US Virgin Islands National Park

As previously mentioned, the US Virgin Islands consists of three main islands, and a bunch of minor ones. We were staying on Saint Thomas, but another highlight of this trip was to cross off another national park, in our goal to visit all of them. The nearby island of Saint John mostly consists of the Virgin Islands National Park.

It is possible to take a passenger ferry over to the island, and walk to the park visitor center, and explore the town of Cruz Bay (where the ferry docks), but we wanted to explore more of the park, which is best done by car. So we headed to the car ferry dock.

Here’s a car ferry loading; the cars all back on, to make it easier to drive off at the other side:

Car ferry

The departing ferry, and another arriving:

Car ferries

Car ferry

We made it onto this ferry, the Big Red Barge:

Car ferry

The cars are packed rather tightly:

Car ferry

Arriving at Saint John:

Car ferry

Driving off:

Car ferry

Why did the chicken cross the road? They’re all over the place:

Chickens

Jenn got her National Park passport stamps:

National Park passport stamp

Info in the visitor center:

Info

Visitor center gift store:

Visitor center

Selfie:

Jenn and David

The visitor center was undergoing some renovations:

Visitor center

Virgin Islands National Park sign:

Virgin Islands National Park sign

Trunk Bay is one of the most popular parts of the park; we hoped to be able to stop here, but they have very limited parking, so we skipped it:

Trunk Bay

Maho Bay is another (too) popular beach:

Maho Bay

But we were able to find parking at Francis Bay, a less popular but still very nice beach:

Francis Bay

We had a picnic lunch on the beach:

Picnic lunch

Parts of the beach were a little rocky, but the sand was very soft:

A little rocky

Underwater photos:

Underwater

Jenn swimming:

Jenn swimming

Video of fish:

Fish

Jenn

Looking like a merman:

David looking like a merman

Fish

Continuing on, we visited the historic windmill of the Annaberg sugar plantation:

Annaberg Sugar Mill

A turtle:

Turtle

Nice view

Annaberg Sugar Mill

Goat:

Goat

Donkeys:

Donkeys

Nice view

Lots of steep roads:

Steep road

Back to the car ferry:

Car ferry

A nice swim, fascinating history, and great to visit one of the more difficult to reach national parks.

Waco Mammoth National Monument

We visited Waco Mammoth National Monument in Waco, Texas.

This park was established fairly recently, in 2015, and is quite small. It consists of just a visitor center and a shelter over a dig site with several mammoth fossils.

Entrance sign

The visitor center and outdoor gift store:

Visitor center

Info sign:

Info sign

Dig shelter:

Dig shelter

Inside the shelter, a ranger giving a talk:

Fossils

Fossils:

Fossils

Lake Whitney State Park

We stayed at Lake Whitney State Park in Whitney, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

We enjoy stake parks, and this was another nice one.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-02-03
Check out: 2023-02-08
5 nights

Weather:

Some sunny days, a little drizzle
High temps ranging between 52-70°F, lows around 31-52°F
Some wind, up to 26 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
No neighbor noise

Site:

#17, pull-through, asphalt
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked beind coach
Fairly level
Large site: about 80 feet long by about 80 feet wide
Picnic table
Fire pit
Grass & trees

Utilities:

50 amp power, inconveniently located
70 PSI water, inconveniently located
Loose sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 12-28 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 1,000 ms ping
AT&T: 4 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Verizon: 38-48 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Peaceful state park

We stayed for five nights in the horseshoe full hookup campground and really liked it. We were originally going to stay longer but adjusted our travel plans to avoid the ice storm that blew through the area in February. Stupid storm, I would have loved to stay here longer. Our site was a decent size pull-through with plenty of room for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle. The width of the site was incredibly large with a fire ring and concrete picnic table all nestled under mature trees with a view across a large grassland area. We camped at Lake Whitney State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: About an hour’s drive to Waco to visit the Dr Pepper Museum and Waco Mammoth National Monument, both worth the trip.

An interactive map of the park:

The map; our site was in the Horseshoe Camping Loop in the lower-right corner of this map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

The utilities were not very conveniently located, at the front of site:

Utilities

The sewer was unthreaded, but someone had helpfully left a bungee there, which I used to secure the pipe:

Bungee

A look at the utilities from the rear; the power cord was pretty much fully unwound:

Utilities

Unwound power reel; unusual to need the full length of the cord:

Power reel

Camp hosts cleaning the neighboring site:

Cleaning site

Other sites:

Other sites

I flew my drone to capture some aerial shots of our coach, site, the park, and the lake:

Aerial

We’d be happy to stay here again.

The Alamo

We visited The Alamo while in San Antonio. It is a site of great significance in the history of Texas. It started as a mission in 1718, and is best known for the 1836 Battle of the Alamo.

Here’s a GIF of a series of relief maps, showing how it grew and changed over the years:

Relief maps GIF

The courtyard in front of the Alamo church:

The Alamo

Statues:

Statue

The Alamo:

The Alamo

We took a guided tour, which was great to learn lots about the history:

Tour guide

We each had a device with an earpiece, so the guide could more easily talk to us:

Tour device

Drawing of the mission:

Drawing of the mission

A statue of a guy who lived in that house, and who defended the Alamo:

Statue

Monument:

Monument

James Butler Bonham and James Bowie:

Monument

Burke Trammel and David Crockett:

Monument

A cannon:

Cannon

Heading inside the The Alamo church:

The Alamo

The church is just one part of the mission:

Model

The Alamo

As part of a guided tour, we got to go into a room that isn’t open to the general public:

The Alamo

Army markings:

The Alamo

Exit:

Exit

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Back of The Alamo:

Back of The Alamo

Courtyard:

Courtyard

Cannons:

Cannons

Exhibits:

Exhibits

Decorations:

Decoratoins

Reenactor:

Reenactor

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Statues:

Statue

Model:

Model

Long barracks:

Long house barracks

A last look at The Alamo:

The Alamo

San Antonio Zoo Lights

We visited San Antonio Zoo for their holiday lights.

