We had a wonderful time in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago for the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival! Our family went down early to spend some time relaxing and visiting the historical sites around the area. Here are some snapshots highlighting our time there:
Walking along the River Walk and through the King William Historic District.
A day in Fredericksburg, a small town north of San Antonio with a German heritage. We did the self-guided historic walking tour, which gave a us a good scope of the area. Here we are standing in front of the old courthouse, now the town library.
Dinner at an authentic German restaurant. Our waitress, Jessica, was fabulous!
In addition to The Alamo, there are four other missions located along the San Antonio River. We felt like we had traveled back thousands of years and crossed the Atlantic into Europe as we explored these architectural masterpieces! This shot was taken at Mission San José.
The 750-foot tall Tower of the Americas boasts a rotating restaurant at the top, where diners can overlook the city lights from their lofty position. Mom and Dad received a special promotion through our hotel, so they were privileged to partake of this special dining experience. Naomi and Joey took the tour of the Observation Deck and then rejoined Noelle and me.
While Mom and Dad enjoyed the splendid view from the tower and tolerated their not-so-splendid fare, Noelle, Naomi, Joey, and I had a delicious Mexican meal at one of the oldest restaurants along the River Walk. It was a super fun evening together!
Brilliant colors adorn every square inch of the famous 24-hour Mi Tierra Cafe & Bakery in San Antonio’s Market Square. There was a vast assortment of fresh pastries and baked goods to choose from!
We savored each bite of our scrumptious delicacies!
Of course, no trip to San Antonio is complete without a visit to The Alamo! We spent the better part of an afternoon there, walking through the mission, reading the accounts of yesteryear, watching a documentary, and perusing the displays throughout the compound.
On Thursday, Lydia arrived and got settled in with us, then we headed over to the Municipal Auditorium. We are waiting in the lobby with hundreds of others as final preparations are made for the Opening Ceremonies!
The Opening Ceremonies were full of excitement and inspiration. The evening concluded with a showing of the new film, Divided, and a time of informal interviews with the film’s cast and crew.
Hmm…guess I was having too much fun on Friday and forgot to take pictures until that night. In this shot, John Moore, director of the forthcoming feature film, Ace Wonder, shares the stage with Doug Phillips and others involved in the film project.
The festival provides great opportunities to meet new people. I was excited to meet Sarah and discover that we have several mutual friends. Lydia, Sarah, and I had a great time getting to know each other!
The Awards Ceremony was, understandably, the most anticipated event of the weekend. We were absolutely thrilled when the Audience Choice winner was announced as Runner From Ravenshead! (Now available through our website!) Little Crew Studios obviously captured the hearts of the many movie-goers at the festival, winning the Audience Choice Award by a 4-1 margin! A huge congrats to the Steege family for such a remarkable accomplishment with their first film. We can’t wait for the next one. 🙂
The Awards Ceremony organizers did an excellent job of building the suspense up until the final award of the night – the $101,000 Jubilee Best of Festival Award. The honor went to the Jim Bowers family, for their documentary, Agenda: Grinding America Down. They ran out of copies at the festival, so we ordered ours and just watched it last week. It is an incredibly well-researched and eye-opening exposé of the socialistic and communistic underpinnings of many of the societal conventions that rarely garner a second thought in the minds of most Americans today. Well worth watching!
The Pajama School book trailer that Jeremiah Warren produced for my book ended up winning first place in the commercial category. This was an unexpected, but thrilling blessing from the Lord! Jeremiah is off to a great start in his filmmaking career, so I figured I better get a picture with him now before he becomes really famous. 🙂
With two of my favorite sisters! We had a marvelous time together and have been spending many hours discussing things we heard and learned and how we can implement them in our creative endeavors.
Apparently it is a tradition for some of the festival attendees to wrap up the last night with an excursion to Denny’s. Never ones to miss out on a party, Lydia, Naomi, Joey, and I hitched a ride with some others and had a fun time meeting some more new friends and talking and laughing into the early morning hours.
In addition to our time in San Antonio, our trip down south also afforded us the opportunity to make brief stops to catch up with old friends. The Vinson family welcomed their newest little member several weeks ago, so we were excited to meet her and take turns holding her!
We surprised the Chapman family by showing up at their church on Sunday morning. Our time with them was short, but sweet!
The Bremer family met us for dinner on our way home. It was fun to see them again and hear about the latest happenings in their lives!
We are so grateful for the opportunity the Lord provided for us to take this trip and we would all love to return to the festival in 2012 and take a host of other friends and families with us. 🙂 But we’ll have to see what the Lord has in store in the days ahead!
Grace Williamson says
Great pics, Natalie! Looks like you guys had a great time. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah Lee says
Natalie,
Thanks for posting pictures of your trip – it sounds like you had a wonderful time! Hope you have a blessed new year.