San Antonio and parts south...(and home - both of them)...end of the journey

We were not really up early today. The coffee drinkers did feel a need to grab some caffeine about 7, but we let DN sleep. He was up late reading while I wrote of our travels.





 About 8 o'clock we shook him awake, dressed and packed and headed to our breakfast. We had decided to take our time, to stall as long as reasonable. We did not want our trip to end, but end it must.

This hotel was pretty nice. The plants were real! [Yes, we have stayed in some places where the plants were fake. Websites do not tell you if the plants are real or not.] An interesting chandelier hung in the atrium and we rode in an elevator with one glass wall. Needless to say, I stood back by the door.

Pothos and Zamioculcas zamiifolia (Zee Zee or Eternity Plant)

Chandelier (it does not photograph as pretty as it is) and guys looking down to the lobby

Breakfast was nice. DN showed me how to cook my waffle (his did not stick to the pan, but mine did).

Waiting for waffles!

Yum...

OK, mine was not pretty, but it tasted good.

DN went to the desk to mail the postcard he wrote home. And we walked up the stairs to get our luggage since the line for the elevators was entirely too long. This is what happens when traveling with this uncle. He does not like lines.

DN climbing the stairs ahead of me...

Racing up the stairs - guys will be guys!

For a couple of days it seems this vehicle only has known one direction - south. Once we were on the move we headed through the city, south towards my old home town and DN's home.
We didn't stop, but I stared at the buildings old and new in this city that was my college home.

The green roofed Tower Life Building in downtown San Antonio in the distance. I always navigate by it and the
Tower of the Americas

The Tower of the Americas - our second close encounter of the World Fair kind on this trip.

We stopped for gas just south of town and called to let the 'rents know we were on the way.

The is the closest we got to any "Alamo." It reminded us the 4th is around the corner, but we found no fireworks stand open.

I have not taken this route home for years. We passed miles of scrub, prickly pear, and mesquites. An occasional elaborate ranch gate would appear marked by wrought iron and guarded by century plants.

Sunflowers lined the roadway and filled the median.

Median full of sunflowers. In other spots were hedges of oleander (for my sister).

Every now and then we saw heavy equipment clearing brush and "For Sale" signs along the fences.

I know these counties and towns - Live Oak County, Bee County, San Patricio County, Three Rivers*, George West, Mathis, Beeville. This was part of an area my father represented when he was a prosecutor. He criss-crossed these counties on small roads to docket calls and grand juries and trials. I don't think we realize how hard our parents worked until we examine it as adults.

And I thought about how he loved to hunt this scrub. He loved to fish these reservoirs - Lake Mathis and Choke Canyon.

And Daddy took his nephews for hunting and fishing adventures. I only remembered that on my way back north.

We do not always recognize the examples our parents give us, the behavior they imprint in our hearts.

Who knows if we will every travel quite like this again, but I surely am glad to have had this opportunity to experience something new and to share this adventure with DN (and DH).

I think DH enjoyed himself too. As seen below, he gave it his all.

The designated driver finally pooped out.

* Three Rivers gets its name from its proximity to three Texas rivers. North of the city the Atascosa joins the Frio. Then the Frio joins the Nueces just south of the city.