Opt Outside Day at South Side Lions Park - Friday, November 26, 2021

The entry to the east side of the park.

Our walk today is a traditional club walk staffed by the Randolph Roadrunners Volkssport Club. Today, I am volunteering at the South Side Lions Park East finish table from 9:15-11:15 am, and then Susan Medlin and I will do our walk. 

Ellen Ott was busy at the beginning. She pinned "Awesome" tags on a number of people to thank them for their contributions to the Randolph Roadrunners Volkssport Club. Martin is our photographer.

Martin received his "Awesome" tag. 

Diana & Robert Adelman with Odin. 
Ellen Ott is giving Odin a doggy treat.

Robert & Diana Adelman
heading out on their walk.

At 11 am, there will be an awards ceremony at the Pavilion and a hot dog lunch. We're looking forward to it.

In case you wondered what happened to Bob, he flew to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving with his family (mom, sister, nieces, and nephews). They're doing a lot of walking in Vegas and Bob has been out running nine miles two mornings in a row. He's flying back Saturday. 

The temperature when I arrived at the park was 48 degrees. It was chilly, so I had on a T-shirt, sweatshirt, heavy winter coat with a hood, jeans, and warm socks. From time to time at the finish table, I also put on my shearling-lined gloves. The wind was out of the north and it was cold. 

Forty-two walkers joined us this morning. This walk differed from the year-round event during the first 5k. Instead of going all the way around the lake and joining up with the Salado Creek bike path, about halfway around the lake, the walkers headed up a short hill to the west side of South Side Lions Park. The walk then took them around the pool, ball fields, and Community Center, past some homes, and a big water tower. Once that part was done, it was a quick walk downhill and completion of the loop around the lake to the finish table. 

At 11:15 am, Ellen presented service awards to a number of Volksmarchers including John & Susan Ives, Mike & Kathy Schwencke, Diana Adelman, Bob and me, and a number of others. We then had a hot dog lunch with drinks, chips, and a choice of desserts. Ellen Ott made a Devil's Food Apricot Cake, and Susan Medlin made two dump cakes (one blueberry and one pumpkin). Mmm. Delicious lunch.

With lunch literally under our belts, Susan and I did our 5k walk. This was the portion of the walk that we hadn't done before. Here are photos of what we saw.

Martin taking our photo.

Trail marker.

The Golden Shower tree was blooming and turning color for fall, all at the same time!

"Tis the season..."

A huge water tower that we think
is begging for a big mural.

Hermes at the checkpoint.

Hermes pointing the way.

Pecan Valley Lake at South Side Lions Park East is stocked with all kinds of fish. Every time we've been to this park, fishermen line the lake fishing from the shore. As we walked up, this gentleman had just caught a big catfish and he consented to have his photo taken with it.

A lunker catfish!

We walked around the lake today.

At the beginning of our 5k walk, Laurie Sue joined us. When we returned to the finish, we were told they saved three hot dogs just for us. So, we finished them off. I won't need too much dinner tonight!

Thank you, Randolph Roadrunners Volkssport Club, for organizing this event every year. The walk is lovely. 

Tomorrow, Susan Medlin and I plan to do the Comfort Christmas Walk with the caveat that if it's pouring rain we'll opt out of the walk and go to the movies. We hope for nice weather, though, because we love the Christmas Market.

Travel Bug out.

Lake, Steak, Cake and Shake - Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016

Thank you to everyone for the Facebook and blog birthday wishes. They mean a lot to me. My birthday was awesome!

Lake: Sunday morning, Bob and I went our separate ways as he had a half-marathon training run and I was doing a 10k Volksmarch worker's walk with Susan M., Rick and John. 

Southside Lions Park is where we started our walk. The walk will be an event sponsored by the Randolph Roadrunners Volksmarch Club (the one I belong to). The weather this morning was magnificent--clear, cold and dry. 

The first mile of our walk was around Lions Park Lake where we saw great white egrets, geese and American coot. A few fisherman were out vying with the egret for rainbow trout that are stocked in the lake in fall and winter.  (Catfish are stocked in the summer.)

John, Susan M., and Rick at Lions Park Lake

After the lake, our route took us on the Southside Lions Park Trail for a 5.2-mile, out-and-back walk along Salado Creek and through Comanche and Covington Parks.

Entrance sign to Comanche County Park

Rick, Susan M. and John - Covington Park

John, Susan M. and I - Covington Park

J Street Turnaround Point for the walk

Types of trees we saw included, but were not limited to, live oak, cypress, and pecan. There are also palmettos and bamboo along the path. 

Trees draped in Spanish moss

The bike path

Susan M., John and Rick

We saw a North American black vulture eating a raccoon beside the creek

Below, in the tree, we have  a committee (wake, kettle, or volt) of vultures which had all been feasting on the raccoon.

North American Black Vultures at Salado Creek

Salado Creek

When the walk was over, Susan and I wanted to see "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," the precursor to the Harry Potter books. Bob had finished his walk and called to see what we were up to. He's not a big sci-fi/fantasy fan, but he wanted to be with me for the movie I chose for my birthday. The movie was starting in 20 minutes, so he met us at the theater. Susan M. and I loved the movie. It is funny, creative and has a good story and acting.

