Walkabout Two-fer, Part 1 - Wed., May 8

The realization hit me that over the course of two years I have written 500 blog entries as of today. Wow!

What a day I had! I was busy from sun up 'til sundown. Bob made sure I was up and at 'em at 6:00 a.m.

My first event was a 10K (6.2 mi.) walk for American Volkssporting Association's (AVA's) World Walking Day. The local volkssport club staffed registration at Crownridge Canyon Natural Area starting at 7:30 a.m. Because of heavy rush hour traffic, I got there at 8:10 a.m.

The first 5K of today's walk followed the loop hike through Crownridge Canyon and the second 5K went through The Heights residential area in the hills northwest of San Antonio. I love walking through the woods. You never know what you're going to see. Today's prize sighting was a pair of painted buntings. I also saw four wild hen turkeys. Not bad.

Green Milkweed Vine or Pearl Milkweed (Matelea reticulata)

Rain lily with pale green spider on the lower left petal.

Beautiful red seed pods.

Yes, the volksmarch took us on the Level 4 part of the natural area - the Upper Canyon Trail.

Upper Canyon Trail

Upper Canyon Trail

I'd like to mention that San Antonio is very focused on putting in parks and greenways. It's a good thing they provide natural areas. You can see in the photo below how the new homes are coming right up to the edge of the natural area. Many of the hill tops have active home construction projects.

Painted bunting.

Painted bunting. I had to zoom in to get these shots.

Painted bunting's back colors.

Fields of firewheels (Indian blankets).

That ended the first 5K of this morning's walk. From the natural area, the walk followed city streets up into a very nice neighborhood (at the top of the hills).

Exiting the natural area on foot.

Hen turkeys.

Magnolias in bloom.

Cacti in bloom.

Beautiful snapdragons!

Coral bean flowers

The Heights neighborhood.

Beautiful pottery on the porch.

Honeysuckle in bloom all over!

When I finished the walk, my route home passed where Bob worked. It was lunchtime, so I thought we could have lunch together. I stopped by and Bob and his co-worker, Randy, went to lunch with me at Indian Palace Buffet. We had a good time talking and eating. I love Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan bread. I had two plates of excellent Indian food.

Randy at Indian Palace Buffet restaurant.

From there, I headed back to the 5er (fifth wheel trailer) and took a nap. Boy did that ever feel good. I slept for two hours.

This blog is long enough. I will continue my walk-about two-fer in another blog.

Travel Bug out.