Riverwalk, San Antonio

The Riverwalk in San Antonio is incredibly gorgeous. There is an outdoor theater with a stage on one side of the river, and the grass covered seating on the other side. There are huge cypress trees that are hundreds of years old and probably eight feet in diameter lining the river. Riverside seating is the norm for dining and drinks while tour boats and water taxis cruise past. There are strings of lights hanging from the trees all along the river. They hang vertically from the high branches of the trees, anchored by weights to hold them straight. Some of the old buildings have mask-like figures on them called the grotesques... kind of scary. There are also huge gargoyles way up on some buildings, but out of camera range. Mariachi bands roam the Riverwalk terrorizing unsuspecting families and couples. I did not label the photos, as there are too many, but look carefully if you are interested. This would be a really good destination for a long weekend romantic trip. More from the missions and the Alamo later.

A GUEST!

We have a guest on board for the trip from San Antonio to Tucson! We picked Sue up at the airport this afternoon and immediately started relaxing... More San Antonio photos to follow...

Hidden beauty

We spent the past week in an absolutely beautiful RV park on Baffin Bay Texas called Seawind RV Resort. The fishing was fantastic from the 150 yard fishing pier, the sites are huge and landscaped, and the people are incredibly friendly. There are limes growing on trees in the park, so recipes need to be adjusted to make use of the fresh citrus.

I caught the largest fish I've caught since we've been on the road, a beautiful hard fighting black drum, I didn't even know that they existed in this bay. The red drum are biting, but they are a bit small, the minimum size is 20" and most of the fish biting were in the 15-18" range.

The only issue we have with this park is that the nearest town and grocery store is 30 minutes away on 70 mph roads. The 70 mph roads here are a completely different story. It's seems like your personal safety is your own responsibility. The roads that are marked for 70 mph here would have been 35-45 mph zones in Pa. I like it here.

The other night, Vicki was out for a walk and stopped at the picnic pavillion. Within minutes, she was surrounded by a dozen or so semi-feral cats. It was an interesting and somewhat spooky experience.

We left this morning, but this was a park that we will absolutely visit again.

Getting Better...

The wind died down, the red tide is backing off, the sun is out and the high tide moved most of the dead fish way up the beach. This stop has gotten way better over the last couple of days. I took the Jeep out onto the beach last night, under a full moon, and just watched the waves in the moonlight. Absolutely beautiful! Our stay here has just gotten much better. We can even let the dogs romp in the water now! The sunrises over the Gulf and sunsets over Laguna Madre are spectacular.

There is a building just to our north that I thought was under construction. After watching the workers for a few days, it seemed that they were tearing it down. Strange, as it is definitely new construction. We asked around a bit and found out it is called the leaning tower of South Padre. The contractor neglected to make sure the foundation was solid, and ended up with a high-rise building with a seven degree angle. I didn't know that people that stupid still existed in positions that allowed mistakes of this degree. Nothing like tearing down a new building that was never even finished.

Moved to Paradise-not.

Well, we enjoyed our last few nights at Sea Breeze RV Park, night fishing and enjoying the company of other couples in the campground. Tuesday morning, we packed up and headed for South Padre Island. We wanted to check out three different campgrounds on South Padre before deciding where to stay. We drove past the South Padre KOA, which is basically a parking lot near the bridge. We then paid $4.00 to drive through Isla Blanca County Park to see what it looked like. It was ok, but nothing special and you can play frisbee with someone in the KOA park if you have a good arm. Then we drove up to the north end of South Padre to Andy Bowie County Park. So the story begins...

We had read that Andy Bowie RV Park was not originally designed to handle large RV's, and we would most likely hit the curbs trying to get in. At this point in the day, we were ready to stay anywhere and I don't mind a challenge. We arrived at the park following the GPS, so the park was on the right, not the left as the GPS had instructed. Luckily, the road was relatively deserted and we made the right from the left lane. We noticed what looked like 3-4 inches of sand blown across the entrance to the park and I thought, no problem... What we did not know, was that a contractor installing pipelines had removed 7 feet of asphalt, dug an 8 foot deep trench, layed the pipe and filled in the 8 foot trench (at the entrance of an RV park) with nice, fine, extra soft dry sand. When the rear wheels of a 30,000 lb rig moving at slow speed, uphill, hit deep, soft, dry sand... guess what happens. Needless to say, forward progress was no longer an option. The storage bins and trailer hitch were on the ground, along with other rather vital parts. We unhooked the Jeep with the help of the park rangers, (who were very surprised that the contractors booby-trapped their park) and managed to back the RV out of the trench and onto the street. At the advice of the rangers, we took a running start at the exit road, because it was not rutted...yet. A 15mph charge up the exit ramp got us in and free to search out which one of the 18 sites in the parking lot we would occupy for the next week, you know there is a one week discount... We picked a spot, set up, paid, and went to see the beach. I don't know how many people know what a Red Tide is, but... A Red Tide is basically an algea bloom/plankton growth, that results in a massive fish kill. The beach is covered with dead fish and a side effect is that humans exposed to the air around the tide experience irritated eyes, coughing, and lung irritation. Today, you could actually see the plankton in the waves. The tide came in and there are waves that look muddy, but are really deadly fish killers! It also hasn't helped that we've had three days with winds of 35mph or higher.

When we pulled in, we parked next to a school bus that has been painted red. It is home to a very nice super friendly couple hit hard by the economy. Jobs lost, apartment lost, but started a new business and working out of it. Tenacity at its best! This country is full of good people who have been hit hard and are doing their best.

This is the wind-surfing and kite-boarding place to be! The Gulf supplies waves and wind for the confident people, and the bay supplies shallow water and safety for those without a death-wish. There are huge sand dunes on this island, and the sand is desperately trying to bury the roads. You can drive for miles on the beaches, I mean miles, really. The beaches are accessable to vehicles and go on for better than 20 miles and remember, you are on your own. Do not get stuck and pay attention to the tides. The deserted beaches are amazing, but not pristine. The lack of population on the beaches also leads to a lack of clean up. Anything that washes up, stays there. Still, very much worth seeing.