Month: March 2017

Today we wanted to visit the Mission Trail that features 4 Spanish missions over an 8 mile bike and walking trail winding through old neighborhoods and farmlands along the San Antonio River.

By car was way to boring and we had seen that several BCycle stations were along the trail and decided to go this route.

Starting at the most sourthern mission Mission Espada and mile marker 10 we parked the car and visited the mission, where a Sunday church service was being performed.

There is a bike station just down the trail, insert your credit card and pay $ 12.00 per bike for a 24 hour rental period. You have to return the bikes within 1 hour at any station or pay a penalty if used longer. Just what we needed – added pressure on a Sunday.

Mission San Juan de Capistrano at mile marker 8.5 was our second stop. So drop the biked back in the rack, receive a text message confirming the drop and off to the mission.

Unfortunately not much but the church building and a few walls is left of this mission. The Sunday services were held here as well as we visited.

Off to get the next set of bikes, and we were lucky that the set we had used to get here was still available. By this time the clouds had parted and the sun had come out. The next mission being almost 2 miles away, we figured we better get going to stay within the 1 hour rental period.

Mission San Jose is a bit off the mission trail and it took us a while to find it. But we made it in 58 minutes, dropped the bikes, got the text message and started looking for water.

Luckily all the missions have a water fountain were you can fill up your water bottle. Since the sun beat down so much, Kisten decided it may also be a good time to look for a hat before visiting the mission.

This is by far the largest and best kept of the missions and we spend a good while taking in all the sights.

Off to the last mission and we had to admit that we were getting tired. Mission Concepcion being at mile marker 3 was going to be a good ride away. This time we were not so furtunate and our original bikes were gone. We picked a new set and headed off to the last mission to visit.

We knew we were getting close, as the outlines of downtown San Antonio could be seen

This mission is also well preserved, but on the smaller side. A street festival was going on around the mission, so we had some difficulty finding the bike racks. But we did, dropped them off, received the text message and off to the last mission of the day

Now we were really tired and the 6 mile trip back did not really endear to us at all, so we found the Mission bus and hitched a ride back. Unfortunately the bus only goes to Mission San Juan, so we had a little over a mile left to get back to the car.

When we got to Mission San Juan there were only 2 bikes left and we wondered what one would do if there were none left….

We hopped on and quickly found out why they were the last 2 left, these 3 speed bikes were down to 1 speed and barely made it out of the gate.

But we had an extraordinary day biking, seeing history, refilling our water bottles and getting a decent suntan.

And Kirsten got her hat

An adventure sure to be recommended as we had now seen all 5 missions, having been to the Alamo yesterday

We have been here for one week and our business has been good all week, now it was finally time we visited San Antonio and did the tourist things

The tomb/grave of the Alamo Heroes

The Spanish/Mexican market and the Mariachi bands playing, and we finally found the small backpacks we were looking for – but still no hat for Kirsten.

and the San Antonio River Cruise, impossible to do during the busy week

After getting back on land, we had to check out St. Joseph’s Church were the sermons are still held in German the last Sunday of every month

The Menger Hotel, established as a boarding house and brewery in 1855 grew into what is now a hotel over time

And of course the famous Alamo right next door

There is so much to see, especially the city viewed from the river, a definite must. Lots of history, the German influence, Davy Crockett, James Bowie, William Travis, The Alamo, the Mexican Influence. Do take your time

We had heard so many stories about the German history in the Texas Hill country and the town of Fredericksburg that this was a definitive stop on our list. And we were not disappointed.

Das Peach Haus greeted us on the outskirts before we had even entered the city

German settlers started a peach orchard and the kids started selling jam on the street after school. Soon the business took off and they sold more than the stand could hold. Now it is a peach jam, marmalade, schnapps shop, motel, cooking school and everything else that revolves around peaches

City limits is not far away

And the German history is neither – town square and church

Settler’s life the way it was

But that was basically it, the rest is a town overcrowded by tourists, T-shirt and Cowboy hat shops, and every other trinket a tourist could want. No German restaurant, the only German baker sold out by noon, no German butcher. But lots of Germans in the cemetery

Like somebody told me a while back – during WW II not a lot of Germans wanted to be Germans, so this generation tried very hard to assimilate.

Too sad, as the next generation does not know what they are missing.

Our drive back to San Antonio took us through the Texas hill country and its beauty

And through Boerne, another German heritage town – down Main Street

Past the obligatory German church

Town square

And bakery, build by Joe Vogt in 1912

Enough German heritage for one day

When we met Lauren and Steve in Canyon Lake, Texas they suggested coming down to San Antonio, Texas a day early as the river would be colored green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

We made the arrangements, got to the KOA just after lunch and took the local bus downtown. Not having had lunch yet, we decided on some German food at Schilo’s Delicatessen.

And then headed over to a packed Riverwalk and the colored waters

We walked around and found the amphitheater where an Irish band was playing

Sat down, listened to the music and all of a sudden Lauren and Steve are right next to us. Steve had to introduce me to green beer and we watched the band perform

Beautiful weather, beautiful music, beautiful people – perfect day.

Every morning and evening we were greeted by the local deer population. It took us 2 days to figure out that the campground guests were feeding them and they would thus come back every day.

Took a drive around canyon lake, which is a man made reservoir to prevent the area from flooding.

And the area that was flooded was first settled by German Emigrants

So the German history in the Texas hill country is true after all.

The next stop led us to Lake Pointe Resort in Canyon Lake, TX between Austin, TX and San Antonio, Texas and just outside of New Braunfels, Texas.

What an idyllic RV Park it turned out to be. Situated right on Canyon Lake and still nestled in the woods.

After arrival we drove into New Braunfels for dinner at the Friesenhaus for some German food and took a brief drive through New Braunfels, Texas. The food was good, the town a not so much. With everything one reads about the German heritage we would have thought there was more to see.

A stroll along Canyon Lake rewarded us for the disappointment in New Braunfels, Texas.

Another recommendation from our neighbors and well worth it.

Good sized portions (well, everything is bigger in Texas) and fresh off the BBQ pit.

The adjacent winery looked very inviting

but the prices were a bit steep (well, everything is bigger in Texas).

Our neighbors Meg and Don who had lived in the Austin, Texas area for a few years advised this is a must see.

We suppose that it greatly depends on the time of year the gardens are visited, as March does not lend itself to a lot of flowering plants. The buildings and layout were fabulous

We tried to imagine what the park would look like in another months or two.

With the work on the RV being done as best as possible, as some items were on back order, we proceeded to make another appointment on the way back in April.

Now it was time to start our Texas Hill Country adventure. Our first stop was outside of Austin, Texas and the RV park looked Texan to us.

Then it was time to check out the German heritage of the area we were in. It did not take long for us to find proof

Since it rained, we settled in and took it easy for the day.