1/25 - Heading West to Austin. It ended up turning very foggy on my drive, but it was still pretty seeing all the open fields with cattle. It was seriously WET!!!
I was happy that as I got to Austin, the sky cleared and it was sunny and fairly warm. BUT, I could not find parking at all. I can't go into parking garages. I did find a spot on the street, but I cannot parallel park my van, so I gave up and took Zoe to Barton Springs/Zilker park for a walk. We were both ready to get out. I met a woman on the trail who helped me with parking suggestions as well as overnight parking on her street. I had planned to go to a campground, but this seemed like a more convenient option.
I went to Rainey St where she suggested I park, but ended up finding an end spot on the street, where I just barely fit. There were a few low branches, but not too bad. We went for a walk on a trail along the water and then grabbed dinner at Banger's. I had hoped to catch the bats, but realized they aren't here in the winter...
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| Yum. Keilbasa with braised cabbage and potatoes |
1/26 - I'm not interested in going back into downtown Austin today, so I'm going to go to a park overlooking Austin, and then head to Fredericksburg. Hopefully I won't be as disappointed as I was here.
It was super foggy, so I didn't go to the overlook as I wouldn't be able to see a thing! I drove onto Fredericksburg and stopped at Lyndon B Johnson Historic site where he grew up in the first 10 years. Johnson City is a cute town.
Then we drove onto Fredericksburg, TX. WOW, there are A LOT of wineries on the way! I wish I could have stopped at several and done tastings. There are more than 100 wineries in a 10 mile radius in this area. And I've never heard of Texas wines before. Apparently, they mostly sell it within the state.
Fredericksburg has some charm, but it's kinda touristy and not very dog friendly. I really hate to leave Zoe in the van and since I'm not a shopper, it's not biggie if we can't go into shops, but it just irritates me. I'm lucky because I have a very well behaved dog (unless there is food tempting her), and I get that most dogs aren't so well behaved, but still, I just don't like seeing the no dogs allowed. It really turns me off.
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| Church in Fredericksburg |
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| Old jailhouse in Fredericksburg |
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| My well behaved girl at a restaurant |
After visiting Fredericksburg, we went to our Harvest Host spot for the night. I did a tasting of several wines and found that they were quite good, but I definitely favored the Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve. I ended up buying a bottle for $28!, but only because I'm supposed to spend $30 when I stay at a HH. My tasting was $18, so I had to do something else... This is why I struggle with staying at HHs. I did really like the wine, but I don't typically spend that much on one bottle. Hopefully I won't drink it and bring it as a gift at a future stop.
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| I don't like the aesthetics of this label and most definitely wouldn't buy it in the store if I didn't know it. |
There were 2 other HH visitors, but I didn't meet them. This is the struggle of traveling alone - I really want to talk with others, but they are usually couples and happy in their own little world.
1/27 - Headed to Guadalupe River State Park. I really enjoyed this place. Because of all the rain, not many hiking trails were open, but we could walk along the river which was good enough for me. It was a beautiful day and there were quite a few people there (Saturday), but not too many. I suppose it's very popular in the summer as you can cool off in the river.
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| many bobbers caught in the trees |
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| I'm not sure she's super comfortable... |
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| Chilling by the river |
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| The rare ear standing up. So cute!!! |
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| sunset |
1/28 - Before leaving, we took a walk from the campsite to the river. I just love the Cypress trees and the reflections on the water.
We headed to San Antonio from here. I remember enjoying it on a work trip and really wanted to go to the Hopscotch exhibit. I'm not a fan of doing cities in the van with a dog, but wanted to go here. As always, I was a bit anxious about parking in a city, but it was no problem! iOverlander had mentioned an area to park by the river walk and that's where I went. Free parking on Sundays and crazy cheap other days - like $3/day! I parked here and the Hopscotch place was within easy walking distance and of course, right on the River Walk. I was a bit nervous at first because there was a homeless person hanging around there. But typically homeless people aren't breaking into vehicles (I don't think) and so I just left it. We went for a long walk along the river to the downtown area and then went to the Alamo. I was chatting with the ranger there, who had asked if Zoe was a service dog. I told him no, but had somehow mentioned I was a dog trainer, Zoe is such an angel, he had a dog named Zoe with similar markings, and his boss approved us to go in. I just am not that into this kind of history. I try reading the plaques, but struggle.
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| Yep, the water is kinda gross looking... |
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| I love these corner buildings |
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| the Alamo |
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| Zoe, the perfectly well behaved dog, at the Alamo. 😛 |
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| Deviled eggs and chili fries. Fancy deviled eggs, but I'll take Shorey's any day! |
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| The oldest bar in the riverwalk. And one that allowed dogs. |
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| Here Zoe is getting confused with me in the mirror, but also behind her. LOL |
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| Oh, there is the real you? |
One of the reasons (other than having enjoyed San Antonio on a work trip) that I wanted to go was to go to the Hopscotch Art immersion exhibit. Lucky for me, it had reopened Jan 24th, so I was able to go. I had stopped in earlier in the day and I was told that service/well behaved dogs could go in. I just didn't think that flashing lights and such would be great for Zoe. So I left her in the van and walked over. Here are a couple of shots. It was good, but not really worth the effort had I not enjoyed the rest of San Antonio.
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| "Built from salvaged plastic bags and fishing nets, the Rainbow Cave glamorizes our waste and invites us to reconsider our relationship with it by making the discarded precious. This installation was created with 40,000 plastic bags, the same amount of bags used in Texas every 2.5 minutes." Thank you, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, for not allowing this waste to continue! |
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| That's me in the ball pool |
1/29 - I left San Antonio after another lovely walk on the River Walk. Zoe, as usual, didn't want to get in the van, but she does... It makes me feel super sad though!
One goal today was to get to PetSmart to get a new bag of food for her. I didn't know when I'd find another store with "good" dog food, so figured we should go while we could since we were running low. She enjoyed the visit there and I got her a bunch of treats too. I also filled her marrow bone (thanks to Marta) with treats, so she chewed on that for a bit.
We're on our way to Big Bend National Park, but didn't want to drive the whole way in one day, so we headed to Del Rio. OMG, the rattle in my dash really got to me today. I drove about 3 hours from San Antonio to San Pedro Campground in Del Rio, TX. and that rattle was SO irritating! I had grabbed a hiking stick, hoping I could use that to probe around the passenger dash area to see if anything I pressed on reduced the noise, but no luck... I don't think it has been as persistent as it was today. I hit 7000 miles today. I want an oil change at 7500 (15000 is the recommendation, but seems high!), but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I'm thinking of doing it while in Phoenix (I probably should have done it in Houston), but I'm sure I'll be over 7500 by then.
Tonight I am camping in Del Rio at San Pedro State campground for $6/night. This is on/near the reservoir, but there is so little water that I can't see any. EVERY creek I crossed on the way here was completely void of water. Very sad.
I'm not sure if I'll stay here more than one night or move onto another place recommended by Sandy, who I met tonight here. Tomorrow, I'll go into Del Rio to check it out and either come back here, or try another spot.
There was a lovely sunset here!
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| It was pretty cloudy, so I wasn't sure it would be a good sunset, but... |
