Rising to New Heights -- Sun., Mar. 24

Off on our adventure at 10:30 a.m. First destination the Japanese Tea Garden at Brackenridge Park. But it wasn't always the Japanese Tea Garden. Here's the unfortunate history.

In the early 1900s the San Antonio City Parks Department wanted to beautify the old Portland Cement quarry. A Japanese Tea Garden was conceived to fill the space. Japanese artist Kimi Eizu Jingu was enlisted to assist in the design of an authentic Japanese Tea Garden. Numerous plants from gardens in Japan were imported to imbue authenticity. A house was constructed on the site using rocks from the old quarry and the Jingu family was moved in to become overseers of the facility. In 1926, the Jingus opened a tea house in the upper level of their home. Mr. Jingu became famous internationally for his knowledge of teas.

The Jingu family remained in their home in the garden until shortly after the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. The resulting general fear and resentment by the American public caused the Jingu family to be removed from the garden and the name was changed to the Chinese Tea Garden. It was at that time the Chinese-style entry was added bearing the inscription "Chinese Tea Garden." The name was not changed back to Japanese Tea Garden until the 1970s!

Trumpet flowers.

"Entrance to Chinese Tea Garden"

The Pavilion at Japanese Tea Garden

Koi polloi.

Texas Gold Columbine

Jerusalem sage (phlomis fruticosa)

Japanese Garden bridge and waterfall.

Jan, Bob, Mom--Looks warm, but it was COLD!!

Grasses and bridge.

Blue plumbago flowers (?)

Turtle swimming underwater.

Trail from Japanese Garden to San Antonio Zoo.

We took a 20-minute miniature railway ride through Brackenridge Park.

Brackenridge Park

Mom, me, Jan

Brackenridge Park

We wanted to show Mom and Jan another part of the Riverwalk so we parked at Pearl Brewery and walked to the San Antonio Art Museum. Along the way, we saw the artwork of Carlos Cortes (designer of The Grotto using Faux Bois [false wood] technique), and the fish sculptures hanging under the freeway.

Black-bellied whistling ducks.

Black-bellied whistling duck at Pearl Brewery Riverwalk.

American coot.

San Antonio Riverwalk at Pearl Brewery Complex.

Interesting grasses.

Concrete art of Carlos Cortes.

San Antonio Art Museum from Museum Reach on the Riverwalk.

Fish art under a freeway.

Ducklings with no momma duck. Awwww.

Carlos Cortes art at The Grotto.

What type of flower or bloom is this?

Upon finishing our loop walk, we stopped in downtown San Antonio to walk another part of the Riverwalk. We quickly visited The Alamo, watched the movie and walked the grounds. All of us were very hungry so we went back to our respective dwellings to eat and relax before Mom's birthday dinner tonight.

Explosive new growth on cacti at The Alamo.

For our evening entertainment, I had purchased a Groupon a couple of months ago for admission to Tower of the Americas Observation Deck and Skies Over Texas 4-D theater experience. Before dinner we watched Skies Over Texas. What a hoot that was! All of us enjoyed the experience.

Then we took the elevator to new (for us) heights--the Observation Deck of Tower of the Americas. Tower of the Americas at 750' tall was built in 1968.

It was a beautiful, clear afternoon and our 360-degree panorama was unobstructed by clouds, humidity or dust. The Observation Deck has photos around the inside identifying city landmarks we could see. Texas history write ups lined the walls. Mom was most amazed by camels in Texas. She had no idea camels had been imported for use in the hot, arid conditions. That idea did not work out in the long run because camels apparently smell horrible, have cantankerous personalities and the horses who had to work with the camels were terrified of them. Oops.

An outside observation area is available as well. However, howling, icy-cold winds kept us inside, except for a foray outside to take a couple of photos.

Looking south from Tower of the Americas.

Reading history of Texas.

The Alamodome as seen from the Tower.

Jan, Bob, Mom

Jan, me, Mom

Dinnertime...we took the elevator down two levels to the Chart House. Our reservation was just before sunset so we saw evening turn to night and watched the city lights come on. Truly beautiful.

Bob, Susan, Jan, Mom, and San Antonio at night.

So, after dinner we headed back to see Skies Over Texas. The show was so much fun we wanted to see it again.

Bob and Mom hamming it up in 3-D glasses.

The wind had died down so we walked a little on the Riverwalk. It certainly looks different at night! Fun to see it with all the people gone and the city lit up.

Waterfalls in Hemisfair Park outside Tower of the Americas.
We think there was a BASF convention in town.

Tower of the Americas at night with moon.

Part of the Convention Center.

Riverwalk Mall neon and lighted bridge--Riverwalk.

The end.

Travel Bug out.

I Love My Husband -- Feb.14 and Feb. 15

First off, the kitties hope you had a happy Valentine's Day.

