Our first full day in San Antonio we wanted to check out this River Walk thing that gets so much praise. Yep, it stands up to the hype. Such a great feature for a city. Walking along these canal-like waterways full of lush landscaping and endless choices of bars and restaurants. It has an Amsterdam feel. We would make our way back here several times during our stay. A real gem.

 

We got hit with a winter storm that brought freezing temps and ice for a few days. On one of those, we had to make an unexpected visit to the ER. Whoopsies. I fell on our ice-covered RV steps, my back making full contact with the edge of the step. The X-Rays were inconclusive for a fractured rib, but they decided to treat it as such. The first few post-injury days were rough, but on the 3rd day I was able to do a short walk. And within a week, I was back to pre-injury level of activities but the rib definitely continued to make things uncomfortable. Oh well, luckily it wasn’t worse and hopefully this will be the only injury either one of us suffers.

 

San Antonio has an amazing network of Greenways — multi-use bike paths that meander through riparian areas. The city is continuing to expand them and hopefully will create a continuous loop around the entire metro area. We had some really fun rides on these paths. Lots of wildlife (mostly deer 🙂 to be seen.  On one of our Greenway rides, I decided to do the full route, end-to-end. The Howard W. Peak Greenway Trails System is great. I wish more cities would invest more into multi-use paths. Beneficial in so many ways – connecting with the outdoors, fitness, an attraction to boost tourism, etc. The Leon Creek and Salado Creek Greenways connector was recently completed to create an uninterrupted 40+ mile bike path. Now that is what I call bike path bliss 🙂 Of course, I had to ride the whole thing 🙂 And it was super fun, despite the possible broken rib. After a few miles, I felt like I was going to have to turn back, but eventually the pain subsided and started feeling better and was able to complete the route.

 

We drove out to the little town of Seguin in order to kayak on the Guadalupe River. Texas has a series of Paddling Trails. Lake Seguin which is part of the Guadalupe River is one of them. We enjoyed a great kayak trip on the water and some brews at the Seguin Brewing Company in town. Lots of turtles sunbathing on logs along the river. Whenever we got too close they would all slide off the log into the water. Free entertainment 🙂 And lots of blue herons. One of my favorite days in San Antonio. We enjoyed the area so much we went back and did another paddle on another stretch of the river.

 

So close to Austin, we had to plan a little side trip to the Texas capitol. We decided to leave the trailer behind and stay in a condo for a few days. Our 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo felt like a mansion compared to our little 16 foot trailer 🙂 Austin is a funky town that shares alot of similarities to Portland. They even have the motto “Keep Austin Weird.” Love it! We loved the vibe of the town — totally felt like we were back in the Rose City. So many cool breweries and places to eat.

 

We enjoy touring caverns so we decided to check out the Natural Bridge Caverns near New Braunfels. So glad we didn’t miss this. The caves were beautiful. We like caves for a number of reasons. They show how there is so much undiscovered beauty on this planet. Mother Nature’s art will always surpass anything man-made. The town of New Braunfels is great too. Founded by German immigrants, no shortage of tasty German food and beer 🙂 We even re-visited a 2nd time on our last full day to kayak the Guadalupe River and enjoy some baked treats from the oldest bakery in Texas.

 

I was able to get in a couple group rides with the San Antonio Wheelmen. A super friendly group of men and women that ride all over Bexar County. Once you get out on the country roads, there are lots of good routes. Even saw a couple Northern Crested Caracara or “Mexican Eagles” — majestic birds. One of the rides, we had a large group of about 15 riders. The other ride was just me and Bob because it was a bit chilly at the start. I guess cyclists in Texas don’t like colder temps. In Portland, it would have been considered a perfect winter day — 40 degrees at the start, high 50’s by the end of the ride, blue skies.

 

San Antonio has lots of murals in the downtown area. We planned a Westside Mural walking tour. It’s nice to see a neighborhood use street art and murals to help create a feeling of pride and a sense of community.

 

That’s a wrap for San Antonio. Our perceptions and stereotypes of Texas have definitely been altered from this trip. It was a great experience and really showed me that no matter what part of the country or even world you are from, we are all the same in that we are just seeking happiness for ourselves and our fellow man and woman.

 

Next stop, Zion National Park, Utah with some more adventures sprinkled in on the journey there.