Fredericksburg, TX

 Downtown Frederiksburg.  This is a lovely old German town that reminded me of Frankenmuth, MI.  Lots of stores and shops, German food, German bakeries (oh no...there goes that diet) and tons of wild flowers.

This place is like English Gardens with a bier garten, snack shop, wine tasting,  ...planting flowers was never that much fun.

Blue bonnets.  

We had a great German lunch here.

more flowers from the Wild Seed Farm

Next was our visit to Enchanted Rock State Park.

Someone loved the trails.

Everyone loved the trails!

We came to a little stream and had to carry the dogs and wade across.  Shoes are going back on.  snakes???  ha ha

this was a huge granite mountain.

We loved this place and I would go back if I could.   Next stop is the LBJ ranch.

Goodbye Mission, TX; Hello San Antonio

Lots of space at Bentsen Palm

We will  miss the dozens of Border Patrol cars that were always along our road. (and their helicopters that flew overhead all night long.)

We are packing up and saying adios to Bentsen Palm.  Off to San Antonio and to enjoy the Texas springtime. 

The Texas Hill Country is one of the prettiest spots we've been too.  First stop, San Antonio.  Now this is a great city.  I could see buying a retirement home around here.  There is so much to do.          

 The Texas Blue Bonnets were blooming all along the highway as we made our way north.

At last...beautiful San Antonio.

I was surprised to learn that these men were not buried at the Alamo.

San Antonio has so much to do.  We checked into our Rv park which was right next to Sea World.  It was a short drive to downtown to enjoy the River walk, Buckhorn Salon, Governor's Residence, churches, burial site of Travis, Crockett and the rest of the Alamo gang.  And, of course, The Alamo.

You can see that the weather was just perfect.

Dining along the river for lunch involved fighting some crowds.  Local area schools were off for spring break.

Dale took a minute to check out the Buckhorn Salon.

The Buckhorn Salon.

Standing in front of the Buckhorn Salon.

 Strolling along the river walk.

Touring the Alamo.  We listened to an excellent historian explain the whole battle.

Gotta love that Davy Crockett, "You can all go to hell and I will go to Texas!"  I guess he was a little irritated that he wasn't re-elected?

After an afternoon or two downtown, we went along the Mission Trail to see the old Spanish missions.  The Spanish taught the locals many things like how to build aqueducts, and how to set up an entire irrigation system along with a lot of skills and crafts.

 

 

Next stop is Texas Hill Country fun in Frederiksburg.   Wine country,  close to Luckenbach country music.  Yee Haaaw saddle up and ride!

Sailing, Sailing down the Rio Grande....????

Bentsen Palm has purchased a pontoon boat so guests can take a lovely relaxing boat ride down the Rio Grande.  On this journey you can see many different birds and wildlife, aliens attempting to cross and peaceful Mexicans going about their daily business wondering why people in the US don't work for a living.  The following photos and comments will attempt to illustrate the differences in life style and quality of living between the simple Mexican people and the rich and powerful US citizens along the border.

We begin our journey at our launch site!  A lovely
handcrafted deck/marina for the park's pontoon boat.
(can you say "way for aliens to climb out of the river late at night?"

Capt, Judy, Carl, Rick and Debbie.
Debbie was forced at gun point to go on the cruise.

Our captain has taken the wheel and we begin
our journey.  Safety precautions were discussed and yes, he did say that he had already heard all
the comments about the Concordia that he wanted
to hear.  Never the less life jackets were available for those who chose to not just walk to the shore.

We Americans had our craft.   and....

.....

                   ........

the cartel had theirs.

We were able to spot some wildlife along the shore line.  Many birds of prey and song birds are found along the lovely river.



However, the poverty along the river and living conditions were sometimes upsetting to the touring winter Texans.



Mexican Side of the Rio Grande:  This house shown on the Mexican side was damaged during the huge flood along the Rio Grande two springs ago. The owners were able to restore it.  The "Roman" looking aqueduct on the left side is actually a huge water fall with water pouring off each end.  There were formal gardens, fields, riding, swimming pool, boats,  all the things a poor Mexican could use as they make their way through their long day.

Building only for viewing horses.

This is a viewing center so the Mexicans can sit in air conditioned comfort with their cocktails and watch their horses being trained in the arena in front.  The stables were located just a little to the right side of the pic.

Arena is on the left and the "little" horse barn is on the right.


Many Mexicans like to picnic along the Rio Grande.  Here is a little picnic place built by some handy Mexican people.

Above is another little Mexican family place along the Rio Grande just on the south side of the river from Mission, TX.

another sunny day in South Texas.

 My friends Tom and Maureen were very helpful in identifying the birds along our trip.

Debbie and Tim watched for illegals. Debbie was worried the rough waters and breaking waves might cause some sea sickness.

Becky and I kept a look out for Border Patrol

The American side of the Rio Grande.

We turned our boat around and headed home.  Our captain referred to his chart several times and we all made good use of our compasses so that we would not get lost wandering around the river.

Oh the heartbreak of how the other side lives.  ?? 

Oh...oops...that's our side.

The dilapidated building you see in this pic is an  icon of the south Texas, McAllen area called Pepe's on the River.  After the devastating flood of two years ago, it is now called, "Pepe's in the River."  This was very sad for me personally because my Mom and Stepfather, David took me for drinks there 15+ years ago when I used to visit them in Pharr.  

You can see how high the river was by the mud line on the building

We were glad to see our welcoming party. We were on our way home. 

Streamers, ticker tape and confetti was flying to welcome us home.  

Our welcome home committee.

Welcome home signs were posted along the way.  I think this one said something about shooting people who walked there.  Not sure because my Spanish isn't that good.

and a good time was had by all.

Mission, TX Citrus Parade

Musica!

Ya'll have to get down here sometime for one of these festival parades.  These Texans know how to put on a parade.  It was about an hour late getting started or at least getting to us.  We thought maybe it was because one of the floats was a huge Texas BBQ wagon that was either selling or giving away some sort of food.  We didn't get close enough to see what it was.

 There were "Queens" of every type of citrus fruit grown around here and that's quite a few!



The pink around the bottom of the
float is actually sliced grapefruit and or oranges.





Some were very queenish with their elaborate dresses!

Senior Queens and Kings

more musica!

and some were queens and kings of the senior generation.  Many of the local RV Parks elected their own winter Texans to represent them in the parade.





Hey...can you elect a Queen?  
Not sure how that would work, but if Newt gets elected we will all find out.

There was a definite Mardi Gras flair to the event.

 There was a show of south Texas military power so we could all feel protected at our border.   If we can't run 'em down with the horses we can step it up a notch to ....

motorcycles

 Many tanks and specialized war vehicles to help combat the cartel in Mexico.

Oops , yep that's the same tank twice.  Don't tell the cartel. or wait....is that the cartel driving it????

Thanks for sharing another day in south Texas with us.