Humidity Saps Our Strength - Sunday, July 26, 2015

Bob was out the door before me to run with his marathon training group. He said he was going to do 2-3 miles with them, then he might meet up with Susan and I to walk with us on the River Walk.



Susan and I met at 7 a.m. at El Tropicano Hotel in San Antonio where the Volksmarch start box is located for the Museum Reach of the River Walk. We signed in and took off walking.

Juvenile yellow-crowned night heron

“Puente de Rippling Shadows,”
or “Bridge of Rippling Shadows,” by Rolando Briseño

Susan wanted to check out the Wyndham Garden Hotel because a Volkssport group will hold a meeting there in August. They will do the walk we're doing today, only starting from this hotel. The Wyndham Garden Hotel is very pretty.

Lobby at Wyndham Garden Hotel

Bourbon Street Seafood Kitchen at Wyndham

From the Wyndham Garden Hotel, we took the steps down to the River Walk and continued past beautiful ponds and the San Antonio River. The flowers along the way were fantastic today.

Water lilies

Bee attracted to a water lily

Flowers framing falls at The Pearl

Bat-face cuphea (Cuphea llavea)
Look closely to see the bat face!

Hibiscus

Hibiscus

San Antonio River at The Pearl

The Pearl

We walked past The Pearl which used to be a brewery, but has been re-purposed into shops, restaurants and the Hotel Emma. Bob called at this point to find out where we could meet up. We decided to meet just north of The Pearl at the intake where excess San Antonio River water goes into a bypass system that keeps San Antonio from flooding when we have lots of rain.

Bob arrived just as we walked up to the area where he parked. The three of us then walked together north to and through Brackenridge Park, then back down Broadway. Bob left us near where he had parked his truck and Susan and I continued back to El Tropicano.

Three killdeer in a drainage ditch

Killdeer

One of the largest events in San Antonio is Fiesta in April. City-wide festivals take place over the course of ten days with music, dancing, food, drink, and entertainment on various stages. The Fiesta store, where you can buy T-shirts, pins, badges, and other souvenirs, is on Broadway.

We also passed by Sam's Burger Joint which Susan swears has the best onion rings, so good in fact, she won't eat onion rings anywhere else. Our walk took us through the Pearl shops and back to the River Walk.

Susan sniffing to find out if the Mexican olive tree
flowers have a scent. (They don't.)

Identifies what the pretty water area at The Pearl is called

Susan on the walkway at Pearl Springs

"The Grotto," by Carlos Cortes

Can you see the skull face? (This is at The Grotto)

The Grotto on Museum Reach of the San Antonio River Walk

San Antonio Museum of Art (housed in an old brewery)

Before I found out the name of the art installation on the McCullough Street Bridge (pictured below), I called it "Hands Across the Water."

“Puente de Encuentros,” or “Bridge of Encounters,”
by Rolando Briseño

When I say the humidity sapped our strength today, I wasn't kidding. We were all sweating and miserably hot. The temperature was probably 90 degrees but with the humidity, it felt like 100. We couldn't wait to get back into our air-conditioned cars.

Susan and I had planned to go to breakfast at the Guenther House, but our movie started at 10:30 a.m. and we didn't have time. So it was straight to the theater for us. We saw "Trainwreck."

After the movie, lunch was at 54th Street Bar & Grille just across the parking lot from the theater. By the time the movie was over, we were very hungry. I had a wonderful salad. After lunch we each headed home.

It was a great day of exercise, movie and a good meal. Just too hot to be walking.

A River Walk - Sun., Aug. 25

Time to re-do the Museum Reach/North Riverwalk Volksmarch in San Antonio. We have only done it once before and that was July 8, 2012. I think we'll be walking it more often because it's such a beautiful part of the city.

The north part of the Riverwalk is called Museum Reach because it passes directly next to the San Antonio Museum of Art. All along the path are different types of art: faux bois (false wood) grotto, art on bridges, art under bridges, sound art, and metal art.

Plus, the city does a wonderful job with landscaping, so there are small waterfalls, ponds, and lots of flowers along the San Antonio River. Employees are out working and cleaning up along the path every day of the week.

Water lily

Momma duck and ducklings

Part of San Antonio Museum of Art - reflected

More water lilies.

Some kind of wasp on the flowers?

Baby swallow under a bridge.

San Antonio River Tunnel Inlet Facilities

Bob getting totally tubular in San Antonio - watch out surfer dudes

Brackenridge Park Waterworks Trail

Turtle - dive, dive!

Stray lynx point Siamese. Isn't he handsome.

Petrified wood

Dad in front, two kids, then dog in the caboose.

Photos in her wedding dress at Pearl Brewery Complex.

Hibiscus on steroids!

What a gorgeous flower!

Purple water lily opening up for the day.

