Foggy and Soggy - Friday, Feb. 23, 2018

Today is the first day of our Texas Trail Roundup walking weekend. The walk is a 5k or 10k Hannibal Pianta Art Walk.

Overnight, we had strong thunderstorms that woke us up from our sleep. When we awoke, there was a lot of standing water around the RV park. I wondered how this would effect our walk.

Bob went to work. I slept until 7:30 a.m. because I did not want to start our Texas Trail Roundup 10k walk in the rain. Besides, I needed the sleep.

Looking at the radar and weather forecast, it looked like starting the walk at 10:00 a.m. would help me avoid the rain for the two hours it would take to do the walk. It's a good thing there was a three-hour start window. 

After registering, I headed out on my own. I was walker #147. As I was messing around with getting my camera out of my pack, I must have dropped my walk instructions. By the time I realized I had dropped them, I turned around and saw them lying on the sidewalk about a block back. I went back to retrieve them.

The first points of interest were the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Parochial School and Church. 

Parochial School

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Catholic Church

Looking along the side of the church

Front entry of the church

Sculpture next to the church

I went around the block and passed the starting hotel. Then I continued into the heart of downtown San Antonio.

Holiday Inn Market Square (our start point)

Very foggy!

I walked past O'Henry's house

O'Henry's history

Pretty mural behind the O'Henry House

Even though San Antonio has had an unseasonably cold January and February, I saw many signs of spring. I saw my first rose today.

First rose of the season

San Antonio City Hall

Bexar County Courthouse in the fog

Martin taking a photo of Andy by the courthouse

Fountain in front of San
Fernando Cathedral

Refurbished Lady Justice in front of
Bexar County Courthouse

If you come to San Antonio,
be sure to see "The Saga"!

"The Saga" is a 25-minute history of San Antonio portrayed in laser lights set to music. This art installation is projected onto the facade of the San Fernando Cathedral at night. Gorgeous!

Wayne, another avid Volksmarcher, caught up to me just past the courthouse. We walked together for quite a way. We soon came to the first Hannibal Pianta concrete art at the Aztec Theater.

The concrete art is at the top (see close up below)

Hannibal Pianta's concrete art on The Aztec.

Hannibal Pianta chose a Mexican artist to help create authentic Mayan brickwork designs on The Aztec.

The photo below is the Commerce Street Bridge Indian Statue. Hannibal Pianta cast this statue for Waldine Tauch in 1914.

Indian Statue

Beautiful stained glass in a window

We went into the Saint Anthony Hotel long enough to admire the elegance of the interior. Then we headed across the street to our first checkpoint in Travis Park. I noticed the monument to Travis had been taken out and replaced by flowers. 

Saint Anthony Hotel lobby

Below is Travis Park. The monument is gone, so now there is an unobstructed view back to the Methodist Church. The lower middle foreground with the flowers is where San Antonio's Christmas Tree is displayed.

Travis Park

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

 Below is Pianta's art work on the Lao-Thai Baptist Mission.

Pianta's concrete art

After seeing the artwork and the Tobin Center, we headed down to the Museum Reach of the River Walk on a stairway built by the Works Project Administration, 1938-1940. 

Works Project Administration stairway

Museum Reach of the River Walk

A blooming redbud tree

I had to use the facilities at the Locks & Dam. Wayne continued on without me.

Along the Museum Reach of the River Walk, there are art installations. Below is a sculpture on the McCullough Street Bridge. I call it "Hands Across the Water," but that's not really the name of it.

The Museum Reach of the River Walk is my favorite part. There is art on and under all the bridges. This part of the trail goes to the San Antonio Museum of Art, past the VFW post, and to The Pearl (an old brewery that has been transformed into the Hotel Emma, restaurants, and upscale shops. Plus, there is a Farmer's Market on the weekends, and now on Thursday night as well.) 

Another example of art along the Museum Reach is the beautiful tile mural below.

San Antonio is continually growing and changing, especially along the Museum Reach of the River Walk. Many condominiums and hotels are being built in this area. The next three photos show a construction site across the street from the Tropicana Hotel.

Tropicana Hotel in the background.

"Are you eyeballing me?"

More signs spring is on the way

Unless you are really observant, you will walk right past the little cutouts below that have been placed on railroad ties used as a retaining wall. 

Someone with a sense of humor put these up

Unidentified type of duck. Anyone know what this is?

How about an identity on this handsome fellow?

Along the way, I met up with Deb, a walker here from Maryland for the weekend. We hung out for the rest of the walk. 

In the heart of downtown, along the River Walk, is a compass rose. It is a beautiful tile rose with the points of the compass marked. This rose serves as mile marker zero for the River Walk.

Deb photographing the compass rose

The compass rose

 More photos of the downtown River Walk...

Aztec head concrete sculpture

The River Walk

Downtown River Walk

Deb climbing back up to street level

And then we headed back down to the river

You can tell it's cold in San Antonio when restaurants put out horse blankets for their patrons to use when they sit out on the patio to eat!

Robert H. H. Hugman is the architect who came up with the idea for the San Antonio River Walk. He built his office along the then newly designed River Walk. Deb is walking past his office building in the photo below.

Deb in front of Hugman's office building

La Villita is one of San Antonio's oldest neighborhoods. The old homes have been turned into arts and crafts galleries and restaurants. Below is the amphitheater at La Villita which overlooks the San Antonio River. There is a stage across the river from the amphitheater. Many different events are held there: everything from flamenco dancing to movies to concerts. 

The amphitheater at La Villita

The stage for the amphitheater is across the river

On our walk we went up the stairs to La Villita, took a short walk though La Villita, and came out by the Mexican Consulate.

Mexican Consulate

Back up on street level, we passed the backside of the Bexar County Courthouse and came to the Casa Navarro Historic Site. On the outside wall of the historic site is the Laredito Mural. Laredito was the name of the neighborhood in Jose Navarro's time, and all the images on the mural depict people, buildings, and vendors as they appeared in the mid-1800s.

Laredito tile mural

Laredito tile mural

Laredito tile mural

Next, we went to the iconic Market Square (or El Mercado). Just across the street from the entrance to El Mercado, is my favorite tile mural in the city:

El Mercado is set up like a marketplace in Mexico; very festive, with many shops and restaurants. Mi Tierra Restaurant, open 24/7, hosts a wonderful bakery with many temptations.

The next few photos are Market Square...

The bakery at Mi Tierra. We stopped for treats.

From Market Square, we went through Milam Park on our way back to the Holiday Inn. Milam Park images...

Griffins holding light fixtures

Benjamin Rush Milam

Mural on children's hospital

When we finished in Milam Park, with two blocks to our finish point, it started to rain. Luckily, it was not a downpour! I had my umbrella and Deb had a baseball cap. We made it back without getting drenched. Our timing was pretty good to get in a two-hour walk without much rain.

We had an enjoyable walk in a very interesting city. Come and visit San Antonio. There's always something going on!

Thank you to all of the volunteers who made today possible. We would not have had such a good experience without their help. Tomorrow and Sunday, I'll be volunteering at pre-registration first thing in the morning to get people out on the trail. After my shift is over, I will be heading out on the trail!