San Antonio River Walk

We explored the main downtown part of the San Antonio River Walk.

But first, lunch at Margaritaville near the river:

Margaritaville

A statue of Saint Anthony:

Statue

The river, with a glimpse of the Tower of the Americas:

River and tower

The river walk:

River walk

River walk

River walk

Buildings

Buildings

Fountain

River

Duck

River boat

We had a second lunch at a riverside Mexican restaurant:

Jenn

They took some photos of us, gave this one free, and offered to sell others, but they weren’t great pics:

Photo

Boat

We decided to take a river boat tour, which was an interesting and entertaining experience:

Boat

Boat

Boat

Boat captain

Theater

Statue

River

River

River

Building

River

Building

River

Waterfall

Bridge

River

River

A theater, with seating on one side and the stage across the river:

Theater

Theater

River

Waterfall

Sculpture

River

Rivercenter

A nice downtown area.

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

Statue

The Alamo:

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 Alamo

The Alamo

The Alamo

The Alamo

The Alamo

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

The Alamo

The Alamo

Army markings:

The Alamo

The Alamo

Exit:

Exit

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Back of The Alamo:

Back of The Alamo

Courtyard:

Courtyard

Courtyard

Cannons:

Cannons

Exhibits:

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Exhibits

Decorations:

Decoratoins

Decoratoins

Decoratoins

Reenactor:

Reenactor

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Gift shop

Statues:

Statue

Statue

Statue

Model:

Model

Long barracks:

Long house barracks

Long house barracks

Long house 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

Animals

Animals

Animals

Animals

A carousel:

Carousel

Carousel

Animals

Aussie Snacks

Animals

Animals

Animals

Animals

We had some dinner:

Dinner

Then wandered around some more:

Animals

Animals

Animals

Some holiday lights coming on as the sun set:

Holiday lights

Holiday lights

Holiday lights

Animals

Artwork

Animals

Animals

Animals

Holiday lights

Holiday lights

Animals

Animals

Holiday lights

Holiday lights

Holiday lights

Holiday lights

A band:

Band

Holiday lights

Artwork:

Art

Holiday lights

Holiday lights

Holiday lights

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

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

This is still a functional church:

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Mission Concepcion

Riding on the river path:

River walk path

Our next stop, Mission San Jose:

Mission San Jose

Relief map

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

River:

River

River walk path

Mission San Juan:

Mission San Juan

Mission San Juan

Mission San Juan

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

Artwork

Mission Espada:

Mission Espada

Mission Espada

Mission Espada

Mission Espada

Mission Espada

Heading back along the river walk path:

River walk path

River walk path

River walk path

River walk path

River walk path

River

River

River walk path

River walk path

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

Sea lion show

Sea lion show

Sea lion show

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

Sea lion show

Sea lion show

Sea lion show

So cute:

Cute

Sea lions

Snowmen:

Snowmen

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

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

Nativity show

Nativity show

Nativity show

Nativity show

Nativity show

Lights reflecting in the water:

Lights

A musical performance:

Performance

Lights:

Lights

A Sesame Street Christmas parade:

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

Christmas parade

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

Orca Encounter

Orca Encounter

Orca Encounter

Orca Encounter

Orca Encounter

Orca Encounter

Some videos of the orca:

More lights:

Lights

Lights

SeaWorld

It was a fun evening.

Hidden Valley RV Park

We stayed at Hidden Valley RV Park in San Antonio, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A rural campground minutes from the city.

We had originally planned to stay at a Thousand Trails campground a bit further from the city (because TT is free for us), but had concerns about access to it, and thought we’d rather be closer to the city, as San Antonio has lots of interesting attractions. We could have been closer still, but this place was a nice compromise between the kind of rural sites we enjoy, but close to the city.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-12-11
  • Check out: 2022-12-18
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny, a little drizzle
  • High temps ranging between 59-77°F, lows around 41-61°F
  • Occasional wind, up to 28 MPH gusts

Noise:

  • Some road noise, occasional train and plane noise
  • No neighbor noise

Site:

  • #6, pull-through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Unlevel; needed to use some blocks on the front jacks
  • Medium-large site: about 80 feet long by about 40 feet wide
  • Picnic table

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 55 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 1-22 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 46-93 ms ping
  • AT&T: 15-21 Mbps down, 8-12 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 4 Mbps down, 1-9 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
  • Verizon: 1-8 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpster (near entrance)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A nice country feel, close to the city

This was a great place to stay for our visit to San Antonio. We were in the lower, creek portion of the campground, and it was nice to be able to visit the attractions of the city and come home to a nice, quiet place. We really enjoyed looking for turtles along the creek (you have to be sneaky as they dive under the water at the first sign of people). Our site wasn’t particularly level front-to-back, but with enough blocks under the front jacks, we were able to make it work. Cell service was good, and Starlink had a good view of the sky for a connection. We camped at Hidden Valley RV Park in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park:

The campground map; our site was in the “creekside” section, a bit separated from the main part:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

