Broadway Volksmarch - Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Today, Susan M. and I headed out on an 11k (6.7 mile) Volksmarch that started at Broadway Daily Bread Company on Broadway in the Alamo Heights neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas.

Alamo Heights is one of the upper end neighborhoods in San Antonio. It is home to Brackenridge Park, the San Antonio Zoo, Japanese Gardens, the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, the Episcopal Diocese-West Texas, Trinity University, McNay Art Museum, and University of the Incarnate Word.

Susan was waiting for me at the bakery when I arrived, so I quickly signed in and off we went. The morning was cloudy and cool, just perfect for walking. We zig-zagged through the Alamo Heights area, seeing many lovely homes along the way.

A very old live oak tree

The walk took us through the grounds of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. We wound our way around buildings and along paths, trying not to get lost. We actually were stymied for a while as we looked for the Chapel House. Finally a priest came out who talked to Susan and politely told us the house we had been circling was, indeed, the Chapel House. (The house had no signs on it.)

The photo below is of a lovely fountain meditation area near the Chapel House. As you can see, the roses are in bloom.

We found our way through the maze-like park surrounding the Diocese and found ourselves looking at a muddy swamp. The directions said to cross a stone bridge. Um, no stone bridge. In it's place was an incomplete new wood bridge over a very mucky, muddy area. These feet were not going there! Instead we walked the direction we would have gone, had the bridge been there to cross. The way we went converged with the trail a short time, and a couple of wet feet, later. After some more streets and hills, we took a potty break at H-E-B Central Market, simply the best grocery store in San Antonio.

From H-E-B, we entered the University of the Incarnate Word campus. Sites we passed included the Blue Hole (headwater spring of the San Antonio River, which is dry now unless there are strong rains), Lourdes Grotto, the Red Bridge, and the Cardinal statue.

When we came to a bridge, we needed to cross it to get to a trail to another part of campus. There was a cement truck ready to pour cement onto the bridge. The bridge was all rebar. We asked one of the workers if we could cross the bridge. He showed us where we could cross a small amount of rebar to get the bridge's sidewalk. He told us to cross carefully. We did and we made it across. They started pouring cement as soon as we were across. Good timing on our part!

From the Edwards Aquifer Website, I learned a very interesting factoid about Pumphouse #2 on the Brackenridge property. I had to share it with you. Photo is also from the Edwards Aquifer Website.

Pumphouse #2 near Brackenridge Park Golf Course clubhouse

"Pumphouse #2, also known as the Borglum House, still stands near the Brackenridge Park Golf Course clubhouse and has been nicely restored. After it was no longer used for pumping water, it was used for a time as an art studio. It is called the Borglum House because world famous sculptor Gutzon Borglum used it as his studio for 12 years - he completed his design and castings for Mount Rushmore here."

We finished our walk on the University of the Incarnate Word Campus, passing dorms, the Science Building, new auditorium, Bell Tower, Brackenridge Villa and the Chapel of the Incarnate Word.

Former Brackenridge Villa is now home to
Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word

Steps up to Chapel of the
Incarnate Word

Chapel of the Incarnate Word

On the way back to the car I stopped at H-E-B Central Market to pick up some fresh broccoli, asparagus and cauliflower. Back at the 5th wheel, the birds were bellying up to the bar for safflower seeds. We had sparrows, house finches, cardinals, Inca doves, white-winged doves and red-winged blackbirds. At one time, I counted 30 birds either on the feeder or on the ground under it.

House finch

Popular feeding station

Tomorrow (March 11) Bob goes in for neck muscle surgery with a plastic surgery reconstruction. We have to be at the University Hospital Outpatient Surgery Unit at 11:00 am.

Travel Bug out.

Busy, Then Relaxed - Wed., Dec. 11

Hey, somebody turned up the heat!! I was able to open all the windows in the fifth wheel today. 

