UIL Band Championships '25

It's our 3rd consecutive November trip to San Antonio for the UIL Marching Band State Championships!  By now we've got this thing down...

You go to Selfie Bridge and snap a selfie,

head to the Alamo,

take the Riverwalk boat tour,

watch San Fernando Cathedral hologram show,

Definitely go to Voo-Doo Doughnut and maybe get the "extra" doughnut!

We scored the City Pass and added some new stops - 1st up was the San Antonio Zoo  

Mom & Jordan get to feed the Flamingos

The African Savanah exhibit got us close to a Giraffe,

and Rhino's,

Below average temperatures had the normally lazy Cats showing off

African Wild Dog up close

Back to the Riverwalk for the lunch special at the Esquire Tavern

The City Pass got us to the top of the Tower of the Americas for sunset pictures

Alamo Dome at dusk...

...and night

San Antonio sunset views

We grabbed dinner at "La Villita," where rumor has it that General Santa Ana stayed & had his cannons pointed at the Alamo

On Veterans Day, we were back to the Alamo, checking out the new museum (Another City Pass win)  

Veterans Day

Mom & Jordan chat with a local historian / Pee-Wee's bike

Musket demo downtown

Oh yeah - we were here for the Band Championship - after a successful Preliminary Round on Monday, we finally connected with Taylor on Tuesday afternoon just prior to the Finals 

The final round was amazing but not without drama as Security had to admonish an unruly fan / Taylor (2nd from right) just seconds prior to Wakeland being announced as 3rd Place winner!  The math behind that is >250 5A Schools, 38 are invited to San Antonio, 12 make the final & Wakeland finished #3!

We are proud of Wakeland's Bronze Medal finish and sad our UIL trips to San Antonio are over...Looking forward to Winter Guard in Dayton, Ohio next April!