The site was rather unlevel, so we needed to use blocks under our front jacks to get the coach level:

Jack blocks

The utilities were all conveniently placed:

Utilities

The cellular service was a little weak, and we had wanted to exercise the Starlink anyway, since it had been a few months since we used it last, so we put that out (with no sky obstructions):

Starlink

Charging up our ebikes:

Bikes and stuff

Our site and others:

RVs

RVs

One downside of this RV park is that it is accessed via a rough one-mile dirt road:

Dirt road

Dirt road

Military planes flew over a number of times, being somewhat near an air force base:

Plane

Plane

There was lots of open space, including picnic tables:

Picnic tables

A group fire pit:

Group fire pit

And a nice creek:

Stream

Stream

Stream

Stream

Stream

The creek had a number of turtles in it, too; they liked to sun themselves on logs:

Turtles

Though they were very skittish; as soon as they saw me, they dove under the water:

No turtles

Our site again:

Our site

A pleasant RV park, other than the mile-long dirt road to get to it.

Travel from Junction to San Antonio, Texas

We drove our coach 135 miles, about two hours of driving, from Junction, Texas to San Antonio, Texas.

The map route, heading southeast:

Map route

The chickens didn’t want us to go; they roosted on our sewer hose (the feeling was mutual; we could have stayed longer):

Chickens

Leaving the RV park, past the pecan trees:

Leaving RV park

Ranch Road:

Ranch Road

Steep grade ahead:

Steep grade ahead

I-10:

I-10

A stop at a rest area for lunch:

Rest area

Paladin on the back of the driver chair as we started off again:

Paladin

But he soon retuned to his safe space next to the passenger chair:

Paladin

A sign of approaching a big city; a HOV lane appears:

HOV lane

And freeway overpasses:

Freeway overpasses

Exit to I-35 south:

I-35 south

Another exit:

Exit

Our destination is appropriately enough on Campground Road:

Campground Road

A rough one-mile dirt road leading to the RV park:

Dirt road

The office:

Office

Paladin on the steps, waiting for Jenn to return from checking in:

Paladin on steps

Continuing on down the dirt road to our site:

Dirt road

Approaching our site

Our site:

Our site

Wash Wax All waterless cleaner

Like any vehicle, a motorhome can get dirty over time from road grime, dust, rain, etc. In the past year or so of owning our coach, we have paid to get it professionally cleaned by a team of people three times — at the Xscapers Bash in January 2022, at NIRVC in March, and at the Tiffin Rally in July. In between those times (and often within days of paying hundreds for a wash & wax), it has been somewhat dirty, which didn’t make us entirely happy.

It’s tricky to get a large RV cleaned — one can pay a lot of money to get a team to come to it and clean it onsite, or one can take it to a truck wash (and worry that they might ruin the paint and/or protective coat), or wash by hand in a campground. But most campgrounds don’t allow washing of RVs, due to the massive amount of water needed.

Also, while carwashes for our truck are easier to find, they can sometimes be tricky, too, when in out-of-the-way places. With our fondness of exploring dirt roads, it can be a mud-ball for a while, too.

I’ve heard for a while of another option, that doesn’t use water, so can be done in any campsite. That system is called Wash Wax All from Aero Cosmetics, and I finally purchased their kit.  

It really does work very well; it’s amazing how much better it looks with relatively little effort — a few hours to clean the coach and truck. So from now on, we’ll keep our coach and truck much more clean.

The kit comes in a couple of boxes, including a long box for the mop handle:

Wash Wax Mop Kit

The Wash Wax All kit comes with a bag of goodies, including the wash liquid, spray bottle, heavy-duty cleaner, mop pole and double-sided head, scrub brush, and multiple microfiber mop pads and microfiber towels:

Wash Wax All kit

The mop is a clever design, with a heavy-duty extendable pole and a double-sided head that angles flexibly. The system works by spraying the liquid onto one side of the mop, wiping it onto a small section of the coach (a few feet at a time), then flipping the mop over and wiping it off before it dries — no water needed:

Mop

For lower areas like below the slides, and fiddly areas, I spray directly on, and use two microfiber towels to wipe on and off:

Spray

The wet towel gets pretty dirty, but they can be easily tossed in the washing machine and dryer (without fabric softener) to restore them to like new:

Microfiber towels

The mop pole is long enough to reach all the way to the top of our coach, but collapses to a compact length:

Clean RV

We also used Wash Wax All on our truck:

Truck

Midway cleaning the hood:

Truck

The mop is useful for cleaning the roof, and larger areas:

Truck

Both the coach and truck look so much nicer when clean! I just wish I had purchased the kit sooner. Highly recommended!

(And no, they didn’t sponsor me; I don’t have any sponsorships for this blog. Maybe one day…?)

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

Murals

We first stopped at Hunter House Cafe for brunch:

Hunter House Cafe

Hunter House Cafe

Hunter House Cafe

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

Stonehenge II

Stonehenge II

Stonehenge II

Stonehenge II

Stonehenge II

Stonehenge II