San Antonio

We enjoyed our 2 weeks stay in Donna TX and plan to stay there a month in the fall.  We even had a produce vendor come into the park on Tuesdays.  The wagon on the far right was dedicated to bags of onions only -- up to 50 lb bags!

We were able to purchase a bag of key limes for $1.50, a bag of fresh yams for $2.00 and wonderful ripe beefsteak tomatoes from the vendor (only Roma tomatoes are available where we stay in Mexico) .

We left Donna on April 5th (Easter Sunday) to head to San Antonio TX.  We stopped north of McAllen to fuel up the motorhome at a Pilot Truck Stop on Hwy 281. Pilot's price was $2.09 /gallon but thanks to our Pilot discount card we paid only $2.04/gallon.

On our drive we noticed birds with very long tails similar in shape to a magpie but quite different in coloring.  They are called Scissor Tailed Flycatchers and are about 13" long:

Driving north to San Antonio was lovely with all the spring wildflowers out in bloom along the highway -- Texas bluebonnets, brown-eyed susans, daisies, white prickly poppies, just to name a few.

We arrived at Hidden Valley RV Park in mid afternoon.  This park is a true gem.  It's nestled in a little valley with a river running through.  Peaceful and quiet, yet only a 20 minute drive to downtown San Antonio. This is the second time we stayed at Hidden Valley.

We visited the River Walk 3 years ago but never took the boat ride or saw the area lit up at night.  We decided to go out for dinner and then take a boat ride after dark.  It was the perfect evening to do so as the weather was warm -- 75F (23.8C) at 9 pm.

On our walk from the parking garage to the River Walk, we spotted this carriage.  Our grandchildren would love a ride in this! After dark, it is all lit up in led lighting...quite a sight.

We enjoyed fine dining at Ostra along the River Walk. A few photos of the River Walk taken while seated at our table.

There were many ice cream parlors along the River Walk but we chose the Ben and Jerry's on the upper level to share a scoop of Butter Pecan ice cream.

A view of the river walk from Ben and Jerry's

waiting to board the riverboat for a 35 minute tour

aboard the boat

The next day we spent the morning taking photographs of the wildflowers around our campground.

Verbena

Really ting blue flowers

Prickly pear cactus

lots of new growth on this cactus paddle

flowers on the tree seen in the photo above of the laneway into the campground

A whole field of wildflowers

white prickly poppy

looks like a little face on this Day Flower

A cluster of Day Flowers

winecup flower

Lots and lots of wine cups

Texas Star

Texas bluebonnet

 Texas bluebonnets proliferates along the highways throughout Texas. The grow in big clusters and we saw a whole field of them that was easily 3 acres in size!

Huisache Daisy

Vic photographing the flowers in the next picture

Pink evening primrose

A Monarch recently returned from wintering in Mexico

the river running through the campground - we spotted gar and catfish in the river- our rig in the background

In the afternoon we took a car trip north to New Braumfels to browse through the PPL RV lot and pick up their latest parts catalogue. From there we headed towards Lockhart which is famous throughout all the land for their Barbeque Brisket. Lockart is located about an hour northeast from San Antonio towards Austin.   

On the way we passed the Texas Waterski Center.  A pretty amazing place! There are no boats. What??? The skiers are towed around the man-made lake by a cable tow. There are ramps and jumps and a pipe to ride. If you fall, there is no boat to come and get you. You have to get out of the water and walk back to the starting area to get another grab at a tow line handle.

We arrived early in Lockhart so walked around the historic downtown area.  The old courthouse was truly amazing! It has been totally restored and looks like it was just built.When it opened in 1894, it was state-of-the-art and had electricity.

Then we dropped into a wine tasting bar to try some wines from 4 Texas wineries.  While there we met some very interesting people visiting from the Netherlands. The guy we were talking to had just been married the day before.

There are 4 famous BBQ restaurants in Lockhart.  We tired Black’s for their barbecued brisket and sausage.

Simple, clean and concrete floors and 82 years in biz