The road less traveled
Yesterday, we dropped the trailer for a one-night stay at Lackland AFB, Bill’s Air Force basic training stomping grounds, and had one afternoon/evening to explore San Antonio. We headed for the famous “riverwalk” and it was different and better than I expected, but despite the neat cultural feel, it was just packed with people and tourist traps. After winding our way through a few turns with the double wide stroller, we exited back up to street level. We wandered the Alamo for a few minutes, and I still don’t know the history of what happened there because there were too many people blocking the signs, and the kids were bored. (although I will note that Bill recently complimented me on my interest and effort to learn history on this trip). We considered dinner on the riverwalk like everyone else, but then I spotted a park on my travel companion—the iPhone map. We’re pretty tough park critics these days, but the yelp reviews peaked my interest and it was an easy 1/2 mile walk away. We ordered a pizza on UberEats and Bill got us to-go margaritas from a nearby Marriott while the kids and I headed to the play structures. It really was a unique play space, had beautiful mosaic structures, old gondola cars, cityscape and Tower of the Americas in the background, comfy chairs for the adults, and even a preserved part of the historic irrigation channel (Oh, I did have a history lesson after all!). This was definitely a ‘glad we took the road/river less traveled’ kind of evening!
Yanaguana Garden at Hemisfair in downtown San Antonio... way better than the riverwalk!
Old gondola cars to play in.
Modeled after some park in Spain.
Today, we headed to Fredricksburg, a Bavarian get-away town in Texas’ wine/hill country. We opted for a Harvest Host camp spot in Bankersmith, TX (population 0) instead of a crowded RV Park closer to town. What remains of Bankersmith (if it ever was really a town) is a rustic-elegant event venue/daily bar & bbq with fun outdoor area. From live acoustic music at the bar, to a resident dog that licks your face, to a goat bus, this place was a memorable stop. Our campsite “down the road” was truly what pictures are made of—boondocking under the stars in a cow pasture with a stone fire pit, no bugs, just a light breeze, encircled by wild and domestic animals. Our neighbor campers that night were a young Maryland (but from Germany and India) couple working their IT jobs from their sprinter van.
We were sad to leave this cow pasture off the beaten path.
You read that right! Goats in a bus!! (they could get out)
We rode our bikes to the “town” from our cow pasture campsite. Behind the fence we found a kid-sized old western town, goats, music, bbq, and more.
And back at the campsite...
