It's not often that Susan and I manage to get away by ourselves, but this week was one occasion, thanks to a wonderful friend from our church, Pat, who stayed with the children. Of course, our trip was all too short, but we did manage to enjoy some time in both New Braunfels and San Antonio.

Central Texas has many towns settled by Germans, Czechs, and other central European and Scandinavian groups that immigrated a lot following statehood. Most of these towns are pretty small, but New Braunfels, settled by Germans, is one of the bigger ones. New Braunfels is famous for Wurstfest, which is still on my list of things to do, but we did manage to get some good German food, which Susan and I both love.

There's a lot of water stuff to do (including the other thing New Braunfels is famous for, Schlitterbahn water park) throughout central Texas, because of the many spring-fed rivers which are very clear and sometimes cold, but we didn't try to do that this time, though we did check out some potential camp sites for the future.

The first picture is Susan and me at one of the camps on the Guadalupe River, north of New Braunfels but south of Canyon Lake dam. These are along River Rd., which winds through limestone canyons and seems far longer than the 12 miles or so indicated on the odometer. I was particularly interested in these camps because they might extend my own camping "season", which usually doesn't start until the cooler weather hits. Of course, I don't think I'd want to go at the peak in summer, because River Road would be full of cars and trucks hauling tubes, canoes, and so on.

North of Canyon Lake is the Devil's Backbone area, where El Rancho Cima Scout Camp is located. The area seems very barren and dry, but I loved it when my troop camped there every summer years ago. The Boy Scouts also have a River Camp, a few miles away on the next river over, the Blanco. We stopped at an overlook, where I took the picture of Susan. El Rancho Cima is just to the left.

The next day we went down to San Antonio, which Susan and I have always loved to visit. Because the parking spot we used to use near the Alamo was gone, we parked in a lot, walked a block and went down into the River Walk from a different entrance, but after a while realized we were way on one end! It turns out the River Walk is a lot bigger than we thought, and instead of looping around the central part we had headed off to one side, and not being at ground level didn't realize where we were.

Anyway, after a long backtrack we made it to Landry's for lunch, which was nice, though our waiter remarked how our drinks needed refilling right away (I was hoping we might enjoy some cool weather this week, but it was not to be). Following lunch, we were ready to walk some more (San Antonio really has done a nice job on the River Walk, with the vegetation, bridges, shops, etc.).

We stopped for pictures one more time, in a lush area with lots of trees and stuff. I took one of Susan with all that in the background, which looked great in person, but turned out way too cluttered in the picture. Susan was smarter and got me to turn the other way before taking the last photo.

Though it remains largely undiscovered by the rest of the world, Texans know that central Texas, which is pretty much the area west of I-35 (from San Antonio to Austin), out about a hundred miles, is one of nature's treasures. The Edwards Aquifer, which feeds the springs, suffered a lot in the 80s and 90s from drought, but the area seems to again be getting more rain in the past few years. Despite a number of trips over the years, there's still a lot more exploring for us to do!