We arrived before dark, so there were still some animals awake:

Animals

A carousel:

Carousel

Animals

Aussie Snacks

Animals

We had some dinner:

Dinner

Then wandered around some more:

Animals

Some holiday lights coming on as the sun set:

Holiday lights

Animals

Artwork

Animals

Holiday lights

Animals

Holiday lights

A band:

Band

Holiday lights

Artwork:

Art

Holiday lights

Zoo sign

It was a fairly small zoo, not particularly impressive. Notable for opening the first cageless exhibits in the US. Though it looks like much of it hasn’t been updated recently.

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

We explored the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

We rode our bikes between the four missions, starting at Mission Concepcion in the north. Here’s the approximate route on an interactive map (we diverted from this a little; see the actual route in the video at the end):

Mission Concepcion:

Mission Concepcion

Relief map:

Relief map

Mission Concepcion

This is still a functional church:

Mission Concepcion

Riding on the river path:

River walk path

Our next stop, Mission San Jose:

Mission San Jose

Relief map

Mission San Jose

River:

River

River walk path

Mission San Juan:

Mission San Juan

An art installation — Árbol de la Vida: Memorias y Voces de la Tierra:

Artwork

Mission Espada:

Mission Espada

Heading back along the river walk path:

River walk path

River

River walk path

Back at our truck:

Back at our truck

Mission Concepcion:

Mission Concepcion

A video of our riding route:

SeaWorld San Antonio; Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Since it’s Christmas Day, I wanted to wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. 🎄

We went to SeaWorld in San Antonio to see the holiday lights. One doesn’t really think of the sea in connection with landlocked San Antonio, but there ya go.

SeaWorld

We first checked out the sea lions:

Sea lions

Since we happened to be nearby when they were about to start a Sea lion show, we thought we’d check it out:

Sea lion show

We sensibly sat outside the splash zone, aka deliberately spraying water jets zone:

Sea lion show

So cute:

Cute

Sea lions

Snowmen:

Snowmen

Reindeer

A very Texan boot tree:

Boot tree

Plastic bottle tree:

Plastic bottle tree

Turtle:

Turtle

Fish:

Fish

Ducks and flamingos:

Ducks and flamingos

Jenn:

Jenn

Dinner:

Dinner

Swag:

Swag

Lights:

Lights

Again we happened to be nearby when they were about to start a nativity show, as told by animal puppets, with some live animals, so we attended that too (way too loud):

Nativity show

Lights reflecting in the water:

Lights

A musical performance:

Performance

Lights:

Lights

A Sesame Street Christmas parade:

Christmas parade

Then we headed to the Orca Encounter, for a little more animal exploitation… but they were keen to point out how many animals they’d rescued and otherwise helped:

Orca Encounter

Some videos of the orca:

More lights:

Lights

SeaWorld

It was a fun evening.

Ingram, Texas and Stonehenge II

We noticed a place called “Stonehenge II” on a map when looking for nearby attractions, and had to go take a look at it. We’ve been a couple of times to another Stonehenge replica, the Maryhill Stonehenge in Washington, just north of the Oregon border.

This one is in Ingram, Texas, a bit less than an hour south of the Pecan Valley RV Park (which is “nearby” in Texas terms):

Ingram, Texas

Some murals in town:

Murals

We first stopped at Hunter House Cafe for brunch:

Hunter House Cafe

We’re in Texas, so of course I had to try grits:

Hunter House Cafe

Jenn had Huevos Rancheros:

Hunter House Cafe

Then we proceeded to Stonehenge II:

Stonehenge II

Plus a couple of Easter Island head replicas, for reasons:

Stonehenge II

It’s 90% the height and 60% the width of the original:

Stonehenge II

Fort McKavett State Historic Site

We visited Fort McKavett State Historic Site, a 150-year-old fort in West Texas, from the Texas-Indian Wars of 1850–1875, with a museum, some ruins, and several restored structures.

Entrance

The visitor center and museum is in the restored hospital building:

Visitor center

Some museum exhibits:

Museum

Another angle of the hospital building:

Hospital

Officer buildings:

Buildings

A schoolhouse, that was used from 1874 to 1956:

School

Ruins of the commanding officers quarters:

Ruins

Sun

Ruins

Other officer quarters, restored:

Officer quarters

Headquarters:

Headquarters

Pole

Barracks:

Barracks

Ruins of barracks:

Barracks

Officers quarters:

Officers quarters

A “sink”:

Sink

Officers quarters

The “Dead House” (morgue) behind the hospital:

Dead House

Other side of the hospital:

Hospital

A fascinating look at a slice of regional history.

South Llano River State Park

South of Junction, Texas is the South Llano River State Park. We’ve got a Texas State Parks pass… so when driving around town, we decided to check it out:

South Llano River State Park