Yesterday, Susan and I said we'd check in with each other after she picked up her son from college in San Marcos to see if we would walk today. When she texted me around noon, I was in the process of drying eight (8) loads of laundry. We were raring to go and decided to meet at Daily Bread Bakery in Alamo Heights (suburb of San Antonio) to do the 5K walk that started there.

We arrived within a minute of each other, signed in, and headed out. Our garb today was much lighter than our winter wear from yesterday. I walked in a T-shirt and jeans (no coat or hat) and was just right.

The 3.1 mile walk was almost entirely on the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) campus. Each previous time Bob and I walked here there were no students out and about. No students were around this time because of Christmas break (when Bob and I walked here, it was summer break). A cadre of landscapers and construction workers were on campus, though.

We passed the retirement home run by the Sisters of Charity at the university, the spring where the San Antonio River starts (when the aquifer is over 676' above sea level, it's dry most of the time at this location), Lourdes Grotto, the San Antonio River Bridge on campus, Benson Stadium (Cardinal football), Sullivan Field (baseball), Barshop Natatorium, Bonilla Science Hall, Center for the Performing Arts, Sisters of Charity Convent, Chapel, Clock Tower, Brackenridge Villa and numerous statues.

Bridge over (dry) portion of San Antonio River.

Description of what the UIW campus was like in years past.

And, we always find new things each time we walk. Today we found a painted backdrop for a nativity scene with real manger and hay bales. Photo op.

Susan M.

Susan A.

 At the "Classmates" sculpture by Paul Tadlock, Susan M. became fast friends with both "students."

Susan M. and "Classmates."

Art and Music Departments' addition is in full swing. We watched a crane manuever a steel beam into the middle of the construction. Two workers guided it into place. Notice that the workers are safety compliant in their hard hats, and both are tied off. Way different from the old photo of workers on the Empire State Building in N.Y., N.Y. eating their box lunches 100 stories in the air on a girder with no fall protection!

Here's a photo of what the completed addition/renovation will look like phased in with the old architecture of the University.

Each holiday season, University of the Incarnate Word fully decorates the campus with lights for their Light the Way tradition. Many people drive through the University to see the display. A steel Nativity set was donated to UIW by the Menger Hotel of San Antonio. Here are photos of a couple of panels done in the German art form called "Schwibbogen." See sign describing these below.

Part of steel Nativity set

Part of steel Nativity set

A famous persona in San Antonio history was Colonel George W. Brackenridge. Although three of his brothers joined the Confederate army, George Brackenridge became a war profiteer in the Matamoros cotton trade when he went into business with family and a friend to form Brackenridge, Bates and Company. During the Civil War, he was forced to leave Texas because he sided with the Union. He was appointed U.S. Treasury Agent in 1863. When New Orleans fell to Union forces, he worked in the Treasury Department there.

After the War, he organized the San Antonio National Bank. From 1886 to 1923, he was president of San Antonio Water Works Company. Long story short, he was very wealthy. He donated Brackenridge Park to the city of San Antonio. The  Brackenridge home, Head of the River, was purchased by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word to use as a Motherhouse, and the home is still a part of the University of the Incarnate Word. The Motherhouse was renamed Brackenridge Villa. See photo below.

Head of the River is now called Brackenridge Villa.
Also see photo below for continuation of the house.

Continuation of house photo (left side of photo above).

History of Brackenridge Villa

As we walked the peaceful campus, we had no idea an honors student from the college had been killed two days ago by a campus policeman. You can read about this terrible tragedy here (NBC News). I found the story when I Googled University of Incarnate Word to make sure I identified buildings and facts in the above description.

We finished our walk in one hour and got treats at the bakery afterward.

Susan M. headed off to grocery shop and I went home to relax. While I relaxed, the birds were busy. We must have had about 20 birds at or around our bird feeder including sparrows, Inca doves, white-winged doves, great-tailed grackles, and Brewer's blackbirds.

Inca and white-winged dove (rear view only)

White-winged dove and sparrows

Inca doves waiting their turn in the water dish.

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.