Tourists in Austin TX

So today we were tourists, we took the tour bus round Austin. The bus took us out into ‘The Hill Country, which is a very pretty area of limestone hills, with some great views of Austin, then a quick shuffle around the town showing some of its best bits. It was a very entertaining couple of hours. After this we were ready for lunch, so decided to go back up to the Hill Country to a BBQ place we had passed call ‘The County Line – Lake Side Place’, this as one will realise is beside Lady Bird Lake. I had combo ribs, pork and beef, Sally had combo of beef rib, brisket and sausage. I really enjoyed the ribs, but could only eat half of them, the rest we brought home in a box.

Lady Bird Lake is artificial and is a recreational area in the centre of Austin. It is named Lady Bird Lake after President Lyndon Johnson’s wife Lady Bird Johnson. They were local to Austin and there is an awful lot of stuff named after them as they were well thought of. They have several museums about them and a library (every President has a library which holds, among other things, every public speech, every bill, book and paper made or published by that President, which is pretty well everything that was done during and after their term of office. The library, I think, is always in the capital of the home state of that president).

After our meal we returned to Mount Bonnell, on the West side Hill Country, to visit the small park right on the top of the highest point in the area, with its great views of the Texas Colorado River and Austin. This unfortunately left us on the other side of Austin at 5.00, drive time (as they call rush hour in U.S.A.) is horrendous here, so a twenty minute drive turned into nearly an hour of crawling. Even so we really enjoyed our day today.

McKinney Falls State Park

We have set ourselves up in McKinney Falls State Park, we have had a quick look at Austin, which is less than 10 miles away and also had a wander round the park. It is a very plwasant park, there is lots of space betrween sites. the hard standing is now quite old and often uneven. No Foraging for wood is allowed and the logs are very expensive: $1.00 PER LOG!!!

Moving On From San Antonio

Saturday. We said more goodbyes to our new Canadian friends Clint and Joan as we left Travelers World today. We wish them safe and happy journeys as they move Eastward along the Gulf to Florida.

We drove on the interstate through San Antonio and struck North towards Austin. As we travelled we could see a change in the countryside. It became drier, with yellow grass, with rolling hills. A number of quarries making cement indicated that the bedrock is limestone, which explains its dry appearance. We stopped for lunch in a strip mall car park and made it to McKinney Falls State Park by mid-afternoon. A short cruise around the park found us in a very nice campsite (#44) with about 50 yards of woodland either side before the neighbours could be seen.

NO BURNBAN!!!! We set up the trailer and immediately started a campfire, as we did not really want to sit out late.

NO MOSQUITOES!!!!!! Pleasant evening as it was too cold for mosquitoes, but only moderately chilly, nothing that a sweatshirt couldn’t take care of.

We sat round the fire watching the sunset through the trees.

Tomorrow we intend to do some food shopping and perhaps a quick tour of Austin.

Christmas lights and The Riverwalk Boat Parade

We hope today will be a special day as we are planning to go into San Antonio in the evening to see the Boat Parade and the Lighting up ceremony for the Riverwalk lights.

But first, I needed to go and visit with Clint and Joan to make sure that they were happy with their new mobile broadband and to finish giving them campground details.

They surprised us by inviting us to have lunch with them at the local Mall. So we set out to see for ourselves the other Thanksgiving tradition that has frown in the U.S.A. –‘Black Friday’ not, as you would think, an evil day! (though some would think that) but the first day of the Christmas Celebrations – Thanksgiving is over, out come the Christmas lights, the canned music and –Christmas Shopping. The shops have sales and everyone is out looking for bargains. We needed to see this first hand (we have always been at the Thanksgiving Bluegrass Festival before), so we set out at about 11.00 to join the traffic jams and the general throng at the Mall. It was busy, but did not seem unusually so, still it was good fun to just get those last bits of Christmas shopping. At 1.00 we met Clint and Joan for lunch at a cafeteria called Luby’s. The food is cheap and was surprisingly good, even that nemisis of American restaurants – the vegetables, we cooked properly (not done to death). After a pleasant lunch we returned to the trailer to get ourselves organised for the evenings entertainment, because the weather forecast had let us know that the temperature was going to plummet down to freezing, so it was two pairs of socks, two pairs of trousers, T-shirt, shirt, sweatshirt and fleece for me, carrying a blanket and a cushion (those folding seats can get very cold). Sally was similarly prepared, just as well because although it was not down to freezing while we were there it was jolly cold and frost appeared on the car the next morning.

