Texas, San Antonio - Friday, April 26, 2019 - Walk Along the San Antonio River

One of the reasons we like this RV Park is the easy access to the San Antonio River Walk.

As you enter the River Walk, if you look through the fence you can see us.

This section of the River Walk is definitely different than the downtown section.  Areas along the sidewalk and around the picnic areas are mowed but other than that it is left in its native state.

This area is along the migratory route to Mexico for the Monarch butterflies and several species of birds who feed on the grass seeds and flowers.

Lots of nice rest areas are provided along the walk.

Not much wildlife today other than the black ducks we always see.  We heard a large splash from something as we passed a small rocky area in the river but we weren’t quick enough to see what caused it.

The stairway caught my attention.  Me: “Want to see what is up there”?  Greg: “I’ll wait for you here”.  It was only a parking lot for people who are taking canoes or kayaks down the river.

This bridge is as far as we are going today.  We get lots of inclines on this walk that we don’t get when we walk in Arizona. 

Texas, San Antonio - Saturday, April 27, 2019 - Lunch at Casa Rio

We thought the majority of the Fiesta events were over last night so we decided to venture into town to Casa Rio for lunch.  Casa Rio is the oldest restaurant along the River Walk.  They have a huge area for outside seating but it was so crowded out there that I couldn’t even get a picture of the outside of the building.  We opted for inside seating and right now it is pretty calm in here.  The menu here is authentic Mexican food which is not as highly seasoned as the Tex-Mex food we are used to in Arizona.  The meal was wonderful and I was really impressed with the homemade tortillas.

There is a parade this evening at 7:00.  I took this picture as we walked to the restaurant for lunch around noon.  I guess if you want a really good seat for the parade you bring your caution cones and orange safety fence and set up on the median at the intersection of three streets.

I think the colored umbrellas you can see looking over the bridge are some of the outside tables at Casa Rio.

The gray stacks on the sidewalk just ahead of the white car are stacks of chairs that are chained and padlocked waiting to be rented to parade viewers later this afternoon.  There were stacks all along this street.  Lots of chairs are already out with people claiming a prime spot.

The people just past the line of white chairs have set up a big grill and coolers in the bank drive through.

So much for thinking things would be settled down today!!  We are headed home where it is quieter.

Texas, San Antonio - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - Tour of San Antonio Riverwalk

On Tuesday we planned to see a bit more of Fredericksburg but it was really rainy and most of the places we wanted to see were closed anyway.  We headed out on Wednesday for a short drive to San Antonio.  We thought we were going to get there before the rain hit again, but we weren’t so lucky.  Greg does a great job of keeping the outside of the coach looking good, after that drive it’s a mess.

After we left the campground we took Ranch Road 1376 south to I-10.  The scenery here was more interesting than on I-10.

The Tower of the Americas is visible throughout the downtown area.  The last time we were here the elevator was broken.  Not sure we will attempt a trip to the top this time.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was our choice for lunch.

If you put up the “Stop Forrest Stop” sign, the waiter comes by.  If you put up the “Run Forrest Run” sign, the waiter knows you are ok.

We opted to eat inside since the wait was longer for outside seating.

The four shrimp entrée (which we split) seemed to be really popular.  Each of the cones held a different kind of shrimp – grilled, tempura, coconut and breaded.  At 1420 calories it was still a hit to the diet to split it.

The Riverwalk was beautiful as always.  Lots of greenery, but not too many flowers yet.

This duck sleeping among the just planted flowers didn’t care if it was crowded.

We are here during Fiesta time.  Bleachers, porta potties and closed roads are everywhere in anticipation of two parades which will take place on Friday.  Since I think the crowds are bad enough today, we won’t be coming in town until after the Fiesta is over on Sunday.  We will be here until Wednesday so we’ll still have some time to explore.

We walked over to Alamo Square.  Since we’ve taken the tour before, we didn’t wait in line to go in today.

