What happened here? Tornadoes in the area - Mon., Nov. 2, 2015

The National Weather Service has confirmed early Friday a.m., October 30, four tornadoes touched down around San Antonio causing substantial damage. None were in San Antonio itself, but they were to the north (Zorn, TX), east (D'Hanis, TX), south (Floresville, TX) and west (Geronimo, TX) of us. Read the full article here: NWS-confirms-October-30-tornadoes. In the story is a photo of the 5th wheel that was lifted and dropped on the third floor roof of a Holiday Inn. Thankfully its owner was thrown clear while the 5th wheel was on the ground.

In addition to the tornadoes, there was torrential rainfall to the north of us. New Braunfels and San Marcos had 17" of rain in six hours causing rivers to rise rapidly to flash flood stage. River Ranch RV Resort on the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels, which sits under the I-35 bridges, was hit hard. Check out this blog for before and after photos of that RV park: http://ourrvadventures.com/2015/10/well-that-was-fun-2/

We had some people check in to Travelers World who had been staying at Pecan Grove RV Park in San Marcos. When they checked in they told me that RV park lost 35 RVs to the flash flood. Very sad.

We didn't have quite this much standing water this time. The photo is from May 2015.

Less rain than this in October
(only 2-4"), this photo from May has about 6".

Our hearts go out to all those affected. It could happen to any of us.

Parts of Austin and Houston were also effected by flooding. We were very lucky in San Antonio!

We Got Towed (not toad) - Sun., Jan. 26

The freezer door closed and Sunday we had gloriously sunny skies with a temp in the mid-70s. Perfect for taking our friend, Susan, on a birthday Volkswalk and out to lunch.

At 8:00 a.m. we picked her up for the 1-1/2 drive north to Austin, Texas. Traffic was light and we arrived at the Extended Stay America (our start point) at 9:40 a.m. A little after 10 a.m. we were on our 11K (6.8 mile) Volksmarch through downtown Austin.

Austin is a beautiful city. We took the Congress St. Bridge over Lady Bird Lake into the heart of downtown. (Note: From mid-March to November, the Congress St. Bridge is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. If you're in Austin during those months, head to the bridge at dusk to watch the bats fly out from under the bridge.) On our route, our feet passed two Golden-Age-of-Cinema movie theaters, the Paramount (1915) and Stateside (1935).

Downtown Austin, Texas

Here are photos from our walk.

My favorite building

State Capitol

Austin is a town that's all about music. Instead of painted horses, buffalo, mermaids - whatever - Austin has painted guitars.

Bob and I with serious guitar art.

We passed the 1885 Driskill Hotel.

The Driskill Hotel

There must be an 1886 Cafe in The Driskill.
This car sits out in front.

The Driskill front entrance.

See the halo around the tower of this church?

The walk criss-crossed downtown and passed through the state capitol grounds.

We would have taken the tour through the Capitol; however, because it was Sunday, the first tour wasn't until noon and we were there at 10:30.

Texas state Capitol building, Austin

Susan photographing the dome.

Beautiful clock surround in the Rotunda.

The walk passed a veritable collection of interesting sites in Austin: The Old General Land Office (1857), Bob Bullock State History Museum, Blanton Museum of Art, replica of Santa Rita #1 (the 1923 oil well in west Texas whose royalties go to UT's Permanent University Fund), University of Texas, Texas Memorial Stadium, Bass Concert Hall, LBJ Library, the Littlefield Fountain, Masonic Temple, Eighth Street Mural Project, the Bremond block (one of the remaining Victorian neighborhoods in Austin built between 1850 and 1898), Republic Square Park, U.S. Federal Courthouse, and the City Hall.

Santa Rita #1 oil well

Soldier Susan is posing with a statue dedicated to soldiers of wars from World War I to the present.

Susan M., a soldier

University of Texas, Austin, Main Building

Littlefield Fountain

One of many murals we passed today.

Part of sculpture diorama dedicated to Tejano history.

Go spurs!

 The following photos are part of the Eighth Street Mural Project...

Bremond block Victorian homes...which now house businesses.

Along the way we stopped for lunch at City Hall Cafe at the corner of 2nd Ave. and Lavaca. The food was remarkably fresh and good. From the cafe it was a short walk back to our start point.

Snowy egret and turtles enjoying the sun and warmth.

Bob & Susan on 1st Street pedestrian bridge

Lady Bird Lake/Colorado River. What a day!

