All About the Lights - Tues., Dec. 31

I'm going to take a moment. Breathe deep. Let it out. Ahh. Life has been kind of crazy since my last blog. Now where was I? Oh, I know, I was ready to tell you about our New Year's Eve.

During the holiday season, we hadn't been out to look at Christmas lights. Since tonight was the last night for many light displays, we made it a point to go to Johnson City, Texas, where Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) goes all out with their holiday lights. See what you think...

Pedernales Electric Cooperative light display, Johnson City, Texas

PEC grounds all lit up.

Looks like "Starry, Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh.

PEC grounds.

PEC building across street

PEC Christmas tree

PEC Building down the street

Johnson City park.

County Courthouse all decked out in lights

Johnson City park

What would a blog be without cats?

Pretty amazing, don't you think?

From Johnson City, we headed west to Fredericksburg, Texas, to see their light displays downtown. The Marktplatz was most impressive.

Marktplatz, Fredericksburg, TX

Marktplatz tree - 30' tall.

The following photo doesn't do the display justice. This Christmas Pyramid is five levels tall (26') and each level rotates with scenes pertaining to Christmas. Look at the people standing to the left to see how tall it is.

Christmas Pyramid made in Germany.

A view toward the Vereins Kirche.

Marktplatz

When we finished our drive around and through Fredericksburg, we headed to Random Event Center for our New Year's celebration. Well, that plus the fact Bob got called in to work as cashier/bartender.

Bob working the bar.

I had been feeling under the weather - scratchy throat, cough, runny nose - so I didn't feel like socializing for four hours. Thankfully, there was a warm back room where I could set up my computer and edit photos, play Scrabble with my Facebook friends, and catch up on email. I felt a bit anti-social, but I didn't want to spread cold germs.

The food truck at Random was The Cinnamon Rolls. For dinner, I had chicken tortilla soup (good for the cold) and a big salad. Bob brought me a small glass of Moscato wine. (It wasn't a very good Moscato, glad it was a small glass.)

Bob was happy, I was happy, and the revelers were having a good time. The night was very cold, but Random has outside fire bowls and firewood. A lot of people had roaring fires going. At 11:15 p.m. the owner, Bob's boss at the construction company where he's Controller, began firing up fireworks.

Moscato wine in Random's back room.

New Year's revelers inside Random's beer garden.

New Year's partiers outside by one of the fire bowls.

The Cinnamon Rolls food truck.

Believe it or not, out in the cold and dark, the kids were having a blast on the bouncer slide/obstacle course. And, no, that's not snow on the ground.

And the fireworks...

The most excitement had to be the two fires out in the field. Apparently boxes that the fireworks had been shot from were still hot at the finish. Everyone came back inside when people started yelling, "Fire!" The boxes, which were on a wooden trailer, caught the wood of the trailer on fire. Luckily, there were two good fire extinguishers which were put to use.

An eventful finish to 2013.

Time to ring in the New Year.

Pouring champagne

Happy New Year (Random revelers).

Mary snapping photos for Random's Facebook page.

Happy 2014!

New Year's Eve Day - Tues, Dec. 31

New Year's Eve day was downright fun! For the last day of the year, my 7.44 mile Volksmarch exceeded my expectations. Along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio Riverwalk, the birdwatching was as good as Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands.

When I started the walk at noon, the weather was chilly and I wore my heavy winter coat. First stop on my walk was Mission Concepcion. After the first three miles, I was back at the RV park to shed the heavy coat as the sun had come out and I was getting too warm.

Winter in San Antonio - looking toward Riverside Golf Course

Riverwalk Mission Reach Trail to RV Park

Fast forward 30 minutes: The sun went behind the clouds not to be seen again for the rest of my walk. As a chill wind kicked up, I was kicking myself for ditching the coat!

Here are some of the birds I watched today:

Northern shrike

Marsh hawk (??)

Double-crested cormorant

Turkey vultures feasting on rotted fish.

Turkey vulture with rotten fish

Turkey vulture

Neotropic cormorant

Little blue heron fishing

Greater yellowlegs

American kestrel

Snowy egret- breeding plumage

Riverwalk Mission Reach Hike and Bike Trail

Snowy egret and double-crested cormorants

Mission Park Pavilions Picnic Area

Great egret

I watched the egret above hunt in the tall grass. Suddenly, its neck snapped down and it pulled something black out of the grass. I zoomed in with my camera but it was too far away to clearly see what critter it had snared, but it looked suspiciously like a rat. Do egrets eat rats?

In another nature encounter, I was standing by a picnic pavilion wondering which way I was supposed to go when I felt a whoosh of air slip by my leg. I turned to see, about three feet from me, a hawk in full attack mode, talons extended, trying to capture a grackle (black bird). The grackle made a horrible noise and escaped. The hawk flew off. If only I had my camera at the ready on video mode! The hawk below may have been the one doing the attacking. Anyone know what kind of hawk this might be?

What kind of hawk? Looks different from the one in the next pic.

Marsh hawk??

 You never know what you may see in nature!

Um, didn't know I got this shot until I got it on my computer.

American widgeon

Along the Riverwalk are historic markers about early San Antonio. The Hot Wells Hotel and hot springs no longer exist. According to the sign, "plans are being made to restore the Hot Wells property as a major attraction."

What the Hot Wells Hotel and Bath House
looked like years ago.

Ostrich races at Hot Wells Hotel

Juvenile Northern cardinal

San Antonio Riverwalk trail crossing - Mission Reach

Turkey vulture in flight - they are huge!

White ibis (rare in Texas) and double-crested cormorant

Black vulture in flight

Black vulture in flight

I walked to Mission San Jose, then back to the 5er on the Mission Reach of the Riverwalk.

After the walk, Bob was waiting for me at the 5th wheel. It was 3:40 p.m. and our next adventure for New Year's Eve evening was about to begin. To be continued in my next blog.

Welcome to our most recent followers, Faye and Dave. Faye writes the blog The Wandering Camels. Currently they are snowbirding in Port Aransas, Texas, and will head east at the end of January. They like to hike and walk, so we're setting up a time to walk in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Mui and Erin of Two to Travel's Phaeton Journeys will be walking with us as well. Anyone else in Corpus Christ/Port Aransas/Rockport area want to do a 10K (6.2 mile) walk. The date we have in mind is Sunday, January 12. We're looking forward to meeting more blogger friends!

Travel Bug out.