Steak and Cake: Lunch time was way past due by the time the movie let out. Off we went to 54th Street Grille and Bar. One of the meals I wanted on my birthday was steak. When we sat down at the table, lo and behold, the special was a 6 oz. Filet Mignon served with salad and steamed vegetables. It was meant to be and it was very good. Because it's my birthday, they gave me a free piece of chocolate lava cake with ice cream. I shared with Bob. (Susan had dessert as her main dish, so she didn't want the cake.)

Shake: After lunch we went home to relax. Once it was dark, Bob and I went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas for their "Holiday in the Park." We had a good time, saw two of the shows, walked around and saw the lighted Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations.

Bob with a "holly"-day princess

One of the shows we saw was called "The Majesty of Christmas," and was the Christmas story told entirely in song. It was pretty impressive. Mary came riding in on a donkey. There were two angels flying on a track up in the air. A multitude of people visited Jesus at the manger and a herd of goats, two kids and a sheep all made their way up on stage from the theater floor. When it came time for the wise men to arrive, they came down the center aisle of the theater. 

After the first wise man, Bob said, "So is there going to be a camel?"

"No way!" I replied.

Well the joke was on me, because not a minute after I said it, I turned around, looked back up the aisle, and sure enough, a wise man on a camel was riding through. 

I poked Bob and I said, "No way! There's a camel coming down the aisle." We both totally cracked up.

After that show, we made our way over to the Christmas tree lighting with lights set to music. The first song we heard was by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, one of our favorite bands.

Behind the tree was the Rockville High Theater which was where the next musical show would be. We found seats and relaxed until the show started. This was a Christmas song-and-dance extravaganza with lots of classic holiday songs.

 

 

A classic carousel

We went for a ride

On the carousel, I chose the cheetah. Unfortunately, it did not go up and down. That's what I get for choosing the feline.

Poltergeist coaster and the Ferris wheel.

The park was amazingly uncrowded. Possibly folks are waiting until after Thanksgiving to go. Lines were very short for the rides. Bob and I went on Pandemonium Coaster. After that he was done with rides for the night. 

I wanted to go on Iron Rattler. The line was so short I was able to snag the front car for an unobstructed view. However, it was so dark I couldn't see much anyway. I loved it!

On the way out of the park we snagged two Choco Tacos for our late-night treat. From Six Flags we headed home. 

Thank you, Bob, and Susan M. for the fun birthday. 

The Birth of a New Volksmarch? - Sun., Aug. 10

A couple of weeks ago, Bob showed me a great trail where near where we live. It's shady which is a plus in the 100-degree South Texas heat. South Side Lions Park is near the intersection of Southcross and Pecan Valley in south San Antonio.

This morning Bob, my friend Susan, and I took the walk to see if it fit the criteria for a new Volksmarch in San Antonio. We started out with a one-mile circle around the lake in the park and then crossed the bridge over Salado Creek on the Salado Creek Greenway Trail. On the lake, we saw a momma black-bellied whistling duck with 13 (!) ducklings. Cutest sight of the day. Enlarge the photo to see how adorable the ducklings are. The momma was whistling to her brood as they moved away from the shore.

Black-bellied whistling duck and 13 ducklings

The walk passes through a densely forested area from South Side Lions Park, through Comanche Park to Covington Park. To make a complete 10K Volksmarch, we continued on 1/2 mile past Covington Park, then turned around and walked back to the start point. The trail follows Salado Creek most of the way.

Trail sign with the usual flash flood warning

A patch of Pigeon-Berry (Rivina humilis).

We did the 6.2 mile walk in two hours. Time flew by because we had great conversations along the way.

The trail is very popular with bicyclists who did a good job announcing their presence on the trail today. That makes it a lot less stressful for us walkers who fear getting hit by a bike that we don't hear coming.

Susan will present the proposed new Volksmarch to the Randolph Roadrunners Volksmarch Club in San Antonio to see if they would like to add it as a year-round event (YRE).

Bob went in for his follow-up with the cardiologist. While in the doctor's office, he was in atrial fibrillation again. His doctor wants him to have another cardioversion. That is scheduled for August 19. After cardioversion, if his heart goes back into normal sinus rhythm, all is good. If his heart doesn't cardiovert to normal sinus rhythm, then the doctor is recommending a more thorough ablation procedure which will scar more of his heart tissue. We're pretty disappointed in this turn of events. Bob truly hoped his last procedure would make his heart "like a 17 year old." (Kidding of course.)

Thursday through Saturday I worked in the RV park office. It was pretty quiet so I was able to complete Carefree RV Resorts Training Program with three modules: hospitality, the front desk, and reservations. I learned some good information; namely, that I tend to be too business-like and efficient, and need to be more fun and friendly. That gives me something to do to improve myself.

Susan and I plan to see "The Hundred-Foot Journey" this week. I also want to see "Guardians of the Galaxy."

That's about it from this neck of the woods. I'll write again in a few days, probably with some movie reviews.

Travel Bug out.