The following inflatable structures caught our eye. The lines were long to enter. We had no idea what they were for so I looked it up. Fascinating! Miracoco Luminaria

Once back at our start point, Susan needed to use the facilities. Bob and I were ready to hop in the car and take Susan to Sugar Mama's Cupcakes for her birthday cupcake. We walked around the corner of the motel. Screech! Put on the brakes. "Isn't this where we left the car?" No car, just empty space. Oh, no! The car got towed!

Into the front desk we trudged only to find out there were signs posted on the door and at the front desk saying a parking pass was needed for guests from Jan. 24-27 due to a tattoo convention at the Convention Center across the street. The sign on the front door could barely be seen because their door has dark shading on it and we didn't go to the front desk because the walk box was in a side area off the lobby. Sigh.

We explained our dilemma to the front desk clerk who called out an assistant manager. The assistant manager apologized and called the towing company asking them to release our  car because we were guests of the hotel. She told us it would save us $193!

Our next move was to hire a cab to drive us to the tow yard about seven miles away through downtown traffic (luckily it was Sunday). Twenty dollars lighter in the wallet, we claimed the car. J&J Towing honored their agreement with the assistant manager and did not charge us for towing and storage. The bill said, "No charge." Lucky ducks, that's us!

Next up, Sugar Mama's Cupcakes. When Bob and I did a different Volksmarch in Austin last year, we literally stumbled upon this delectable den of cupcake sin. We all ordered our just desserts and bought two extra cupcakes to take to the desk clerk and assistant manager at Extended Stay America to thank them for their help. As I was getting ready to pay for the cupcakes, the cashier said, "I'm only charging you for three cupcakes. The two cupcakes for the hotel are my treat. I'm paying it forward to someone who did a good deed." Impressive!

Sugar Mama's Cupcakes was winner of Food Network's Cupcake Wars.

The Pinup - my favorite!

James Brown cupcake

Pink Champagne! cupcakes

The champs of Cupcake Wars

Light fixture in Sugar Mama's Bakery - I want one!!

Sugar Mama's Bakery

More cupcake flavors

The cupcakes didn't last long. We ate them at the bakery. We then took the other two cupcakes to Extended Stay America. I hope they enjoyed theirs as much as we enjoyed ours!

But wait! The day isn't over yet. All of us wanted to see "American Hustle." Susan and Bob checked movie times (on their smart phones) for locations on our drive home. The movies just weren't playing at a time we'd be passing through. Finally, Bob found a movie that started at 4:15 p.m. in San Antonio. It was a long shot to make it there in time. We arrived at 4:30 p.m., bought tickets, headed straight for the theater and the movie was just starting.

Movie review in the next blog. Stay tuned.

Travel Bug out.

Downtown Austin 11K Volksmarch - Mon., July 22

At 9:45 a.m. we headed out from the Extended Stay on South 1st in on our 6.8 mile jaunt around Austin's downtown, the State Capitol Building and the University of Texas. It was already hot and humid.

First weird Austin surprise of the day were these decorative armadillos lining the top of the windows and doors at Threadgills Restaurant.

What we saw next was the big bat sculpture Nightwing, by Dale Whistler, at the south end of the Congress Street Bridge (where we watched bats emerge last night).

Here's the Congress Street Bridge looking north to downtown Austin.

As we walked, we were again delighted by all that Austin has to offer. Some cities display painted cows, buffalo, horses, pigs as part of their art scene. Austin, being a lot about music, has painted guitars. We saw two, but certainly there are more.

"Twinkle, Twinkle Lonestar"

"Vibrancy"

Austin has a compact downtown core with both old and new buildings. Construction projects seem to be ongoing indicating a healthy economy. Bob counted six cranes working in the heart of downtown.

Hotel Driskill

She looks like a gangster's moll.

Bob in front of The Driskill (yellow shirt).

First Citizen's Bank

State Theater

Spires on Cathedral of Saint Mary.

 Below is the Cathedral of Saint Mary (Austin, Texas) which is currently undergoing renovation.

Art deco State Highway Building (1933)

State Highway Building, different view.

The building below has its own interesting history. This was the General Land Office Building from 1856-1917. The architecture blends two 19th-century Revival styles: the Rundbogenstil, or round-arched style is reflected in the rounded windows and doors; the Norman style is reflected in the castle-like parapets. The exterior walls are limestone rubble smoothed over with stucco, then scored to look like cut stone blocks. In 1918 the General Land Office moved across 11th Street to larger quarters. This building housed museums over the years until a 1989-1992 restoration after which the building became the Capitol Complex Visitors Center.

Capitol Complex Visitors Center.