I had never noticed this statue before.  It was erected in 1936 in memory of those who sacrificed their lives at the Alamo March 6, 1836.  It commemorates 100 years of Texas independence.

The stop at Ghirardelli was a nice treat.  We did limit ourselves to each having one scoop of ice cream in a bowl.

The Freedom Torch is eye catching but right now I don’t know the story behind it.

The Emily Morgan Hotel right across the street from the Alamo has intrigued me since the first time I saw it.  So I decided to find out a little more about it and who was Emily Morgan?    Right now the hotel is a DoubleTree Hotel (love their cookies!!).  It was built in the 1920’s as a Medical Arts Building housing about 400 doctor and dentist offices.  It is the 3^rd most haunted hotel in the world.  Some think that is due to the fact that the medical facility had a morgue, crematorium and psychiatric ward on site.

In 1984 the hotel was named in honor of Emily Morgan amid some controversy.  It seems Ms. Morgan was a legendary figure in the Battle of San Jacinto.  Emily was an indentured servant to a Mr. Morgan from New York who owned a hotel in Texas.  She was sent to work in housekeeping there.  In April of 1836 she and several other hotel workers were kidnapped by Santa Anna’s army.  Santa Anna took a great liking to Emily which worked to his disadvantage when he was “otherwise occupied” with Ms. Morgan and failed to note that his location was being invaded by Texas troops led by Sam Houston.  The battle of San Jacinto lasted only 18 minutes.  The peace treaty signed after the battle dictated that the Mexican army leave the region paving the way for the Republic of Texas to be an independent country.

The Casa Rio is one of the two original restaurants on the River Walk.  We are thinking about eating there later in the week.

Back home again at Travelers World RV Resort.

Here we are tucked back in the corner.  There are two tour groups in here this week so it is really crowded.  We’ve never been back in this area, but it’s rather nice.

Texas, Fredericksburg - Monday, April 22, 2019 - Tour of Fredericksburg

Our first stop on Monday was Wildseed Farms, which is just down the road from where we are staying.

In the Seed Room you can buy over 90 different varieties of wildflower, vegetable and grass seeds.

The gift shop had some very lovely things.  One thing I admired and should have taken a picture of were some exquisite beaded shawls.  I would never go anywhere suitable for wearing anything so fancy but they did catch my eye.

Plants in abundance!  I know some ladies in Indiana who would have a field day here.  I was thinking of you Dinah, Linda and Beth!

This is the view of the Brewbonnet Biergarten outside the wine tasting room.  Once again, we ran into mostly dry wines so we passed on the tasting.  Besides it was still before noon and I hadn’t had lunch – it would have gone straight to my head.

Heading into the outside gardens.

The Butterfly garden had plants to attract butterflies but none were in residence today.

I love poppies!!  This facility has trial gardens and production crops, different flowers are blooming throughout the year and right now it is poppies.

We could see a field of another kind of flower across the way.  There are 200 acres here devoted mainly to wildflowers.

Texas Blue Bonnets were popping up in several places.  I understand these only bloom for a short period of time each year.

There is a half mile walking trail through the fields, with several areas with seating where you can take a rest if necessary.

If you don’t feel like walking you can always hop on the trolley.

We stopped in the Amish Market, Amish stores are usually a good place to find some different low sodium treats.  They also had some beautiful furniture.

Since we had been here before I knew I wanted to stop by Rustlin’ Rob’s Texas Gourmet Foods for some Mexican vanilla.  Of course, we did a lot of sampling of other products.

I love this building.  It is currently a library but it was previously the courthouse.  The new courthouse next door is definitely not worthy of a picture.

Our last stop of the day was the Fredericksburg Winery.  There are 15 wineries represented in downtown Fredericksburg – there are 40 throughout the area.  In addition to the wineries there are some very impressive looking breweries.  Since Fredericksburg was founded by German settlers, German beer seems to be a specialty.

A look down Main Street.

Our purchases today.

We met some more of our neighbors last night, but they were moving too fast to get a good picture – at least 5 very fat chickens.