Walk, Lunch, and Rampage Ice Hockey - Sat., Dec. 14

Saturday dawned with clear skies, although it was still a bit cold. Today, we went to Boerne, Texas again, this time for an 11K Volksmarch all around the town, including the Boerne Christmas Market. When we hopped out of the car, a chill wind sent us scurrying back to grab our coats.

The Randolph Roadrunner Volksmarch Club sponsored today's walk. We walked through town, along The Old No. 9 trail, next to the Guadalupe River and Cibolo Creek. But the best part of the walk was through the booths at the Boerne Christmas Market and exploring inside Ye Kendall Inn.

But let's start at the beginning. After we signed in for the walk and were handed our map, we set out in a stiff, cold breeze that had me putting my coat's hood up and holding onto it to keep it from blowing off my head. We passed the old jail and walked on side streets to the Old No. 9 rails-to-trails trail.

Bob and fall colors, December 14, 2013.

Loads of historical information here.

We didn't take time to read it all.

Old No. 9 Greenway Trail.

I loved walking along the Guadalupe River...there were scads of black-bellied whistling ducks in the river and on tree branches. They were making quite a ruckus.

Black-bellied whistling ducks.

Black-bellied whistling ducks.

More black-bellied whistling ducks.

Little Gretel German Restaurant in Boerne, Texas.

Armadillo sculpture.

Castle in the roses.

Guadalupe River

Along the River Road Park Trail was the Tannenbaum Trail. A  number of decorated Christmas trees lined the road.

Reminds me of Effie in The Hunger Games!

Guadalupe River, Boerne, Texas

Cute sign at this pet store!

Our walk took us onto the grounds of the Omega Retreat Center where we had an option to climb to the top of the tower.

The tower used to be a library. Whoever thought of that must have thought librarians and readers needed lots of exercise. It is three stories tall with bookcases on each level! The view of the surrounding countryside was excellent.

Former library.

View of the Texas Hill Country from the tower.

We saw the smoker pictured below in a yard in one of the neighborhoods we walked through.

Smoking gun or Gunsmoker? We couldn't decide.

Cibolo Creek, Boerne, Texas

More fall colors along Cibolo Creek Trail.

Foxtail ferns.

 Ye Kendall Inn interior, established 1859.

Ye Kendall Inn lobby

Ye Kendall Inn, Tavern 128

In the holiday spirit.

Bob pointed this sign out to me. Cute.

Tavern 128 in Ye Kendall Inn

Cozy sitting area in the Tavern.

Boerne Christmas Market...many craft booths.

My favorite booth at the Christmas Market was Heartstrings. These two musicians play the Chapman Stick, a musical instrument that is tapped with both hands to play bass and melody simultaneously: the advantage of playing a piano with the soulful sound of strings. I bought all five of their CDs.

Heartstrings: Matt Rogers and Mark White

 Pink Christmas trees in downtown Boerne! They remind me of cotton candy.

After we finished the walk, we went to Bear Moon Bakery in Boerne for lunch. I had an open-faced Reuben sandwich with garden salad and Bob had a grilled Turkey with Swiss and avocado sandwich. Of course, we had to have dessert. How could we resist these displays?

Bear Moon Bakery and Cafe

But wait, our day isn't over quite yet! After a couple of free hours to go home and relax, we were off to AT&T Arena to watch the San Antonio Rampage play the Chicago Wolves in an exciting ice hockey game. It was H-E-B Toys for Tots night at the arena. Each person was given a teddy bear when they entered the arena. During the game, as soon as the first Rampage goal was scored, everyone threw their teddy bears on the ice. All bears were donated to Toys for Tots.

Selfie with our teddy bears.

Someone else's bears.

We went to the game as part of the San Antonio Explorers meetup.com group. Here are some of the members.

San Antonio Explorers meetup.com group.

First Rampage goal and teddy bears flew onto the ice!

We thoroughly enjoyed our evening watching ice hockey.

So ends a very long, but fun-filled day. Travel Bug out.