Back to Guadalupe River State Park and San Antonio

Red Oak Leaves

People say that Texas doesn’t have a fall season, but my contention has always been (in South Texas anyway) that we do have a fall but it is the two weeks before Christmas and most people are just too busy to notice it. This year we have not been too busy to notice.  When we returned to Guadalupe River State Park this week the fall color was just begging to be noticed. 

Mullein or Cowboy Toilet Paper

Guadalupe River State Park has always been a favorite place of ours.  Just about 30 minutes from San Antonio, the park is the only developed public access point to the upper Guadalupe River.  The river flows wild, rugged and undammed within the park.  

Honey Creek State Natural Area

Honey Creek State Natural Area adjoins the park and is open on Saturday mornings at 9 am for guided tours.  The clear, spring fed Honey Creek meanders through the area on its journey to the Guadalupe River.  Education, research, protection and appreciation of the site are the primary missions of Honey Creek State Natural Area and that is why access to the site is limited to guided tours only.  David and I used to be guides at Honey Creek and gave some of those tours.  So we urge you to take a tour in the upcoming year if you haven’t already.

Appetizer at Dough's

While staying at the park, we went into San Antonio almost everyday to visit, Christmas shop and attend a few parties.  It was so great to meet up with the ‘gang’ at Tycoon Flats, eat at Pasano's, Dough and Chuy’s with friends and visit the San Antonio Botanical Garden.  Our Christmas shopping is almost done, the stockings are hung and it is time for us to head to Odessa to spend the holidays with family.  We will be back right after New Year’s.  There are still so many friends we haven’t seen yet.  But we will see you next year.  We promise!  In the meantime, have a Happy Holiday!

Chuy's -- Merry Christmas!

 

BBQ in Luling and Palmetto State Park

Christmas decorations in downtown Luling



Besides good Mexican food, we have also missed Texas Barbeque.  Since we were headed back to San Antonio for a few Christmas parties and get togethers with friends we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have some good BBQ along the way. We had always wanted to visit Palmetto State Park and the city of Luling was just a few miles away from the park and famous for really great BBQ.  In fact, Luling is on the official “Texas BBQ Trail.”  I had not realized that Texas had a BBQ Trail.  So that was the plan and we worked up our appetites as we drove along I-10.                                

 

City Market Barbeque

Our lunch served on paper

We stopped in downtown Luling at the City Market.  Downtown was decorated for Christmas which added to the charm.  The family-owned City Market has a back room where the BBQ pits are located and where you place your order.  After weighing out your BBQ, it is wrapped in paper and you carry it out to the large tables that you might be sharing with other customers.  There are no forks in this place so lots of finger licking and napkins are in order.  The ribs and brisket were cooked to perfection and we did not go home hungry.

 

Yeah, it's messy but really good!

Full and happy we headed to Palmetto State Park and had a nice afternoon hiking the trails and enjoying this ‘cozy’ park.  Located just south of I-10 on the banks of the San Marcos River, Palmetto is practically in the small town of Ottine.  The geology of the park makes it very unique for the area.  Layers of rock and clay trap a lot of the ground water making the park very boggy.  This abundance of water makes a perfect habitat for the Dwarf Palmetto Palm (thus the park’s name), which usually grows farther east.
 

Dwarf Palmettos in the park

David and Maya in the 'swamp'

 

David, Maya and I hiked the trails and boardwalks of the park enjoying the feel of being in a swamp.  It was the perfect time of year to visit.  I’m not sure we would have wanted to be there during the heat of the summer and mosquito season.  Although we didn’t see or hear any evidence of the ‘Swamp Thing’ that supposedly roams the park, that was OK by us.

Water tower that pumped water from an artesian well

A sign put up by 'Swamp Thing?'

A Cold Front and Stephen F. Austin State Park

Stephen F. Austin, Father of Texas

After our camping companions at Buescher State Park left for home Sunday afternoon it became incredibly still and muggy - the calm before the storm.  A cold front started to blow in about 7:30 pm and during the night acorns and small branches rained upon our RV.  Maya did not like it one bit, so she was very restless during the night with all the noises, rain and wind. Needless to say it was not a good sleep for any of us. The next morning brought more rain and temperatures in the 50s. Night temperatures at Buescher and the Hill Country area were to drop into the mid to lower 20s for the next several days.  It looked like the weather would be a little milder to the south and east so we headed for Stephen F. Austin State Park near Sealy, TX.