As you may have guessed, our walk is taking us through the State Capitol Complex. There is a lot to see here, including a tour of the Capitol and a tour of the Capitol grounds. Interesting factoid: the Texas State Capitol Building is taller than the U.S. Capitol Building.

Austin, Texas, State Capitol

What is this contraption?

We found this old drinking fountain to be very unique. (P.S. The light fixture does not come out of the top of it. That was an unfortunate camera angle.) For years, this drinking fountain was pumping up water from an artesian well. There used to be a tin cup attached from which to drink the water. It is now hooked up to "safe" city water and there is no more tin cup. We found it very useful for refilling our water bottles. You step on the foot pedal by the ground and hold your water bottle under the spigot to fill it. If you look closely you can see the water comes down from the top.

We have made it to the Capitol portion of our Volksmarch. When we went inside, we noted that a tour of the building started in five minutes. We decided to take the 30-45 minute tour. What a beautiful Capitol!

Our guide's name was Jason and he was a ham. He moved around so much most of my photos of him were blurry. Here's a few photos taken on our tour. We had no idea the Capitol and grounds were so big. The building was expanded underground, so not only is it four floors above ground, it is four floors underground as well.

The lobby looking toward the Rotunda.

Ceiling of the Rotunda in the Capitol.

Looking up at the other floors in the Rotunda.

Jason pointing out the nation's flags that have flown over Texas.

Stairwell to second floor.

Senate Chamber.

Senate Chamber.

House of Representatives.

Original battlefield flag from the Battle of San Jacinto on display
in House of Representatives when they are in session.

View from House of Representatives.

Door hinges in the Capitol. (Bob pointed these out.)

View of dome from one of the lower levels.

Reverse Rotunda, outside - north side of Capitol.

Once we finished the tour, we continued our Volksmarch, heading in the direction of Univsersity of Texas. Along the way, we passed museums and Santa Rita #1.

Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum

Blanton Museum of Art

Santa Rita #1 was the first producing oil well on permanent University fund lands. It launched a new era in the development of the University of Texas. The well was named by its drillers for Saint Rita, the saint of the impossible, because of popular opinion that there was no chance of success finding oil at this location. (How wrong they were. Lots of oil here.)

Santa Rita #1 oil well.

We had entered the University of Texas. If we hadn't know it before, we knew it now...

Our walk took us to the Lydon B. Johnson Library and Museum. This was a checkpoint so we went inside for the much-needed air conditioning. My start card was stamped by the information desk. This was the farthest point on our walk. Everything from here was downhill, so to speak.

Beautiful bell display at Austin Performing Arts Center.

Longhorns Football Stadium

LBJ Museum and Library

Martin Luther King Jr. statue on UT Austin campus.

Clock tower at University of Texas.

It was pretty windy!

Car2Go parking.

Texans love their big boots.

We then returned to the Capitol grounds walking on the opposite side of the building from where we were earlier. There are many sculptures interspersed around the greenery.

Tejano history.

The jay below was taking a dust bath in a small park. It sure is fluffed up.

Historic bakery building; now Visitor Info.

Beautiful home; looks like one we'd see in New Orleans.

We passed through a small area of Victorian homes.

As we headed back toward Lady Bird Johnson Lake, it was very hot. We're thinking about 97 degrees. It was time for more shade and air conditioning. At our next stop, City Hall, we got to go inside and look at art displays before heading outside for the final stretch.

We finished our 6.8 mile walk in three hours (including the State Capitol Tour). By the finish, we were ready for lunch.

 After having walked past Sandy's four times on Sunday, we decided to try it. Oh boy, are their burgers, chicken sandwiches and malts yummy! We know from firsthand experience.

From  Austin, we drove out to Hamilton Pool Preserve (it's in a natual grotto) to swim. The Preserve limits the number of cars to 75 at any given time. When we got there, a long line of cars was waiting to go in. We decided to come back earlier tomorrow.

Since we couldn't swim at Hamilton Pool, we returned to McKinney Falls and headed to the swimmin' hole at Upper McKinney Falls. The weekend crowds were gone and we shared the swimmin' hole with one other family. Nice time. The water was warm but not too warm. It was easy to get in and stay in. From time to time, we'd see turtle heads pop up to the surface of the water. After cooling off, we called it a day.

Upper McKinney Falls swimmin' hole. (No people when we left!)

 As we walked back to our car from the swimming hole, we were treated to a beautiful sky.

When the sun went down, we were outside making another campfire. For dinner we had chicken breasts and skewered vegetables in tin foil pockets that we cooked in the campfire coals. That was very tasty. For dessert, we had S'mores.

Travel Bug saying, "Lights out and goodnight."