None of us had ever spent time in Austin, so we decided to camp out at McKinney Falls State Park to do some sight-seeing in that neck of the woods. In addition to taking in some gorgeous views on our state park hikes, we also got to tour downtown Austin. What I loved about the city is that it’s just pretty. It’s a very clean town, and they seem to always be working on improving it. It’s also full of outdoorsy people. I’ve never seen so many people running, biking, and dog walking in one place. It’s one of the dog-friendliest places I’ve visited. Our dogs even joined us for brunch in outdoor seating at a restaurant downtown (they didn’t eat, and they behaved better than expected). We also visited the state capitol, and the grounds are stunningly beautiful and another great place for dog walking. We trekked the So Co District, walked across the Congress Avenue Bridge (home to 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats, who had gone to Mexico for the winter, dang it), and hung out at Auditorium Shores Park for a bit.
Another cool thing about Austin is that cousin Alexa calls it home. She lives in a co-op with a bunch of other young people, who share house duties and who have a pretty fantastic view of the Austin skyline. They are also within walking distance of some cool places. We picked her up for dinner one night, and then we spent a Sunday with her, visiting a farmer’s market, eating some food truck tacos, and kayaking Lady Bird Lake.
We had such a great time seeing Alexa and exploring Austin! Surprisingly, it was even warm enough for us to do some swimming in February (well, it was a bit of a Polar Bear Plunge, since the water was still a little cold), but the girls didn’t mind.
After a few days in Austin, we moved a little more south to San Antonio. We stayed at Guadalupe River State park for a few days, and then we moved to a KOA in San Antonio proper. Ray and I had both been to the Alamo before, but the girls hadn’t, and that counts as History for homeschool, so we stopped by on our way to the River Walk. They were more impressed with the penny machine (that souvenir creator that imprints a picture/words to commemorate the place, after you insert two quarters and a penny and crank the wheel). They’ve started collected those from different places we’ve visited. We bought a kid’s book to better explain the Alamo, that I tried to read to them while sitting around the campfire that night, but they were bored to tears. We’ll try again someday. We took one of those narrated tours down the river at the River Walk, and we all enjoyed that.
Guadalupe Rive State Park is home to some pretty gorgeous views, as well. The crystal clear river water, surrounding Bald Cyprus trees, and cliffs that line the river make it a scenic and tranquil place to take a walk. People also do a lot of tubing and swimming in the there during the summer months. I definitely wouldn’t mind coming back for that.
I also chose this particular state park to take up a little light jogging in the mornings (again – we will see how long it lasts this time). The first morning I ran about 30 minutes, and toward the end of it, I came across a herd of deer grazing. It took my breath away and made the early-morning run worth it.
Another interesting thing about San Antonio is the missions. Well, it’s interesting to me (maybe not so much the rest of the family). We got to visit two of the four missions still standing (not including the Alamo): San Jose and Concepcion. They are part of the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. The Spanish frontier missions were established by Catholic orders to spread Christianity to the Native Americans in the late 1600s and early 1700s.
While in San Antonio, we also got to see my cousin David, his wife Jeanne, and their son Greg. We had dinner at there house one night, and ate some excellent Tex-Mex in Helotes, Texas another night. It was wonderful to catch up with them, and the girls loved playing with their two bulldogs and chunky Chihuahua.
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