Christmas in the Park

As you know, one of the perks of our lifestyle is that we can leave the bad weather behind us.  The downside is that during the holidays, we are a long way from home & family.  But, that doesn't mean that the holidays are lonely affairs!  So, I thought you might like to see how we, and our fellow "Fulltimers" are celebrating Christmas in the campground.

First, a lot of people decorate!

And it's fun to go out at night and look at the lights!

There was even a contest for who had the best Christmas decorations!  And guess who the honorary judges were?  Yep, they asked us - ho, ho, ho.

As I've said before, the people here are great - very welcoming, inviting us to lots of events. 

 

 There was a delicious lunch provided by one of the repair shops in town (guess they get a lot of their business from the park?).

One of our favorites was the D'Hanis Elementary School Christmas Concert.

It had kids all the way from Pre-K to sixth grade doing a take off on "The Night Before Christmas", featuring some of the classics, but also songs like "Sleepin' On The Floor This Christmas", Will The Real Santa Please Stand Up?" and "Slippers Again This Christmas".  The kids (and teachers) did a great job - it was hilarious!

There was also a Gingerbread House decorating contest.

Didn't they do a great job?

Our neighbor loves to cook, and bought some wonderful fresh cauliflower at the farmers market in San Antonio.  He is making Cauliflower Potato Cheddar soup on Tuesday for the park, and we are helping serve the gang.

On Christmas eve, we will have our own celebration (but hope to get in a little Facetime with the Drassals). And, on Christmas Day, we are going to a dinner at the clubhouse with our new friends at Lone Star Corral!

And we wish all of our friends and family a very Merry Christmas!

P.S. I don't mean to rub it in, but it's going to be 80 degrees here Christmas Day!

Cowboy Country & Its Capitol!

After two weeks in San Antonio, Ron & I headed west about 50 miles to the town of Hondo.

All along the main highway through town, they have erected large "Christmas Cards" decorated and signed by the local businesses. They have Walmart, Bealls, Sonic and the Dollar Store, but I love the small gift shops and restaurants in the old buildings downtown. 

Another of Texas's awesome limestone courthouses.  This one

had the old jail house structure in the back yard!

Loved this building housing a café with a courtyard on the right

behind the beautiful gates pictured below.

We moved into the Lone Star Corral-Alamo SKP Co-op for the month.  Last winter, we stayed at several Escapees parks.  Escapees is a club originally created to try to bring "Fulltimers" (those of us who live full time in our RV's) together.  We have loved the parks because the lots are large, they usually have clubhouses with activities, libraries & laundry; they are inexpensive and the people are generally very welcoming and friendly. 

Welcome to the Lone Star Corral- Alamo!

 

Of course, Ron & I continue with our daily walks (although he usually gets out a little earlier than I do).  My favorite part about a new location is finding things to look at as I walk.  There is a tiny little town a mile and a half west of us called D'Hanis, but when I was walking I ran across this cemetery and remains of a limestone church.

According to a marker outside, this was St. Dominic Catholic Church & Cemetary, established in 1843 by settlers from Alsace, France.

The cemetery is small, but full of beautiful markers, ancestors of the people buried here still tend the graves and leave flowers. It has a very peaceful feel to it.

I love the iron markers.

You can still read a lot of the markers.

But some have fallen down.

According to another marker, the town of D'Hanis was originally established surrounding St. Dominic.  When the railroad came through, the town moved about 1 mile west.  I thought the church was beautiful even though it is falling down.  I was happy to see a notice that D'Hanis is trying to raise enough money to restore it or at least preserve it. 

 

We are surrounded by ranch and farm land, lots of horses, cattle and GOATS!  I had no idea there were so many goats in Texas. For the last few mornings, we have started to hear the prehistoric calls of Sandhill Cranes.  When I walked past one of the cornfields that had just been plowed I was amazed to see hundreds of them.

My pictures aren't great & they are a little skittish when I walk past, but wow!  I guess this is one of the places they go when they leave Nebraska!

 

We haven't taken a lot of road trips, but I did want to get to the Cowboy Capital - Bandera, Texas. What a cute town!  It is about 30 miles north of Hondo, through Texas Hill Country - which is beautiful.  Hills covered with cedar trees, beautiful ranches. 

Part of the main drag, and, yes, another limestone courthouse!

 

Bandera also has a great little museum, the Frontier Times Museum.

This building is jammed full of stuff - collections of many people of the area,

much having to do with the history of the area.

 

Inside was stuffed full of everything you can (or can't imagine).

 

Had to get a pic of this because we actually saw a live one!

Texas Gold!  I wonder who decided to collect these old oil samples!