 

David and Maya in front of Stephen F. Austin's cabin

Stephen F. Austin State Park is just off I-10 in the little town of San Felipe de Austin (named to honor both a patron saint of Mexico and empresario Stephen F. Austin).  David and I got a very good review of our Texas State History at the historic site in the park.  San Felipe was founded in 1824 where the Old San Antonio Road crossed the Brazos River and the first settlers were the Old Three Hundred families who established Stephen F. Austin’s first colony.  The settlers had been lured by land as cheap as four cents per acre but soon Mexico won independence from Spain and things started to change.  Dictator General Santa Anta seized power in Mexico in 1833 and his tight control spilled into Texas - trying to stop immigration to Texas, limit settlers’ weapons, impose high tariffs and abolish slavery.  Of course this did not go over well with our early Texans. 

To greatly condense our Texas history, after many failed negotiations Stephen F. Austin was jailed in Mexico on charges of sedition.  Not long after some of the first armed conflicts began, Sam Houston started to raise an army, U.S. volunteers arrived to assist in the Texas fight and then the siege of the Alamo began on February 24, 1836.  Texas Independence was declared on March 2, 1836 and on March 6 the Alamo fell.

The settlement at San Felipe de Austin was next in the path of General Santa Anta and the town was burned during the Runaway Scrape to prevent Santa Anta’s army from taking it.  The people of the town were very conflicted.  Many were the original settlers and had lived in San Felipe for 15 – 20 years. They had made their life in San Felipe and everything they owned was there. The newer settlers were more eager for an adventure and a fight for Texas independence.  I guess there is nothing new about about conservative and liberal politics.  Well, most of you know how it all ended – Santa Anta was surprised by the Texans at San Jacinto and the Mexican Army was defeated.  There were several years of unrest, rebellion and skirmishes with Mexico but Texas became the 28th state in the Union on December 29 of 1845.

Along the Brazos River at Stephen F. Austin State Park

After spending a great morning visiting the on-site museum and wandering the grounds of San Felipe, we returned to the campground and hit the hiking trails.  The park has over 5 miles of trails that meander through the bottom lands by the Brazos River.  It is a rich birding area and we saw a huge vulture roost, many crows, red shouldered hawks, lots of sparrows and many pileated woodpeckers.  I just love those woodpeckers. At night we were serenaded by great horned owls.  Although our nights were in the upper 20s, our days were in the 60s and the abundant sunshine really helped warm us as we hiked and birded and had a great time exploring the park.

Vine growth, river bottom land near Brazos River

 

Vulture Roost

 

 

Camping at Buescher State Park near Bastrop

After Lake Waco, we drove back to Austin and then past Bastrop to Buescher State Park.  We hadn’t been to the Bastrop area since the fires and it was pretty sad to see much of those ‘Lost Pines’ burned.  But you can see new plants coming back and there are many pines that were not burned.  A new forest is slowly being born. Still it will be a long time before it will be a mature pine forest again.

Buescher did not suffer as much from the fire as Bastrop and that is the reason we decided to stay there.  The campgrounds were untouched by fire and the burned areas were mostly near the park boundaries.  The woods and trails in Buescher were still thickly forested and it was easy to forget that just a few miles away was such devastation.

Tessa and Kellen (on the tree branch) by the lake

On a much happier note, our friends Sasha and Casey and their kids, Tessa and Kellen came for the weekend and camped with us. What a great time we had!  We walked around the lake area, grilled steaks and told stories around the campfire and of course made smores. Tessa is quite the storyteller. 

Sasha watching the fire

On the trail in Buescher State Park

The next morning we made pancakes for breakfast and went on a long hike. Maya had so much fun with Tessa and Kellen.  Boy was she tired though.  Come to think of it, so were we…

Lots of love and kisses

Signs of beaver gnawing on willow

San Marcos and Lake Waco



Sights and Sounds Christmas Festival in San Marcos

Our very long time friends, John and Cindy live near San Marcos and they had a little time off so we wanted to visit and go camping for a few days with them.  One night we met another friend, Pip and all of us went to the Sights and Sounds Christmas Festival on the San Marcos River.  The weather was so warm we all wore shorts!   I haven’t had shorts on in months but I had to dig them back out.  Crazy Texas weather -- we felt ‘home.’  But it didn’t exactly feel like Christmas…

Sunset on Lake Waco

 

After a few days in San Marcos, we loaded up the camping gear and headed for a place that Cindy and John knew about on Lake Waco.  It was an Army Core of Engineers Campground that was very well maintained and not at all crowded this time of year.  We had some great cookouts, a little cooler weather and one absolutely incredible sunset that just kept on and on.  And to top it off -- a few meteors one night!