The parade would pass where our allotted seats were at about 7.15, so we were advised to get there early – by 5.00!, so being overprepared we decided to get there for 4.30, of course we found a parking space very easily and then had a couple of hours to wander round and look at what was happening. Sally wondered if anything might be happening at the Alamo (a stones throw away form the Riverwalk), as we approached we could hear music, the all lady Mariachi band was playing, there was a massive tree erected in front of the Alamo’ distinctive front wall and crowds of people were standing listening. San Antonions were celebrating the lighting of their City Christmas Tree.

We stood and watched the spectacle as the band played and Santa arrived in front of The Alamo in a white carriage, lit with fairy lights (Not Santa Anna this time) and flags were trooped and the national anthem sung and then the switch was thrown and the Christmas Tree and the whole area was lit up with little lights (which we had been assured were energy friendly LED’s). Oh what fun.

This was the appetizer, we now wandered our way, along with the whole of San Antonio, through the streets and down the elevator to the Riverwalk level and to our allotted seats for the Boat Parade. There we sat by the riverside, across the river the restaurants were serving to those people who were making a night of dining on the Riverwalk (and paying up to $100 a head to do it). At about 7.15 the Riverwalk was suddenly lit up as the lights came on, lots of twinkling coloured lights set in the trees all along the banks, which added to the restaurant and house decorations made a very pretty sight. As we sat the decorated boats came along with lots of music, some of it live, some of it canned. Lots of Santa’s, fairies, elves, a Ronald Macdonald, waved madly at us all, it was another great American Spectacle.

We made friends with a lovely family sat next to us (as well as about a dozen passers by, the volunteer steward, his wife and a security guard), who had come down from Fort Worth for the weekend. So ended another great day as we drove wearily home.

Thanksgiving Day at Travelers World

Today is Thanksgiving day for Americans, a national holiday set aside to celebrate God’s provision for their safety and well being (although of course the U.S.A. has no link between church and state). This year we are celebrating it in Travelers World Campground in San Antonio. The centrepiece of the day is dinner and the management have done us proud, they have generously provided turkey and ham and ‘taters’ I n large quantities, everything else has been brought in the form of ‘cover dishes’, or ‘dishes to pass’ by all those taking part and there was more than enough excellent food to go round. For the rest of the day we relaxed and in the evening we had a pleasant game of Rummikub with a very pleasant couple from near Vancouver in Canada, called Clint and Joan. We have seen them on and off all week, so we spent a quiet evening with them. They are planning to travel East to Florida to meet their family in January, so we bored them by giving them lots of info about campgrounds we know and love. I also helped them get their new Mobile Broadband up and running, so they are now in touch with the rest of the world

Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving

It’s that time of the year again, when we can wander round the shops looking at all those things that we think would best suit our friends and family. So to day we set out with our coat and scarves to trudge through the snow and freezing weather to visit those exclusive shops with their rows of bright shiny presents all waiting for us to carefully choose just the right gift for our loved ones, lavishing our love and care on making decisions that we hope will bring joy and laughter on Christmas Day. (Well there is a touch of poetic licence their as the temperature was actually in the 80’s, and it was sunny and warm).

Wildlife on the Move

Well, I have been doing my video editing bit and come up with a couple of animal movies that woudl be good to record for posterity
'Nine Band Armadillo' is a short video of our sighting of armadillo.


"Raccoons" is a video about the very friendly raccon we met at Sam Houston Jones State Park, near Lake Charles, LA.

A Mission to A Mission

Tuesday. We have now moved our trailer to a new campsite as we are going to stay in San Antonio until Saturday.
This campground is called Travellers World and though quite expensive is very pleasant and only 10 minutes from the city centre. The sites are well sized though a little too close to each other. It has good facilities, pool, laundry, hall, library. Lots of long term snowbirds, many of whom are Canadians. Apart from the price of $37 p.n. I would recommend this campground.
Moving was hot work as the temperature climbed again to 80, so we cooled down for a bit, had some lunch and then set out to have a look at one of the other local missions. The closest one to us is San Jose Mission, just about half a mile down the road. It is a 7 acre enclosure which was started in 1720 and finished by about 1780, though it has had lots of changes to it in it's past. The mission was placed there to provide an outpost for the Spanish, as a way of converting the local Indians and giving the Indians a chance to improve their lives.
It seemed to work, but when the Spanish left in 1810's the Mexicans secularised the mission and it became a village, then a fort to keep out the Apache and Comanche Indians. Over the years it fell into disrepair but was restored in the 1930's as part of Roosevelt's WPA plan

