San Antonio's Government Hill - Saturday, November 21, 2015

Today's walk was just plain interesting. Our 10k Volksmarch took us around the Government Hill Historic District and one of the historical markers was the most unique I have ever read. More about that later.

At 9:00 am we started the Volksmarch at a running shoe store on Broadway in San Antonio. The weather was beautiful, about 68 but very windy. More than once dirt blew into my eyes during this walk. I ended up closing my eyes and holding Bob's elbow to keep more dirt from blowing into them. That was quite the experience in trust. Because we were walking on a street with no curbs and no traffic, it was pretty easy to let him guide me.

Government Hill was developed from 1890 to 1930 and was linked to the development of Ft. Sam Houston. Beautiful homes and businesses built in different styles populate the neighborhood of Government Hill.

Cottages?

Below is the the Gothic-revival style St. Paul's Episcopal Church on E. Grayson Street built to serve the military families in the Ft. Sam Houston area.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Lambermont or Terrell Castle

From Grayson Street, you can see Officer's Row at Ft. Sam Houston. Some of those homes are spectacular and housed Colonel and Mrs. Eisenhower and General Pershing.

Below are photos of the original USAA building on Grayson St.

USAA logo

Old USAA building entryway

Historic USAA building

The Quadrangle at Ft. Sam Houston is a lovely place to visit. Inside the Quadrangle walls are deer, peacocks and ducks. We saw them on a different walk.

The Quadrangle, Ft. Sam Houston

The Quadrangle

A bar across from Ft. Sam Houston.

Fort Sam Houston, established 1876

Art at entrance to Johnny's Tex-Mex restaurant

An old school in Government Hill

San Antonio Fire Station No. 5

Another beautiful home in Government Hill

Below is Dixie Flag Company. If you need any flags, this business can provide them or point you in the right direction. You can see by the huge flag that a stiff breeze was blowing.

DixieFlag.com

Murals on St. Patrick's Community Center caught our eyes. The artwork is colorful and very well done.

St. Patrick's Church

St. Patrick's Church

We enjoyed traversing back and forth on the streets in Government Hill looking at the homes.

Home built in an old church

The Bullis House, now a bed and breakfast

At one of our checkpoints, the volunteers pointed out the following historical marker which describes San Antonio's astronomical history. We highly recommend enlarging and reading this marker which is fascinating.

Today's walk was enjoyable. It was nice to have a Saturday off work to do a sponsored Volksmarch. Travel Bug out.

Hunkering Down - Sun., Nov. 24

Going to Austin today did not sound like fun. Weather service forecast was for 42 degrees, 80% chance of rain, and wind gusts to 20 mph. Throughout the day, the temperature was supposed to drop, not go up. By 3:00 p.m. the rain had a chance to turn to sleet. With Austin being 1-1/2 hours north of San Antonio, it could have been a dangerous drive home. We opted not to go.

The other Susan and I will see how the weather looks for walking Monday. If we can, we plan to do the new Mission Reach Volksmarch in San Antonio.

Here's what hunkering down looks like:

Football, Bob with the remote, and snoozing kitties.

We took a break from hunkering down, braved the chill, and headed to Green Vegetarian Cuisine for dinner. On the way home, we drove a way we hadn't explored yet. We headed east on Grayson St. and ended up in Government Hill Historic District.

Government Hill's history is linked to the development of Ft. Sam Houston. The City of San Antonio donated 93 acres to the War Department in the 1870s. Construction of Ft. Sam Houston started in 1876. By 1918, the Fort had grown to 193 acres. Government Hill became home to over 12,000 people. Turn-of-the-century one- and two-story buildings on North New Braunfels Ave. served as the area's main street.

We wandered past The Lambermont, also known as the Terrell Castle. Bob was driving and didn't see it, so we drove around the block and went back to it. It was worth a few photos. There are no historic markers around this masterpiece so I Googled it when we got home.

This Romanesque Revival-style "castle" was built in 1894 for Edwin Terrell (lawyer and ambassador to Belgium during Benjamin Harrison's presidency) by San Antonio architect Alfred Giles. It was built to resemble the castles and chateaus of Belgium and France. The family lived in the home until Terrell died in 1910. It is now an event venue. Renting the space includes four guest rooms in the estate. From what I can tell, it is used quite frequently for weddings.

After we returned to the 5er, my equal-opportunity lap cats warmed me up for an hour.

Changing of the lap for 60 Minutes & Amazing Race.

So that's what hunkering down looks like in our fifth wheel.

Have a good week wherever you may be, and safe travels during Thanksgiving weekend.