John, Cosmo (the Italian Greyhound), Cindy, Cindy, Maya and David

 

 

  

Guadalupe River State Park

“Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it.”  Ferris Bueler

One thing we learned on our journeys this summer is that there is so much out there to see.  And now that we are back in Texas we have realized that there is still so much here in our great state that we have not seen. Over the next several months our plans will be to travel around Texas enjoying our state parks while we are reconnecting with friends and family.  We will be passing through the San Antonio area often this winter to visit everyone (maybe not all at the same time) and we hope to convince some of you to take off a few days and go camping with us. 

 

Cochineal insect on prickly pear cactus pad at Guadalupe River State Park
Cochineal makes a natural red dye that is used in foods and to dye fabric.

Right after Thanksgiving, we stayed for a couple of days at Guadalupe River State Park. We did a little visiting with friends and former co-workers and took care of a little business – David had to go to Chuy’s.  He was desperate for a Chuy’s steak burrito.  After all, it had been over 5 months for a guy who went to Chuy’s at least a couple of times a month for 14 years.  David was in heaven and though I am not as addicted to Chuy’s as David, I’ll have to admit the ‘Boom-Boom’ Enchiladas did taste very good. 

 

Little Bluestem and other grasses, Guadalupe River State Park

 

Guadalupe River State Park was quiet and beautiful.  Red oak leaves were turning from red to brown and beginning to fall. The little bluestem was still in seed and turning its 'Christmas colors' of red and green.  Although you wouldn't know it from the warm weather, winter will be upon us soon.

Ft. Davis and Home for Thanksgiving

After leaving the Bosque del Apache we made a quick stop in El Paso for service on our RV chassis.  The dust was blowing so we were welcomed back properly to West Texas!  We decided to head to Ft. Davis for a few days before we went to visit with family in Odessa for Thanksgiving.

 

View from skyline trail of Ft. Davis area

 

It was so nice to be in Ft. Davis again.  I had forgotten just how dark those night skies can be (and on our trip we’ve been seeing some pretty good night skies).  We used to visit Ft. Davis frequently when we lived in West Texas but it had been years since our last trip.

Javalina checking out the campground

 
Davis Mountain State Park was quiet with only a few campers.  Javalina wandered through our campsite at regular intervals and Maya became most interested in them.  It did get pretty cold a couple of nights, but the days were warm.  We hiked, visited the McDonald Observatory for a ‘Sky Party,’ drove around some and generally slowed down a bit.  These past 5 months we have travelled at a pretty good pace and crossed time zones frequently.  So we needed to take some time to get back in a Texas frame of mind. 

Thanksgiving in Odessa with family was very nice.  We had the traditional turkey and trimmings and lots of catching up to do.  David and I will be travelling to San Antonio in just a few days and are hoping to see many of our friends there very soon.

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

Snow geese and other light geese taking flight

November 10th marked our 5 month anniversary of travelling in our RV and being ‘On the Road with Maya.’  And in that time we had driven almost 10,000 miles!  That meant we needed to get our first service for the Sprinter chassis – oil change, fluid check, etc.  From Santa Fe, the nearest authorized service center was El Paso and that suited our need to head south and stay ahead of the cold temperatures.  Lucky for us and right on our way was the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near San Antonio, New Mexico (also home of the Buckhorn Cafe, famous for their green chile cheeseburgers). We had time and warm enough weather for a couple of days stop.

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

 
Although David and I had been doing some birding all along our travels, we had not gone specifically to one birding destination. So we decided it was about time. The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is on the Central Flyway for migrating birds and is the winter home of thousands of sandhill cranes, geese and waterfowl. We had never been to the refuge and were excited to be there during migration and just a week before the 25th Festival of the Cranes.  The Festival marks the arrival of the first large waves of migrating sandhill cranes and snow geese.  It is  not uncommon to see 3,000 to 8,000 cranes and 30,000 to 40,000 geese during this time.

