River Walk

We have visited the River Walk a few times and it is truly amazing.  It is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath the streets of San Antonio.  As you walk along, the bustle of the city goes on above your head and is almost unheard over the relaxed atmosphere created by the water, trees and birds. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the major tourist draws.  One has to walk up one of the winding stairways to street level to remember that you are actually in the centre of a major city.  

One has give credit to the visionary who spearheaded the creation of the River Walk system and the politicians who supported it, which brings us to a little history lesson.  Back in 1921, a disastrous flood along the San Antonio River took 50 lives and plans were developed for flood control of the river.  The River Walk was not part of the initial plan however in 1929 a San Antonio native and architect named Robert Hugman submitted his plans for what would become the River Walk.  Over the years it has been expanded and is now a mecca for locals and tourists alike. 

In 1981 the Hyatt Regency opened with a new pedestrian connector that linked Alamo Plaza to the River Walk with concrete waterfalls, waterways and indigenous landscaping. Known as the Paseo del Alamo, this river "extension" actually flows from Alamo Plaza into the San Antonio River through the atrium of the hotel. 

These are the waterfalls mentioned above.
They flow down a short canal and under a glass wall
into the lobby of the Hyatt Regency

The canal flows down through the lobby, under a couple
of walkways and another glass wall joining the
San Antonio River and the River Walk.

Our merry band, minus yours truly, sitting in front of the
canal as it flows through the hotel lobby

Looking way up from the lobby floor. 

The canal runs out the other side of the hotel and
joins the San Antonio river and the River Walk

A very picturesque and serene setting

Lots of tour boats running along the river.
We took a tour which provided a different perspective

Lots of restaurants and bars line the river.
This part of the river is only 4 feet deep.
At its deepest the river is 15 feet deep. 

We stopped for lunch at one of the cafes' lining the River Walk.
They provided poncho's for the girls to keep the chill off.
Lots of birds created entertainment, although not the kind we had in mind.
Jan and I were not under the canopy and I noticed a couple of splatters on the table.
They weren't there when we sat down.
Bird bombs.  Missed our plates by inches but got Jan's drink.
Kind of lost our appetites. 

The Pearl is a small development of apartments, condo's, hotel, shops
 and restaurants about 2 miles from the Alamo along the river walk.
It has an interesting collection of people enjoying the area. 

Hotel Emma

Originally a brewery, now a hotel with some upscale restaurants and bars.
 It still has some of the original plumbing. 

This guy put on quite a show.
The digeriedoo can make a wide range of sounds.  

One last picture from the Alamo. 

This may be it from the River Walk but we do have a few extra days here so we may make another stop before we head to Carlsbad, NM.

I have a few more posts to complete with our visits to the missions but I am trying to rationalize my data usage.  My new month starts on the 20th.  When we left home I had 2.5 GB as part of my phone plan.  I have since added to that twice and now have 25GB available.  I have been a bit frustrated with Bell, my provider.  I keep checking my Data usage on their App which seems to be current within a few hours and it says I still have 5GB of data available.  However I also keep getting text messages saying I am at or over my limit and that my data charge is now at $300.  Each time I get a text I phone their call centre and they advise that I am ok and the text message is an error.  They say they will reprogram my acct so I won't get any more text messages.  Then a day or so later I get another text.  What a pain.

I'll post again tomorrow if I still have some data left after I post this.  If not it will be on Tuesday.

Till then.

The Alamo

Thursday, Nov 15 Lori and I headed for downtown San Antonio and a visit to the Riverwalk and the Alamo.  Jan and Mark had to take a little side trip to an RV Dealer to pick up a part for their fridge.  RVing is wonderful until something quits working.  Their fridge was actually working too well and was freezing up.  They phoned around and managed to find a part but it was on the other side of San Antonio.  So they headed off in one direction, us in another and we arranged to meet at the Alamo once they were done their errand.

First a few pictures of our RV Park.

The front office.
From here we had to drive up a steep curving road to get to our campsite.
It doesn't get its name "Top Of the Hill" for nothing.

There are about 3 levels and we are on the top one.
Provides a great view.

There are even some cute little cabins for rent. 

And even a Koi Pond

We had initially planned our next stop to be Big Bend National Park however its a long drive from here, in the middle of nowhere and with a plethora of things to see and do around San Antonio and Fredericksburg we managed to extend our stay here till the 23rd and then head up to Carlsbad, New Mexico to see the Carlsbad Caverns.  At $22.50 per night its a pretty good deal.  WiFi isn't great but it seldom is.  We were also invited to participate in their Thanksgiving pot luck with the rest of the residents.  Should be fun.

The San Antonio River runs right through downtown SA and they have done an amazing job of developing walkways, restaurants, bars and shops along its banks.  I'll get into more of that in my next post.

