A Break from the Blogging Challenge - Sunday, April 5, 2015

The A-to-Z Blogging Challenge takes a break on Sundays, so I'm going to catch up on my life activities for the past week.

On Monday, March 30, Susan, Jim and I walked a new Volksmarch in Universal City, Texas, being put together for World Walking Day on May 9. The walk will start at the AVA (American Volkssport Association) HQ in Universal City. Jim is a Volkssport member who moved here from Germany. He is going to put up directional markers for the walk on World Walking Day.

The walk is actually quite rustic for being in the city. I never knew the area existed. We walked through a park, then down into the Selma Creek bed. It's actually quite an interesting walk.

Susan and Jim at Selma Creek

Selma Creek

Red bud blooms and seed pod

Selma Creek bed

Rocky road

Selma Creek

After this walk was set up it rained between the date they originally walked it and today. The unimproved trail along the creek grew weeds armpit high in some areas. There is some concern if the rains continue, someone will need to weed whack the trail before the event!

These weeds were short compared to some we went through.

After the creek bed, we went up a hill into a neighborhood. Two dachshunds came running out barking loudly. The owners called them back home. We remarked that we needed them to come out when we do the World Walking Day Volksmarch since Volksmarching was started in Germany and dachshunds are German dogs. We walked around the neighborhoods before we headed back to AVA HQ.

Patch of bluebonnets in a front yard.

Beautiful xeriscaping (dry landscaping)

Foxglove tree?? What is this?

When we finished our walk, we determined we had only walked 5.2 miles which is not enough for a 10k walk (6.2 miles). We will have to add another mile through neighborhoods. Another walk is scheduled in mid-April to get the length of the walk right before the event on May 9.

After we walked, Susan and I went to Taco Cabana for lunch, then to see McFarland, USA. Yes, I've seen it before,  but I liked it so much I wanted to see it again. She hadn't seen it. After the movie, she gave it two thumbs up.

I was home in time to relax, then watch Dancing with the Stars. Travel Bug out.

Work, the North Riverwalk, and Super Bowl Party - Wed., Jan. 29 - Sun., Feb. 1

Wednesday through Saturday, I worked at the RV Park my usual four, ten-hour days. We are busy! Besides Winter Texans (the rest of the nation calls them snowbirds), we had an FQCC rally with 21 rigs come in Saturday for three nights.

Super Bowl Sunday, Susan, Darren, Bob and I did the River Walk North Volksmarch which starts at El Tropicano Hotel and follows the San Antonio River north past the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA), and the Pearl Brewery District, all the way to Brackenridge Park. This is one of my favorite walks in San Antonio. Here's why: all along the north River Walk are art installations - on the bridges, under the bridges, along the trail - each installation has a plaque describing the art and artist. Plus, the landscaping is mature with flowers, trees shrubs...it seems no matter what time of year we walk this, something is blooming.

The fog was thick when we headed out which made for moodier photos.

New mural on El Tropicano Hotel

No getting lost on the River Walk

The  oldest VFW post in Texas is in San Antonio

The photo below is taken behind the San Antonio Museum of Art along the River Walk. I love how the fog makes the trees look otherworldly above the river, but the reflections in the river are so clear.

At the old Pearl Brewery, a renaissance is in progress. The brewery is being converted into the upscale Hotel Emma. Not sure when it's slated to open. In addition to the hotel, new restaurants and shops are already open.

Black-bellied whistling ducks

Brackenridge Golf Course in the fog.

Foggy Brackenridge Golf Course

Sharp-shinned hawk hunting over the river

New Boiler House Restaurant at The Pearl

Here are Darren, Bob and Susan in front of the recently opened Nao Restaurant at The Pearl.

Darren, Bob, Susan M.

Cool entry door at Nao

The new Hotel Emma is huge!

 These fish swim in the air "currents" under an interstate bridge.

Fish art (at night, they're illuminated)

Below is one of the River Taxis on the San Antonio River. It is passing in front of one of the new buildings on the Museum Reach of the River Walk.

Rio River Taxi

In 2014 the new Tobin Center for the Performing Arts opened downtown. Now concerts, plays, ballets and other cultural events take place here every weekend.

Completed river side of Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Tobin Center under construction on Sept. 2, 2014

Tobin Center on Sept. 2, 2014

Tobin Center as seen from the side 9-2-14.

Now here's a surprise! As we were driving into town, we passed Travis Park. It looked like there were a lot of painted Easter bunnies in the center of the park. I told Bob as we were driving past that I wanted to stop for photos on the way home. He obliged. There was no street parking as the churches had services on Sunday morning. Bob dropped me off so I could figure out what we were looking at. He drove around the block many times while I snapped photos.

Turns out the "Easter bunnies" were not Easter bunnies after all. They were art pieces from Monterrey, Mexico on loan to San Antonio. The show is called Mano Factura: Arte Regio. As you can see they are quite unique and definitely not rabbits.

Travis Park with Mano Factura art

Bob was a good sport and just kept driving around the block for me. We kept an eye on each other so I knew where he was when it was time for me to hop in the car.

We went home and relaxed until almost Super Bowl time. Susan and Darren invited us to their home for the party. We brought the pizza and some gourmet cupcakes. Susan made Caesar salad, piroshki's with ground beef filling, olive spread, spinach dip, and provided a veggie tray, fruit tray, chips, ice cream sundae bar with four kinds of ice cream, toppings, and whipped cream. Lynn brought homemade peach cobbler. Darren made a refreshing punch with pineapple juice, orange juice, and ginger ale. We ate like kings.