Sandhill cranes at sunset

Marsh area at the Bosque

The wave of migrating birds had just begun to arrive and David and I estimated that we saw about a thousand cranes and maybe 10,000 snow geese plus Canadian geese, Ross’s geese, thousands of ducks – mallards, pintails, buffleheads, black bellied whistling duck, blue-winged teal and cormorants and coots .  Throw in some white ibis, night herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills, brown thrashers, harriers, American kestrels, red tail hawks, an Aplomado falcon, and these two novice birders had a great time.  We saw more birds, we just weren’t good enough and quick enough to identify them all.  But what fun to try and what a great place to work on it!  It has inspired us to do more birding.  So, look for us on the Texas Coast this winter…

 

A Return to Santa Fe and the Pecos Wilderness

Fallen aspen leaves, Pecos Wilderness

For several weeks colder weather has been pushing us farther south and to lower altitudes and now the holidays are fast approaching.  So we are headed back to Texas.  We have been having so many adventures and such great fun that our time away has really flown by.  But we will be glad to be seeing family and friends very soon.

It was fitting on our way back that we returned to Santa Fe, our first stop in June when our adventure began.  During our week in Santa Fe we took several hikes in the Pecos Wilderness, reconnected with some friends we made at our campground in June and visited my cousin, Carol Ann.

Frozen Nambe Lake, Pecos Wilderness

At an elevation of over 10,000 feet, the Pecos Wilderness was getting cold.  Many of the streams and lakes were starting to ice over and the aspen leaves had fallen.  We had never hiked the Pecos at this time of year and although the hiking was cold, it kept most people away leaving us almost alone in the wilderness.  No snow had fallen yet and the views were more open through the bare aspen trunks.  Each season has its beauty and we enjoyed the quietness of approaching winter.



Nambe Creek

On top of Hamilton Mesa, Pecos Wilderness

 

One afternoon we met friends Keri and Melody and their dog, Oso, who now live in Santa Fe.  They were the first friends we made on our journey.  Back in June we were staying at Hyde Memorial State Park and Maya and Oso (a handsome Great Pyrenees) became buddies, so we did too. We found out that Keri and Melody had just arrived in Santa Fe from Rhode Island and were camping until they could find a place to live.  It was so good to catch up and see them happy and settled in Santa Fe.  Oso and Maya had some catching up to do too and seemed to really enjoy their time in the dog park.

Keri, Maya, Oso and Melody

It was also wonderful to reconnect with my cousin, Carol Ann, that I hadn’t seen in many years.  She recently built the cutest little adobe house not too far from downtown Santa Fe.  We had a wonderful New Mexican dinner together at the Zia Diner and then a tour of her house.  So much fun!

Although we had some chilly hikes up in the Pecos, Santa Fe itself had been enjoying unseasonably warm weather.  But as the weekend drew near a front was  on the way with snow in the forecast and temperatures at night in the teens.  Time to move on again…. 

Monument Valley

Sunset on West and East Mitten, Monument Valley

The four corners of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico have always attracted us.  This area is so rich with beauty, history, archaeology and geology that it would take many visits to enjoy even a fraction of what is there.  Like many places that we have visited in the past few weeks, Monument Valley was a place we had passed through before but wanted to spend more time exploring. 



Hidden Arch near our campground

Monument Valley is located in the Navajo Nation and its name in Navajo means 'moonlight against the rocks.'  It is always an amazing place, but at night and with moonlight it becomes magical.  We just happened to arrive in time to take the last full moon tour of the season.  Our Navajo Guide drove us and 7 others into the back country to watch the moon rise over Monument Valley and to view the rock formations in the moonlight.  

Once the sun went down we huddled together to keep warm in the open vehicle.  Our guide, Bennett, told us stories of the Navajo in Monument Valley as well as the more recent history of movies and movie stars like John Wayne and Johnny Depp (who plays Tonto in a new movie to be out soon).

Our campsite in the Valley

 Navajo 'campground dog'

 

Many of the Navajo that live in the remote parts of the reservation still live with no electricity, water or indoor plumbing.  And much of the water must be hauled to their homes.  Children have long commutes to even get to the school bus stops and then longer rides into school.  David and I can vouch for the roughness of the roads.  Bennett joked that there were two road conditions, bad and worse.  He called the road that we were driving that night for our tour a 'Navajo Roller Coaster.'

Our campground was right in the valley and had wonderful views.  One of the local Navajo family's dog hung out at the campground.  He was so sweet and Maya loved him.  It was all we could do not to take him with us.  But we had to go so like the Navajo, we didn't say goodbye. The Navajo don't use a word for good bye, the translation is more like - 'see you when I see you.'

 

Eagle Mesa