On our way back to the start, we ran into two people looking lost. I asked if we could help them. They wanted to know where the dam was. I asked if they meant dam or locks. "Oh, locks," they replied. We told them they were really close. I saw a map in her hand that looked just like mine and asked if they were Volksmarching. Yes, they were. In fact, they're in San Antonio for an American Volkssport Association National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting. He's Bob Morrison, treasurer of the national association, and she's Nancy Wittenberg, Northwest regional director. They're both from Washington state. Small world. You never know who you're going to bump into.

Nancy and Bob on North Riverwalk Volksmarch.

Bob Morrison and Nancy Wittenberg

Nancy, Bob and Bob at the end of the walk

What a nice finish to our walk this morning. Bob and Nancy, enjoy the rest of your time in San Antonio!

Travel Bug out.

Some Like it Hot - Wed., Aug. 14

If you're someone who likes it hot, then San Antonio, Texas, would be right up your alley. Early morning temperatures in the summer are 82° degrees. Today, the high is expected to be 99° with a 20% chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. When you plan to do an 11K (6.8 mi.) walk in the mid-summer Texas heat, it's best to start early.

I was up at 5 a.m. with a plan to start my Volksmarch in the Broadway neighborhood by 7 a.m. Didn't happen, but I did make it by 8 a.m. (It is said, the pathway to somewhere hot is lined with good intentions.)

If you like it hot, then the Broadway Daily Bread Company would be a good place for you to get your morning coffee and some pastry while it's fresh. That was the start point of the walk.

Thankfully, this walk spent about 80% of the time in the deep shade of old live oaks or on park walking trails. Having long morning shadows helped too.

The walk started by going around the block behind the bakery in a stately old neighborhood, through a small shopping center, past HEB's Central Market and onto the campus of University of the Incarnate Word. The university is getting ready for new student orientation on August 19. Construction workers, early new arrivals with their parents, and those preparing for the arrival of new students were out and about on campus today. It wasn't very crowded.

Photos at University of the Incarnate Word:

Cemetery at the University.

Beautiful iron bridge.

 Do you think maybe the mascot at this university might be a cardinal??

This cardinal was nice enough to strike a pose.

Cardinal sculpture at Benson Stadium.

A meditation maze on the side of a footpath.

Below is a photo of St. Brigid's Oak, a live oak tree that is approximately 600 years old, dedicated to St. Brigid of Kildare (451-525 AD).

Live oak (Quercus virginiana)

Fall???

"In Celebration of Children's Play," by Joe and Betty Frost.

"Classmates," by Paul Tadlock

1881 school insignia in walkway.

Below is the lovely Jordan Carillon Clock Tower. I got to hear it play music at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Jordan Carillon clock tower.

Stained glass as seen from inside the clock tower.

Another perspective.

George Washington Brackenridge Villa with sculpture.

From the university, the walk took me down Broadway just past the Witte (pronounced witty) Museum and into Brackenridge Park. I love walks in Brackenridge Park on tree-shaded trails. Here are photos of the park and surrounds.

Gate to the Witte Museum grounds.

The start of the San Antonio River.

Turtles sunning.

A photo from the old days taken in the San Antonio River.

The restaurant below looks like good place to eat. We'll have to try it. It's called Bombay Bicycle Club Grille.

Next destination in Brackenridge Park: the Chinese/Japanese Tea Garden. This garden is built on the site of an old quarry. Don't you just love all the rock work?

The Japanese Garden waterfalll

Japanese Garden Pavilion

The pond surrounded by rock work and filled with koi.

Koi polloi.

Another koi.

Lotus blossoming.

Lotus blossoms.

Pavilion.

So, I'm walking along the trail toward the San Antonio Zoo. Off to my left, I see a wooden enclosure with two furry critters in it. At first I think it's a rabbit pen in the middle of nowhere. Didn't make sense. So I zoomed in and found that someone is feeding stray cats here. One of the cats spooked when I turned on my camera and beat feet out of there, but I was able to get a photo of one of them.

Stray cat feeding station.

Agave in bloom.

Dragonfly on water lily pad.

Water lily in bloom.

On the opposite side of the river people and their kids were feeding the ducks. The two youngsters below were as still as stone. I almost missed them. But when I zoomed in I realized they were ducklings. Beautiful!

The pattern of falling water.

Wilderness Trail in Brackenridge Park.

Grass seed pods in morning light.

I did this walk by myself. Even though it took two hours and 45 minutes (because of all the stops to take photos) to do 6.8 miles, it didn't feel near that long because of all the things to look at. When I'm out walking I'm always glad I got out and did it. It's so easy to stay inside in the air conditioning and watch movies, read magazines and blogs, but it's essential for me to exercise and enjoy the natural world. This particular walk is an excellent one to do on a summer morning. I like it hot, but I also like shade.

Travel Bug out.

The end.