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.