Week ending Jan 02, 2014 San Antonio, Canyon Lake, Hamilton Pool

Friday  we decided it was time to visit the Alamo in San Antonio.  

Since it was the holidays, the line-ups were huge, so after skipping the main building and going through the barracks we headed for the river walk

which goes by San Fernando Cathedral. 

 What an interesting area.  It can not be explored with only one visit.   We will have to go back when it is a little quieter.  We stopped at Micalinas on the river for lunch. As it was drizzly and cold we were lucky enough to get a table right under a heater.   By the time lunch was over we had warmed up.

Saturday we drove out to Guadalupe River State Park.   As many state parks don't have sites appropriate for our trailer we thought we would check the campground out before moving out there. The park was nice, we did a short hike and then went down to the river for a picnic lunch. 

On our way back to the trailer we did a scenic drive over the Devils Backbone, a spine between two valleys, which made for a really neat drive.   The pictures just don't do justice to the views.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny warm day.  We spent the morning walking around the RV park, visiting with some of our neighbours.   After lunch Joan decided that the Outlet malls wouldn't be busy because of all the football games, so off she went to the outlet mall, while John stayed to watch football. After driving around a crazy busy mall parking lot, with cars waiting in the aisles for a parking spot she gave up and came back to the trailer.

Monday we headed out to Canyon Lake  where we did a short hike at the dam.   In 2002 a flash flood caused the reservoir to rise 7 feet over the spillway, passing 1.5 times the reservoir's capacity through the area in a few days, cutting the river below the dam an extra 40 feet deep.  

 We then checked out another campground in the area. It is a Arm of Corp Engineer campground on the edge of the lake.  We had lunch at the picnic site at the top of the Devils backbone. A really picturesque spot overlooking valleys on both sides of the road. Target and Wal-Mart were our stops on the way back to the trailer.

New Years Eve was a beautiful warm day.  We found information on a park that sounded as if it deserved exploration. We went to Hamilton Pool Preserve Park of Travis County Parks.The  lady at the entrance was the friendliest person we have encountered. After  we paid our 10.00 entrance fee the lady asked if either of us was over 62.  When we said yes, she handed back the money. Free for seniors. On the hike down to the waterfall we walked past a sign that indicates this Preserve is  listed by the Audubon society as an 'important place' due to the variety of birds in the area. What an amazing spot. One of the most picturesque places we have been so far. Not a long walk, but reasonably steep. The grotto where people swim was amazing. And had we known and been brave enough to swim in 48 F water we could have gone swimming. We could not even convince any of the younger visitors to take a dip.  

We stopped at Cabelas on our way back to the trailer to pick up another weather station, to get a second outside sensor to keep track of the temperature under the trailer in the compartment through which the water lines run.

The first day of 2014 we spent hiking back at Canyon Lake. We encountered some horseback riders in the trail with whom we had a short visit.

Thursday we took a farm road out to Wimberley, a really funky little town whose motto is "Keep Wimberley Weirder" (Austin's motto is "Keep Austin Weird").    We found some parking in Cypress Creek Park next to the shops.  

We wandered down main street and perused the stores and bought a few things. It is a great little place and had numerous stores with odd items in them.  After our visit to Wimberley we stopped by Wal-Mart for Joan to get a haircut and then headed out to Middleton Brewery, which we had driven past several times and just had to check out.  The patrons were very friendly and we chatted to a couple who had lived in Calgary for a couple of years.  He worked for Fluor for over 30 years and now that he is retired they live at Canyon Lake.