These were the costumes of a couple who were called Bandera's Ambassadors.  They were ventriloquists, who wore matching costumes. (note the dummies, who also wore matching costumes)

Bandera is know for rodeos, so these two were always there to welcome visitors to Bandera.

Hats & saddles everywhere in the cowboy room.  Plus the "Stalls of Fame" honoring the rodeo cowboys from the area who have won numerous titles.

This was the barb wire collection.  I had no idea there were so many different, patented types of barb wire!  Each of these standing displays swiveled, so had three sides, covered in barb wire.

 

Just so you know - they try to take care of you in Texas.

We won't pick up any hitchhikers!

 

 

 

 

More San Antonio Sights

Since our nice weather was continuing, Ron & I decided to go out to the San Antonio Zoo.  We had heard that it was quite the zoo, and, boy, it did not disappoint! The zoo is on 56 acres and was originally established in 1914. 

As we passed the koi pond, I snapped a photo of this enterprising black bird.  There were two little boys feeding the koi, so he was quickly snatching up anything that didn't get to the pond.

There was a huge group of flamingos.  The San Antonio Zoo has a very successful flamingo breeding program.  I didn't realize that flamingos are endangered.  They sure are pretty!

The zoo participates in over 230 endangered species programs and has received awards for captive propagation.  These Komodo Dragons (there are 2 here) are breeding here successfully - we saw several babies.

We were heading for the "Africa Live" exhibits - first stop took us through this hippo enclosure.

They are HUGE!  It was amazing to be able to see them as they were swimming-they are quite graceful.  

A park ranger was talking about their health care and how they train them to let vets file their tusks, and check their vitals.  This hippo was waiting for an apple to be dropped down to him.

Beautiful snow leopard!

These three giraffes were the newest exhibit.  The exhibit area is well designed - there are multiple viewing areas - high & low - and the trees are around the viewing platforms so you can look the giraffes right in the eye while they eat!

A couple of African zebras

This is an Opaki.  It looks like a cross between a zebra (stripes on its legs) and a giraffe (they are related to giraffes).  I read that these were thought to be extinct - they are so shy and hid so well no one  had seen one for a long time. Really a different looking creature.

Two large porcupines

and a wart hog.

 

The zoo has a huge bird collection - one of the largest in the nation - from all over the world.

                                                           Scarlet ibis and an egret

                                 Not sure what this guy is!  He sure was accustomed to people.

An emu - never saw one sit like this.

There were also monkeys in every size and color, kangaroos & wallabies, big cats, medium cats, small cats, deer, antelope - and an awesome reptile house!

I read that there are over 9,000 animals of 750 species!  Wow, no wonder it seemed like we saw so many - and so many I had never seen before.

 

I have been surprised by how much I didn't know about Texas history.  When we visited The Alamo, we learned that it was one of five Spanish missions in San Antonio.  The Alamo is owned by the state of Texas because of its importance in their fight for independence from Mexico.  The other four missions are managed by the U.S. National Park Service.  They are relatively close together, so we decided to go see them.

Spanish explorers originally came and claimed "New Spain" (Mexico), hoping to find riches.  When that didn't happen, they concentrated on spreading the Catholic faith to the Coahuiltecan people.  The missions were tightly run communities teaching agriculture, building, religion and defense of the mission.

Mission Conception is quite well preserved in the condition it was in in the 1700's.  The church (domed structure behind the towers) is beautiful, with many of the colorful frescos still visible.

Mission San Jose - "Queen of the Missions" is an extensive

complex that gives you an idea of what life was life on the missions

in the 1700's.

The domed structure is, again, the church, with the arches on the right showing where the "convento" was located.  The convento housed the Friars.

The church entry was beautifully carved and there was a small cemetery

out front.

Arched ceilings in one of the wings.

Originally the buildings were covered with these brightly colored frescos.

An outdoor oven, with the "apartments" lining the outer walls that the Native American converts lived in.

Mission San Juan is smaller, but sits on beautiful grounds that were originally orchards and gardens.  There were also huge herds of cattle and sheep owned by the mission.

The church

None of the other buildings are restored, but it is nice to see how well built they were that even parts of them exist today.

Mission Espada is the oldest mission.

One of the things the missions provided was they taught the native people vocations like weaving, blacksmithing, carpentry and stone cutting and masonry.

This little mission was all decorated for Christmas.

Love the doorway and bells.

Again, it was so interesting to learn more about the history of Texas, before it was part of the United States.  When the Spaniards left, the missions were turned over to the native people who lived and worked on them.  They are all still active congregations, and the interiors of the churches are simple, but quite beautiful. 

 

Our visit to San Antonio is coming to an end, but I would recommend it to anyone.  We will certainly come back!