SW Tour 2014 - San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas – Hidden Valley RV Park

March 11 -14

Picasa pictures link: https://picasaweb.google.com/107097369989809012646/SWTrip2014Part2?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCICFz6v9hZTW_wE&feat=directlink

While driving from Austin to San Antonio, we realized how large San Antonio actually is. A very large metropolitan area with surrounding suburbs. The city has a maze of interstates and highways that create several large spaghetti junctions. We fortunately had chosen a lovely RV park on the southwest side of SA, near a town of Von Ormy. Hidden Valley RV Park is located in a beautiful valley out in the country. When we arrived, Rick & Debbie were already setup, as they had previously been in Blessing Texas to visit family. This RV park was very quiet and spacious with just a few other RVs. We were able to let the dogs run off leash, which they really enjoyed. After setting up, we all had happy hour and snacks. Later, Kurt built a huge campfire at the campground firepit. We all enjoyed the evening around the fire and met two young men who were staying there while working on a pipeline job.

The next morning, we geared up for a major bike ride. Along the San Antonio River is an awesome paved hike/bike trail on both sides that follows the river and had stops at each of the four historic missions. We headed north towards the city and stopped at the Mission Concepcion for a tour. It’s amazing that these missions were built in the 1700’s by Spanish Franciscan priests and are still standing. The structures are mostly in great shape, but had been pillaged by the local Indians after they were secularized in the 1800’s. It was a great time to learn some more history about this part of our country. After a couple of hours, we headed back to the campground. The wind had picked up to about 15-20 mph, it was a tough ride into this headwind.

Later, we got all cowboyed up and headed to a rodeo. North of SA is Tejas Rodeo, a great complex out in the boonies that has Saturday night rodeos. It’s a complex of rodeo arena, steakhouse, bars and dancehall. We really enjoyed the rodeo and hung out listening to music for awhile.

The next day, we went into the city and took a boat cruise on the San Antonio Riverwalk. What an amazing place this is, with the river below regular street level. The river winds through the city with walk paths on each side. Along the Riverwalk are restaurants, shopping, historic homes/buildings, gardens and lovely cypress trees. What a beautiful urban attraction! We also walked around town and toured the Alamo complex, another great part of American history. We ate lunch at a Peruvian festival and later went to the Buckhorn Saloon, a historic place in SA. We all had a wonderful time in this city.

After returning to camp, Kurt built an EPIC campfire. We sat around the fire until we were tired and headed to bed. The next morning, storms rolled in and we were forced to hunker down inside until it moved through. We then went into town for lunch and to visit the remaining three missions. After a nice day of touring, we headed back to camp for the evening.

Next we are heading to Carlsbad, New Mexico.  We are looking forward to the caverns tour and some great hiking!