A Story Remembered

I must add a short addendum to our blog. Last night in talking round the campfire with our friends, I recalled an event and think that I should include it in our blog. Way back in October when we were staying in Chicot State Park, Sally decided that it was time to get her hair done, so on enquiring round she was given the name of a local hairdresser, about 10 minutes from the State Park. I dropped Sally off and having an hour and a half to amuse myself it went to a Flea Market (it called itself Antique, but it was a flea market) I had noticed on the way to the hairdresser. I had a lovely time there. It was an old barn completely full of junk, overflowing with junk in fact. The dear lady their invited me to dig around as I wanted and left me to it. There were old books, old record (even found an old Rolling Stones E.P.), cowboy hats, boots and shoes old video games (saw a really old ping pong game), however resisted the temptation for everything, except a nice ‘no parking’ sign, which I paid $2.00 for, mostly for the entertainment value of my time there.

As I was approaching the entrance to the shop a young man walked in, looked a bit of a scruff (but so do I) and was looking round - seemed a bit strange for someone his age to be in a flea market. So the three of us talked, he seemed quite pleasant, the woman kept offering items at silly prices, but it was a pleasant way to pass the time (I was still waiting for Sally) We sort of looked at some of the bits and pieces. As we were casting round the lad came across some sports equipment, a whole bag of soft balls and a variety of bats. So we looked at these, swinging the bats, to get the feel of them.

Then as the conversation proceeded.

I mentioned I was from the UK, he mentioned he was from round here.

I said I was retired, he said he was on parole!.

I said I was just looking to see if there was anything interesting. He said he was looking for a baseball bat. (Now at this point I could have got slightly alarmed).

That was because he was on parole he could not carry/own a gun.

“Right” I thought, checking where the exit was.

But no, there was no malice in his voice at all.

He was just your average local, country hoodlum making sure that he could defend himself. So we spent a good 10 minutes checking out every baseball bat, discussing the weight distribution, length and swing inertia, finally deciding on a fairly short bat, with a heavy end, which he paid $5.00 for. Having had a satisfactory conclusion to his shopping we went our separate ways, the best of friends. I went to pick Sally up and he went home feeling well defended.

Once again the phrase ‘Only In America’ rang loud in my mind.

Return to the Riverwalk

On Monday we decided to return to the Riverwalk, partly because we had enjoyed the boat trip, but partly because coming up this Friday is the Annual Lighting of the Riverwalk and Boat Parade!!! We had delayed our departure from San Antonio to go to this and ordered tickets on line, but wanted to pick them up in person to make sure that they understood Sally would be in a wheelchair.

Although this should have been a pretty straightforward task, the use of the wrong address on the internet meant that we criss-crossed the Riverwalk district a couple of times to find the ticket office. However, that meant we were able to explore the streets at ground level, above the Riverwalk, because from above you would hardly notice the almost secret world of the Riverwalk. When we collected the tickets we actually talked to the director of the event on Friday night and he was able to reassure us that our tickets were OK for Sally, but suggested that we should arrive by 5.00, for the show at 7.00, as there would be a lot of people and parking may be difficult. They expect 150,000 people to come and watch, each with a reserved seat! We also found out that the event is televised on national US TV (don’t know which channel). So we are looking forward to this event, which is Friday, the day after Thanksgiving – Official start to Christmas!!!!.

After this little adventure we felt in need of a drink, we found a Starbucks which had a terrace overlooking the Riverwalk and relaxed for a while. Following this we descended to the Riverwalk in one of the elevators and strolled round one section of the Riverwalk, just relaxing and nosing, it was great fun.

Gosh then it was time for lunch, so we chose the Saltgrass Steakhouse in the basement of Landry’s Hotel, where we had a balcony table, again overlooking the Riverwalk, where we could people watch, boat watch and Mariachi watch.

Mariachi are wandering Mexican musicians who cluster round tables with their instruments and play traditional Mexican music while you eat, until you pay for them to go away. It adds a very nice background atmosphere to dining on the Riverwalk. We had a great lunch, in fact one of the best we have had this trip. Sally went for a steak and shrimp combo, while I had baby back ribs, very nice. We then wandered home feeling very full and ready for a good stretch out. In the evening we had a wander round the campground and sat and talked to a couple from Colorado Springs and a chap called Clint from Canada. Yes it was warm enough to sit out and there were no mosquitoes, an experience that has been all too rare this trip.