When I woke up Thursday morning I was greeted by a large stock pot turned upside down on the dining room table with a card on top. Hunh? What is this?

I lifted the pot and found this...

Gorgeous African violet in my favorite color...purple.

Our homes in Oregon, and then Washington, had garden windows and I always had filled them with African violets of all colors and types. I love to garden. There is no garden when you're full-timing. Bob is so sweet to buy me an African violet. He knows I love them. Now I have a little "garden." He put the plant under the stock pot to keep it away from the cats, not sure what they would do with it. Such a cheerful surprise.

Sunnie had to check out the African violet, then he left it alone. Bowie hasn't bothered it at all.

For Valentine's Day I kidnapped Bob. We went to the Cameo Theater to see a jukebox musical production called "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story." A jukebox musical is one that has previously released songs, rather than music written specifically for the play.

We arrived at the Cameo Theater an hour early so we could park for free on the street rather than pay $10 for lot parking. We picked up our Will Call tickets I had purchased through Groupon. Our seats were in the second row, left of the stage. Made for great photos, especially since no one was sitting in front of us.

Being an hour early, we had time to explore St. Paul Square Historic District and I was able to practice photography at night.

Cameo Theater

The old railway station.

St. Paul Square looking magical at night.

Tower of the Americas at dusk.

Bob amidst the decorated palm trees.

Historic engine on display.

You can see how big this engine is by how small I look.

Click to enlarge.

They  have a room named after us (ha!) so we had to take a photo.

It was fun wandering this three-block area and capturing it in photos at night.

Church and Tower of the Americas.

Church spire and almost half moon.

Office building?

Windows on back side of church.

Close up of light fixture on office building.

A little before 8:00 p.m., we headed into the Cameo Theater. You can tell this is a historic theater.

The stage set up for Act I.

Artwork in the theater.

Soon the house lights went down and the action started. The play followed the country western start of Buddy Holly and the Crickets in Lubbock, Texas. Buddy Holly didn't want to play country western music, he wanted to play rock 'n' roll!

From Lubbock, Texas, Buddy went to Nashville but still didn't want to do country western music. His manager suggested he go to New York City, which he did. The band ended up at The Apollo Theater in Harlem where the "honky" boys became a big hit.

This play has so much fun music. We were clapping along and by the end they had us all on our feet clapping and dancing.

The Big Bopper

In the photo below, Buddy Holly meets Maria Elena. He tells her he is going to marry her. Buddy Holly was a young man who knew what he liked and wanted.

Maria Elena, the Crickets and Buddy Holly.

The Clear Lake Concert--the night before the music died.

The Clear Lake Concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, was the last concert Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens played. The next day their plane crashed and all perished. "American Pie," a song written by Don McLean, include the lyrics "the day the music died" which referred to the fateful plane crash.

High energy musical numbers.

The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.

Ritchie Valens really getting into it!

The sax player.

Ritchie Valens on the fiddle.

If you are in San Antonio, go see this. It's high energy fun. But you better hurry. It ends Sunday, February 17. Hopefully there are tickets left.

We had a great time!

Today I cleaned, did some editing work and played with the kitties. This afternoon, Mona Liza and Steve of LowesTravels.com pulled into the park. Mona Liza and I played tag on the computer until I got a message that she knocked on our door but I wasn't there. Oops, she went to the wrong trailer...our door wasn't open as it was a bit chilly outside.

I walked over to their site and knocked on their door. They invited me in with open arms and handed me a glass of wine. We chattered like parrots. I told Mona Liza I had crackers, cheese, chocolate and wine back at our rig. She came over to see where we really were. Earlier, she had knocked on our neighbor's door. After a quick tour, crackers, cheese and chocolate she had to head back to their rig and marinate meat for dinner. We plan to get together with them on Sunday.

Tonight we'll be watching Shark Tank and a documentary about the world of advertising called Art & Copy. Do you ever wonder how companies come up with slogans like "Where's the Beef?" or "Got Milk?" This movie is going to explore that world. I've worked in marketing so I'm looking forward to seeing this.

Today, the cats were wild things. Sunnie decided he needed to be high up, so he climbed to the shelf above the refrigerator. He does this from time to time. He must have a need for tree climbing practice.

Strategizing: "How do I get down from here?"

"I'll jez walk down de cupberd."

...and one more kitty shot.

Sunnie on guard! Bowie snoozing.

That's all for yesterday and today. Tomorrow we're off to Austin, Texas for two 10K Volksmarches. We'll meet Jim and Peri for the first walk, have lunch, then Bob and I will tackle another. We were going to spend the night in Austin and do another walk Sunday, but the Austin marathon is happening Sunday morning. We will go to Austin for the weekend another time.

Sunday, we plan to get together with Steve and Mona Liza for a hike or walk.

Stay tuned loyal readers. More fun adventures await!

Travel Bug out.