SW Tour 2014 - San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas – Hidden Valley RV Park

March 11 -14

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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!

SW Trip 2014 - Austin, Texas

McKinney Falls State Park - Austin, Texas

March 7 – 10

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This state park is located very close to the city on the southeastern side, yet feels like it’s out in the country. Upon arrial we were able to pick the site we wanted. It was very large and backed up to the woods and trails; perfect! This park is known for its limestone geology with the Onion Creek waterfalls flowing over rocky ledges. At this time the waterfalls were very small, as there is an ongoing drought in Texas.

The next morning, we decided to take a drive around Austin and go by Kurt’s childhood home and other nostalgic locations. We first drove northwest of the city to Lake Travis. The lake is also very low due to the drought. The water is very clear and blue, with some marinas. We drove around the lake to a small county park where we were able to get some nice pictures. Then we drove back into town to find Kurt’s former home. He lived there for a few years (8 – 12 yrs old) when his father was stationed at Bergstrom Air Force base. The old neighborhood looked much like it did when he lived there. While driving around the area, we found a local Mexican food restaurant and had a wonderful lunch! Then we drove downtown to visit the Texas State Capitol. I was amazed that Kurt would even consider the tour, but he did enjoy it. We also visited Zilker Park, where Kurt and his friends hung out. It’s a beautiful urban park with many activities, including a natural spring fed swimming pool. Later, back at the campground, we built a nice fire and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
The next day, we geared up for mountain biking and rode all 9 miles. About 6 miles had some technical sections of mountain biking. We enjoyed the exercise and the beautiful weather. After lunch, we got ready to head into town for some evening fun. The Broken Spoke is an authentic, historic Texan honky-tonk dancehall in Austin. It was a lot of fun; we even participated in the two-step dance instruction. However; Kurt was really not in the mood for dancing, so we enjoyed watching some serious dancers. The evening was a lot of fun as we experienced some real Texas culture.

Our last full day there was spent on a scenic drive in the country. This part of Texas is “Hill Country” and we drove west of Austin to the “Devil’s Backbone” scenic drive, which took a few hours. It was an amazing area of mostly ranches. The hills and valleys were beautiful, with limestone terraces. As part of the drive, we visited a barbeque place that we had seen on the Travel Channel and rated as the number 1 in the US. The Salt Lick barbeque is  located out in the country near the small town of Driftwood. Even as remote as it is, the place was very busy on a weekday. The food was wonderful and we stuffed ourselves. We will have to try other Texas barbeque to see if any of them are as good.

Back at camp, we began preparing for our departure the next morning. We will be heading to San Antonio, only a couple hours’ drive southwest.