Tuesday 6 December 2011

River City

Lone Star State!


While on our break |Sandra decided to work on some quilting projects for fun.  Notice Buddy under the table blocking the presser foot of the sewing machine!  I guess he wanted some attention!

Huge Christmas Tree out in front of the Alamo Historic Shrine

The Alamo - historic battle fought here in 1836 between Texas and Mexico - Texas lost!

Part of the Alamo - amazing - over 200 years old!

Down on the River Walk in San Antonio.  The River Walk is below the streets and roadways - note the roadway above. 

Wee tour boats along the River Walk - we took one of these guided tours - enchanting!

Fountains and water falls along the River Walk - the architect who designed this attraction did an amazing job!

Arched walk-way over the San Antonio River along the River Walk.  The San Antonio River is really quite small and along these channels is only about 4' deep.  They do have flood control gates and apparently they 'turn the river off' in January to do maintenance and clean up - dredge the 'stuff' out that has fallen in the River etc.  One fellow said they found a Rolex in the river bed one year and it was still running!

Walking paths stretch along both sides of the river.  One can stroll for 8 miles.  Sandra loved it!

A mural on one of the buildings lining the River Walk.  the buildings butt right up against the walk-ways.  We had no idea all this was down here - what an amazing sight!

Patron Saint of San Antonio!

A hotel along the River Walk - the most amazing thing being it was built in less than 3 months for the Worlds Fair - the original contractor defaulted, so the new contractor promised to deliver in the compressed time frame in order that the pre-sold rooms would be available for the Fair tourists - or he'd 'give' the building to the city.  He delivered!!!!

Light displays on the trees along the River Walk

Interesting architecture on the old buildings lining the River Walk

Charming!

St Nick's Hospital along the River Walk.  Optical illusion - it looks like this is a free standing wall!

We dined here at the County Line on the River Walk

A view of the River Walk from street level

Enjoying the River Walk ambiance!

Sandra's steak dinner at the County Line Restaurant on the River Walk.  The steak size was modest - but the potato was "something else"!  It had to be the equivalent of at least 3 medium sized potatoes.

Where we've traveled in the US

A dramatic sky with Old Glory fluttering away!

A resident Egret at our RV Park.  He was so tame until we had the camera, then he tended to shy away.

We spent an afternoon strolling around Braunig Lake near our RV Park.  Here another Egret graced us with his presence and tended to pose a little better!

What a graceful creature!
We have taken a bit of a break.  Twenty weeks of staying on the move on the road does tire one out a bit!  We paused in San Antonio and again down here in the Rio Grande Valley - where we will stay put now for another 2 weeks before heading over to AZ for Christmas.  Damon's Mother In Law Paulina has invited us to share Christmas with her and her friend Patty in Tempe - which was very kind of them.  We will definitely enjoy the time spent with them and with old friends in our former park in Casa Grande for New Years.  Meanwhile - we'll post a few pictures of the San Antonio River Walk - which we found absolutely charming.  Many people recommended spending some time on the River Walk but we absolutely could not visualize it.  What a charming place!