Lovin’ San Antonio

Location: San Antonio, TX (High 76, Low 60)

San Antonio has easily jumped right to the top of the list of favorite places we have been this winter! We had a great first day exploring.

After getting up and enjoying our morning cups of coffee, we made our way across the street to catch the bus downtown. The bus comes by every half hour so it’s really convenient. ($1.20/person one way)

 

The bus dropped us off right in the Riverwalk/Alamo location. A few steps and we were taking our first look at the Riverwalk. It was not what I had expected, and I loved it! I had pictured something like Savannah and New Orleans, but this was so much nicer.

 

There was a wonderful walkway, and every so often a nice little arched bridge crossing to the other side of the water.

 

We enjoyed watching the boats giving the tour of the waterway. We plan to do that later this week. Yesterday we just wanted to walk around and get a bite to eat.

 

 

There are so many choices for places to eat. I loved the little seating areas right on the water. (I did see at least one that advertised as pet friendly on the patio.)

 

We had a hard time picking one, but wanted to try some Mexican so that at least narrowed our choices somewhat. We ended up eating at Casa Rio’s. Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch we headed out to find the Alamo. I’ve heard other people say it was smaller than they expected, so I was prepared…but it really was small. Pictures aren’t allowed inside.

 

 

 

 

 

After visiting the Alamo, we decided to make our way back to the campground, so we found the bus stop and had maybe a twenty minute wait for the next bus heading for the KOA. We were happy that taking the public transportation was a pretty simple process.

 

We got back to the campground about 2 pm. It was cloudy still but warm. Before we got too settled, we went out to do our run, and then we just had a relaxing rest of the day. We are looking forward to the rest of our week here.

Arrival in San Antonio

Location: San Antonio, TX (High 78, Low 64)

Yesterday was my favorite kind of travel day. With a short trip of 110 miles coming up, we didn’t need to leave until close to check out time, so we had a leisurely morning, and were getting ready to pull out around 11:15.

 

After about two hours on the road, we were heading into the outskirts of San Antonio at 1 pm. With it being Sunday, the roads were pretty clear.

 

We are settled into a nice pull through site in the San Antonio KOA. The staff gave us a great information packet when we checked in about the public transportation into the city. The bus stop is apparently right across the street. We’ll be finding out this morning.

One other thing I LOVE about this campground is a walking and biking trail that runs right by it. We went for a short 2.5 mile walk last night and we hadn’t gotten to the end of it before we turned around, so I’m not sure how long it is.

 

 

I’m sure we will be utilizing this path several days this week.

Nice Sunny Travel Day

Location: Weimar, TX (High 71, Low 46)

Last night we were lucky to miss out on the line of storms that moved through parts of Texas and other states in the south. We weren’t able to avoid the ever present wind though. Around 8 pm the winds started to pick up, and our sleep throughout the night was broken up by the sounds of gusting wind blowing over and under our slide toppers.

We were happy to wake up and discover that the high winds had passed however. And it was a nice sunny beautiful kind of travel day.

I kept an eye on the traffic reports from Houston, and we made our final decision about which route we would take through the city. We had read various reports from rv’ers on the forums about whether to take 610, or stay on I-10 right through the city. At the last minute we decided to take 610W around the city.

It wasn’t a bad move. We did have one tricky moment when we discovered that 610W was a left exit, but luckily we were able to maneuver over the three lanes to get ourselves into position for the exit.

 

We had about 15 minutes of slow moving traffic, where we were going about 30 mph. That was the last two miles before the exit to I-10.

 

 

After that we were heading out of Houston and it was pretty smooth sailing! Whew!

 

 

 

For the second hour of our trip, we were able to enjoy the kind of scenery that we like much better than the city landscape.

 

 

 

Nice wide open spaces!

 

 

 

 

We are settled into a great spot at Whispering Oaks RV Park in Weimar, TX.

 

 

 

Enjoying 71 degrees, sunshine…and NO wind!