The Alamo, you may have heard of it, was actually a Roman Catholic Mission established to aid in the settlement of the area, then called New Spain.  More settlements meant that Spain could strengthen its claim on the surrounding lands.  It of course is not famous for that but rather a little battle where the Texans, who were defending the lands against the Mexican Army, got wiped out.  Oh yes and there were a few famous names among those Texans.  Not sure how famous they were at the time but the intervening years of stories being told and retold have created its own lore.  Hollywood may have helped.

The front gate of the main chapel of the Alamo
It became the armoury during the conflict.
Unfortunately pictures were not allowed inside.
Also unfortunate that not all that much is left of the original mission.
Sustained canon fire will do that. 

One of the outbuildings.
Not original but fits in real nice with the period. 

The Gift shop

These little guys were everywhere.
Either eating nuts or burying them.

Lots of big old Oak trees.  Very Majestic
This one was transplanted here in 1912 and at the time it was about 40 years old.

Here is the story of this one. 

A nice old tree and and even older well. 

Lots of colourful carriages that can be rented for a ride around the park.
The horses hooves were painted with bright pink sparkle. 

Thats it for now.  I'll post later about our first experience with SA's Riverwalk and then there is a little trip we made to Fredericksburg that I need to tell you about but for now I'm tired, my wine glass is empty so its off to bed.  Tomorrow we are scheduled to head back into SA to see a few more of the old Missions.

Later.

Rockport to Boerne

Our stay in Rockport has ended and has been disappointing.  Much like our whole stay in Texas the weather has been atypical.  We started off in Waco with 90F and very humid.  That carried over to League City where we also had high winds and driving rain storms with the odd tornado warning thrown in.  Got to Rockport and had one relatively nice day which we spent touring the Lexington.  Since then its been cold, close to freezing at night and low 50s during the day, with wind and rain.  We spent the days going to a few craft shows, doing laundry and generally sitting around.

Finally on Tuesday our time in Rockport was at an end and we packed up and headed to Boerne (pronounced Bernie, go figure).  We drove into 35mph headwinds all day so we only got about 7.5.MPG.  Mark was getting 4-5 in his motorhome.  Set up in a pretty little campground called Top of the Hill.  The name is appropriate cause it is at the top of a hill.  Not much shelter from the winds but it has a pretty view and as soon as it warms up I will get out and take a few pics.

Tuesday night it got down to 23F and for some reason our furnace refused to turn on.  We did have an electric space heater and our fireplace going but I was concerned that the pipes in the belly of the beast would freeze.  The furnace will throw some heat down into the holding tank area, not much, but enough to prevent freezing and the resulting leaks.  I was out at 4:30 with my flashlight trying to figure out what was wrong.  Me figuring out these things amounts to a lot of stomping, blue smoke, flipping switches and opening and closing tanks.  Nothing seemed to work so I let Charli into bed with us so we could both benefit from her body heat.  In the morning I resumed my stomping, swearing and banging stuff.  This time it worked.  Furnace started up, stayed running and generated some heat.  Not sure what the problem was but we haven't used the furnace since we left Town and Country in Winnipeg and perhaps with all the temp and humidity changes we have gone through we got an air lock or some humidity somewhere in our propane lines.  Whatever, we now have heat which will be needed as it is expected to get down to around 30F tonight.

Wednesday barely hit 50F however it wasn't windy and the skies were Arizona blue.  Based on our trip so far, I'll take it.  Given the cool temps we decided on something indoors so we went to a movie in downtown Boerne and then headed part way to San Antonio for some Texas BBQ.  If you haven't seen the latest remake of A Star is Born you should really go see it.  Take some kleenex.   We asked the ladies at the RV Park office for restaurant recommendations and they suggested Rudy's Country Kitchen and BBQ.  The place doesn't look like much but the food was excellent and it was a unique experience.

The Best BBQ we have had so far. 

5 huge smokers in the back each on with a different meat.
Brisket, Pork Ribs, Baby Back Ribs, Chicken, Turkey, Sausages
It was Buffet style and all a-la-carte
Mostly locals eat here and the ordering process was a bit confusing.
Someone finally took pity on us and provided some instructions

There are gas pumps outside and the front of the store is kind of like a convenience store.
Then there is about 15 rows of tables with plastic table clothes and metal folding chairs
Atmosphere was unique however food was excellent

All that remained of our Baby Back Ribs, Potato Salad and Peach Cobbler
The meat came wrapped in a large sheet of wax paper.
Everything else was paper or plastic.
When we were done we wrapped everything in the paper and dumped it in the garbage.
Not the most environmentally friendly but easy cleanup.

Temps are warming up to the 60's over the next few days before another system of rain hits us so tomorrow we are getting bundled up and heading to San Antonio to take in the River Walk.

Till then.