Too bad the game wasn't as good as the food. We're Seahawks fans and the Hawks sucked. At least we had good camaraderie and enjoyed watching (most of) the commercials.

Susan recently took up making stained glass windows. They converted a room of their house to her stained glass studio. The carpet was ripped out and they installed new flooring. Here is Susan in her new studio with one of her projects.

Susan in her studio

Susan & Darren's remodeled room (new flooring)

Now you are up to date for last week. We had a terrific time.

Travel Bug out.

Goldeneye -- Sun., Jan. 6

Bright sunshine and cool temperatures reigned in the climate department today. Good walking weather! 

The main repercussions of our two 10K walks yesterday, were the four huge blisters I sported last night. I could hardly walk on my feet because of the blister pain. So, I popped and drained them all, put Neosporin and Band-aids on them overnight. By this morning, I could walk on them again with only minimal pain.

The RV washers came back and finished up waxing Rigamarole this morning. I slept through all of it. Bob finally woke me up at 11:20 a.m. and said, "Did you want to go walking today?"

"Of course," I replied. "I want to go to Audubon's Mitchell Lake Wetlands." 

When the RV washers finished up, we paid them and headed out at 12:55 p.m. The Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands are only seven miles from our RV park. Easy peasy. We were greeted by this:

This must be the most secure Audubon site we've ever seen! We were ready for this, though. On the American Volksport Association website walk description, it told about this locked gate. All you have to do is drive up to the gate, press on the intercom button and the attendant opens the gate for you (weekends only). Admission to the wetlands is $2/per person.

Audobon Center--pay admission here.

 

We went inside, paid admission and I signed up for my Volkswalk. (Note: I'm the only one who walks for Volksport credits, so Bob didn't need to sign in.) We were on the trail by 1:15 p.m. 

Having grown up on the West Coast, many birds in south Texas are new to us. The bird most people are looking for at this time of year is the goldeneye duck. They have been spotted regularly; however I'm not sure we saw any today. The ducks that looked like them kept flying away any time we got close.

We did have a wonderful walk, though rushed. Bob wanted to be home by 3:30 p.m. to watch the Seattle Seahawks football game. In the time that we had, I did my best to spot birds, get photos, then talk to the gentleman in the visitor center afterward about the birds we saw.

I didn't even have time to read the signs at the visitor center. Bob read them while I was signing in. Here's the short version. From 1901-1973, the city of San Antonio needed somewhere to send their sewage. The technology for sewage treatment plants had not been developed back them. So, ponds, settling basins and sewage sludge ponds were used, right here, at Mitchell Lake. 

"Ewwwww!" You might be saying right now.

Not so fast. The City of San Antonio declared the lake a refuge for birds and wildlife. Since 1984, the San Antonio Audubon Society has been doing regular birding trips to the area. You see, all the nutrients that filtered out of the sewage were really good for the birds. 

"All of that biologically active input still fuels a food chain that provides a rich feast for local and migrating birds..." 

so said Eric Brierley, Past President of the San Antonio Audubon Society, in a 2007 article for BirdWatchingDaily.com. There is still a symbiotic relationship between the Audubon Society and the San Antonio Water System.

Here's  a photo journey through the Audubon Wetlands.

Mexican ducks.

Northern shoveler at Bird Pond

East polder.

Caracara--Mexican eagle.

Black-bellied plover (winter plumage)

Snoozing turtle.

Double-crested cormorant

Turkey vulture (had been feeding on dead opossum on the trail)

Our "trail."

American white pelicans on Mitchell Lake

American white pelicans.

Yes, you guessed it...American white pelican.

Black-bellied plovers

Long-billed dowitchers.

Pelicans in Sparkleland (Mitchell Lake)

Birder's delight: Great egrets, black-crowned night herons and ducks.

Northern shoveler.

West polder.

For inquiring minds, a polder is described by Encyclopedia Brittanica Online as: 

 tract of lowland reclaimed from a body of water, often the sea, by the construction of dikes roughly parallel to the shoreline, followed by drainage of the area between the dikes and the natural coastline. Where the land surface is above low-tide level, the water may be drained off through tide gates, which discharge water into the sea at low tide and automatically close to prevent re-entry of seawater at high tide. To reclaim lands that are below low-tide level, the water must be pumped over the dikes. If a sediment-laden stream can be diverted into the polder area, the sediment may serve to build up the polder bottom to a higher level, thus facilitating drainage.

The polders at Mitchell Lake are the original settlement ponds from the sewage treatment years. There are also five basins, some with water in them, some without.

We also saw, but couldn't get photos of, bufflehead ducks and lesser scaups. Once we were past the last polder, I speed walked back to the Visitor Center. It was already 3:30 and the Seahawks game was about to start. We made it back to the 5er by 3:55. Bob made a quick trip to the RV park office and propane tank to get our empty tank filled. I poured him a Corona with lime, cooked left-over chili over left-over mashed potatoes and served it with left-over Southwestern cornbread. What a yummy dinner. He sat in comfort watching the Seahawks hand it to the Washington Redskins. 

Now Bob is napping until the Oregon/Oregon State basketball game. I'm off to watch the new season of "The Biggest Loser." And Jillian is back! Woo hoo.

How was your weekend?

Travel Bug, with ow-ies on her feet, out.