Time in Galveston is Winding Down

Location: Galveston, TX (High 71, Low 58)

Our three weeks here in Galveston is almost at an end. When we first arrived, we had plans to go down and park by the sea wall for our daily runs, but it’s been so foggy and windy we have just done our runs here at the campground.

 

 

Yesterday afternoon we actually had a period of time where the fog lifted and we went out for a nice walk in the sunshine. You can still see the fog in the sky behind me.

 

 

We are in our seventh week now of our training program for the half marathon, and our runs are going really well. We just signed up for another race, this one a four mile one up in NY in April. I think I almost have Harry hooked!

 

I have spent some of our down time here doing some planning for next winter. We have a rough idea of where we want to spend the next couple winter seasons – next year in Florida and then Arizona the winter after that. We haven’t decided for sure yet, but are contemplating actually spending a couple months in one place next year after we leave Campbellsville – right now we are looking at the Port St. Lucie area. Although we do enjoy moving around, we also would like the opportunity to settle in and get to know people, which doesn’t really happen when you’re moving on every week or two. The Port St. Lucie area seems to have a lot of parks and outside recreation areas, which is what Harry and I are really interested in. Plus it appears to be in a good area for day trips, and south enough that the weather should be good. So far it’s looking like a strong contender.

Other than that, we’ve been relaxing, reading, and I’ve been working on ancestry.com on our family trees. Just a nice laid-back three weeks.

Laying Low

Location: Galveston, TX (High 66, Low 58)

 

Well, it seems that the temperatures have finally moderated. We enjoyed a couple days this week with blue skies and sunshine, which was very welcome…

 

…although the winds continue to blow. We went for a walk on the beach yesterday and it was like walking in a wind tunnel. You can kind of see in the picture the way my clothes are being sucked against my body. And my shirt was definitely blowing in the wind!

 

The weather really hasn’t been the kind of weather we like for going out and sightseeing. There’s been a pretty cold wind each day and we keep waiting for it to subside a bit, but it hasn’t obliged. And today the clouds have returned.

On the positive side, it has been great for our finances. We haven’t been eating out or spending money on touristy types of things. At this point, we may just use our last few days to hang out here and save our budget for San Antonio, where hopefully the weather will be nicer and we will feel more like getting out and exploring.

Speaking of finances…we had our phone interview yesterday with the person from HR at Amazon. It was pretty straightforward since we already know what the job entails. So we are all set for our return to Campbellsville in late August or early September.

Relaxing in the Sunshine

Location: Galveston, TX (High 68, Low 48)

When I got up yesterday morning, I could already see that it was finally going to be a nice day. Blue sky, no clouds, no fog. What a welcome change after our first two weeks here.

 

 

Although the breeze is still a bit on the chilly side, we did make a statement by putting on our shorts and sitting outside in the sun for a while yesterday afternoon.

 

 

 

Yes, the chairs are out of the basement!!

 

 

 

The blue sky looks so wonderful.

 

 

 

I definitely think a walk to the beach may be in order this afternoon.

In Sight!

Location: Galveston, TX (High 44, Low 38)

The weather has been pretty constant, but not in a good way – cloudy, foggy, rainy. We did have a couple days in the low 60s, but they were still pretty dreary. After today though, we have a string of days coming up where we may actually see some sunshine!

 

The highlight of the past few days was meeting Harry’s niece Kelly and her family on Sunday afternoon. We had been hoping for a nice day but it was a bit cool and foggy.

 

 

We had a good time anyway –  enjoying a great lunch at Tortuga Mexican Kitchen.

 

 

 

Harry and I both ordered chimichangas and they were SO good.

 

 

 

Then we went for a walk on the beach.

 

 

 

With the fog, the views were limited.

There is an ocean right beyond those rocks!

 

 

The kids got to feed a pelican.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After walking for a bit more, it was time to say goodbye.

 

 

 

Today it is rainy and windy. We may get outside for a walk if it stops, but otherwise we are sticking close to home. After today we finally have a stretch of what looks like nice days coming up. We may get those chairs out of the basement yet.