly displayed. With the approaching Memorial weekend approaching, time was running out. We needed to complete the application so we could simply add our citizen certificate on Friday. When we arrived at Rennert to complete the application, the parking lot and only access to the building was closed off by five fire trucks, several ambulances and numerous police vehicles. Finally, we found a spot to park in the Lexus dealer across the street and scrambled over the wall into the parking lot with access to the building. Life must be easier than this!

A construction crane type vehicle had a malfunction, leaving some poor, frightened workman stranded up above. Hs situation made our trials seem trivial. All ended well with the firemen rescuing him from his precarious situation.

Our day ended with a delicious dinner at Fleming's Steak House. Back to Bellingham tomorrow.