A Walk in the City and A Walk in the Woods - Sun., Sep. 13, 2015

Today is a day about walking. It was a blessed 65 degrees this morning when we left our 5th wheel! That meant we could start our churches 10k Volksmarch through downtown San Antonio at 8:00 am instead of 7:00 am. Bob and Darren accompanied Susan and I this morning. We met at the Holiday Inn on Cesar Chavez, the start point for this year-round Volksmarch.

As we started out, all of us were praising the cooler temperature. The churches walk took us past at least ten churches, all of them historic. Plus we walked a little of the River Walk on our way to the finish point. It's interesting to see the city from different perspectives. Normally when we walk downtown we're on the River Walk, but this walk took us on city streets for 90% of the walk.

San Francesco di Paola Catholic Church

Detail above door at San Francesco di Paola Catholic Church

Beautiful window at San Francesco di Paola Catholic Church

Cruising around the city streets we found interesting murals and scenes. Since Susan and I hang around together all the time, we playfully refer to ourselves as "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" from Dr. Seuss books. When we saw the mural below, we had to interact with it!

Susan and Susan (Thing 1 and Thing 2)

The guys got in on it too.

Just down and over a couple of streets, we found this set of three disparate murals grouped together...

Overlooking the parking lot of the Bond 007 Rock Bar

Hipster giraffes

Susan ID'd this as from "A Clockwork Orange."

With the San Antonio River and River Walk running throughout downtown, there are lots of different bridges, many built a long time ago.

Convent Street Bridge, 1929

Convent Street Bridge

View of River Walk from Convent St. Bridge

A bridge from 1890 made by the
Berlin Iron Bridge Co. of East Berlin, Connecticut

Detail of bridge post

Okay, so churches weren't the only thing we saw this morning.

San Antonio Central Library (award-winning design)

Hotel Havana

Hotel Havana

Fire Station #1 with beautiful concrete work

Hannibal Pianta concrete work on the
(now) AT&T building downtown

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

Scottish Rite Cathedral

As we came up to the convention center, we saw banners for two conventions going on this weekend. This seems like a bizarre juxtaposition of themes. And, yes, we did see people in costumes for the past few days. A few Bob and I saw included Wonder Woman, Superwoman, Batman, Loki, and Darth Vader.

Alamo City Comic Con and Bridal Extravaganza

Concrete decor on the Empire Theater

Grasses along the River Walk

Flood control dam on the San Antonio River Walk

Bill Miller BBQ Sauce tower with a big straw.

The walk was finished and we were hungry, so we had a buffet breakfast at the Holiday Inn where our Volksmarch starts. Then we were off to see "A Walk in the Woods" with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.

Movie Review: "A Walk in the Woods"

Funny, funny movie about two old codgers who decide to walk the Appalachian Trail. Mishaps and missteps abound. We laughed a lot. The movie isn't terribly profound but that's okay. Robert Redford and Nick Nolte play off each other well and there are lots of jokes about getting old. The scenery is beautiful as they walk through Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. All four of us enjoyed the movie. 3-1/2 stars.

P.S. Bob came up with today's blog title. I thought it was clever considering what we did today.

Travel Bug out.

Rio Cibolo Ranch Walk - Sat., Oct. 19

Whoa! Two hours for an 11K (6.8 mi.) walk! Must be the cool air and chilly breezes (and need of facilities) that made me walk so fast today. Temperature at the beginning of the walk was 57 degrees (minus some for wind chill). By the end of the walk it was 66 degrees and breezy. My sweater stayed on for the whole walk.

While I was walking, Bob went to the gym to play basketball with his buddies. He said his game was off, but at least he ran up and down the floor.

The Zuehl, Texas walk I participated in this morning was an event sponsored by the Randolph Roadrunners Volksmarch Club. That means club members staffed the start area, checkpoints and finish. Thank you to the many volunteers who made this beautiful autumn walk possible.

Where I'm headed to do the walk.

At the beginning of the walk we registered at Zuehl's Hall, a large building that can be rented for weddings, parties, family reunions, etc. From the Hall, we walked through part of the 130-acre longhorn cattle ranch. In addition to the Hall I saw the: Saloon, Frisbee golf course, hay ride wagons, canoeing area, 100-year-old pecan orchard, a place for barge rides, horseshoe pits, Kiddie Korral, softball field, and picnic areas. What a beautiful setting, made all the more lush because of the recent rains in south Texas. The plants, grass and trees are green again.

Main gate at Rio Cibolo Ranch

Zuehl's Hall for events.

"Come Walk with Us" banner.

Blacksmith shop.

Hay rides...but not today.

Llama and longhorns.

Burros.

Texas longhorns.

Longhorns and grackles.

100-year-old pecan orchard.

Cibolo Orchard sign

Barge not open today.

The barge rides weren't open today, but Volkssporting also includes boating sometimes. Today, there was an option to go kayaking. Kayaks, paddles and life vests were provided. If I didn't have an appointment to pick up my hearing aid at Costco at 2:00 p.m., I might have gone for a paddle.

Horseshoe pits.

Saloon.

Unique landscaping.

Took me a while to realize this is a BBQ'er.

Pretty flowers in bloom in October.

Our first checkpoint was at Zuehl Field, a WWII airfield. Locally it is known, tongue in cheek, as the Zuehl International Airport. It's claim to fame is that Robert Redford was here to film "The Great Waldo Pepper."

Sod airport runway.

The runway.

We walked along the left edge of the runway.

What's an airport without planes?

Don't know what happened to these!

There's quite a relic.

We walked along many country roads.

Family bar, The Double Ringer

Formerly Clemens School, 1891-1966 (now you can rent it for parties)

Fall berries.

The lane into Rio Cibolo Ranch.

Creative birdhouse.

River in Zuehl, Texas.

Lovely walk today and definitely not hot outside.

Just a note: I bought gas at Costco this week. It was $3.00 per gallon. You read that right: $3.00 per gallon. Wow!

Must get a move on to my appointment at Costco. Then Bob and I are going to see "Prisoners."

Travel Bug out.