Tag: Texas

Posted in: Campground Review, Exploring Texas, Hiking, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

KOA San Antonio: Campground Review

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on KOA San Antonio: Campground Review

For our stay in San Antonio, we stayed at the KOA San Antonio/Alamo. It was in a more of an industrial/commercial area of town, but it was conveniently located to downtown San Antonio.

The campground had RV sites (pull through and back in), cabins to rent, and tent sites. The campground is located in a flood plain, although I think it would take a lot of rain to reach the RV sites. It also backed up to a bike/walking trail. There was also a park that was within walking distance.

KOA San Antonio/Alamo allowed mail delivery, which was really nice. The mail room was next to the laundry room and office. The office had a nice store, with snacks, drinks, postcards ($0.25 each, the cheapest we found), and miscellaneous stuff. The office also sold ice for $2.70/10 lb. bag, firewood $7/bundle, and propane for $3.25/gallon (I was unaware that the “regular” sized 20 lb propane tank holds 4.6 gallons). The bathrooms and showers were open and looked nice. Laundry was $2/wash load, $1.5/dryer load.

The KOA offered cornhole (bag toss), a pool (not heated and closed for repairs for half of our stay), a playground and gaga ball court, and a fishing pond. The pond was catch and release and did not require a license. The office sold bait. You could also rent bikes and peddle bikes. The boys reported that the peddle bikes were much harder to use, as it was a single gear and the bikes were heavy.

Unlike the other KOA campgrounds we have stayed in, there were no planned activities due to Covid. The other KOA’S had indoor (which we did not do) and outdoor activities, and take and go crafts.

There was breakfast for sale 7-11am. When we were first there, it was limited to pancakes (unlimited for $3.99, but you start with two and go back for more). Halfway during our stay, the menu changed to offer more items. We loved the breakfast tacos (sausage, potato, egg, and cheese in a soft taco/burrito). In the office, you could place an order for pizza for order (Brother’s Pizza). It is made in the office. At home, Brother’s Pizza is connected to a gas station, so we were a little hesitant to try it. However, we did give in one night and gave it a try. It was ok pizza, not the best but not bad either. The crust was a little softer than I would normally like, but it was nice to have the option when we didn’t want to cook or go out.

The campground also hosted a Christmas Eve tamale dinner for free for the campers. It was held in the large barn (which had been closed for social distancing). Tables were set social distance apart, staff wore masks and spaced people apart while entering the building. Each person got a container with 2 tamales, beans, rice, and the option of water or tea to drink. It was a really nice gesture and also nice to partake in a Texas Christmas tradition.

The front of the campground was gated and you needed a code to get in at night, but anyone could walk in the back from the bike trail. There was a bike stolen while we were there (not ours), so I would lock up your gear. There was some train/road/air noise, which I did notice at night.

It was in a convenient location to San Antonio and about a little over an hour from Austin. If we were in the area, I think we would stay here again.

Video: KOA San Antonio/Alamo Campground Walk Through

SUMMARY OF CAMPGROUND:

Our rating: 3.5-4 out of 5 hitches

Cell Phone Reception: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile

Laundry: Yes

Bathrooms/Showers: Yes

RV Sites: Pull Through, Back-in

Pop Up Tents/Gazebos/Outdoor Rugs On-Site: Yes

Amenities: picnic table, fire pit/grill, cable, playground and gaga ball court, dog park

Cabins: Yes

Tent Camping: Yes

Full Hook-ups: Yes. 30/50 Amps

Pool: Yes

WiFi: Yes

Accepts Mail: Yes, no charge when we were there

Food On-Site: Yes, breakfast and pizza

Camp Store: Yes

Fishing: Yes, no license needed

Posted in: Exploring Texas, National Parks, Sightseeing

The Missions of San Antonio, TX

Written by tepetravels

On Christmas Eve day, we decided to explore the San Antonio Missions. We had already explored the Alamo. There are four in the area, at least two of which still had active parishes that we could see.

Although you could, in theory, walk between the missions, it would be a long boring walk. We drove between them as each one had a parking lot.

The buildings themselves were really neat to see. Each Mission was a little different and had their own interesting features. However, our favorite was the San Jose Mission with it’s large grounds.

We started at Mission Concepción. The grounds were open, but the buildings were closed.

Mission San Josè: There was a little library at the Visitor Center. This Mission seemed like it was the largest walled grounds of the ones we saw. Outside of the main walls was a mill. We were able to go inside the church and chapel area. We saw what looked like frescoes on one of the walls and an awesome spiral staircase that looked like it was made of wood!

Mission San Juan:

Mission Espada:

Posted in: Exploring Texas, Sightseeing

Exploring San Antonio, TX: Concrete Plant Ruins and a Japanese Tea Garden

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Exploring San Antonio, TX: Concrete Plant Ruins and a Japanese Tea Garden

Those two things don’t sound like they go together, do they? After looking online at RoadsideAmerica and Atlas Obscura, we decided to go back to the Brackenridge Park area.

There were buildings from what remains of a concrete plant. It ran from 1880-1908. The buildings were still there and you could see some equipment if you peer through the railings.

Behind the ruins lay what used to be the limestone quarry. The city turned the quarry into a Japanese Tea Garden. It was amazing. There were koi, bridges, and a waterfall. There was a cafe as well, although it was not open when we were there. I would love to have been able to sit there and read, it was beautiful and peaceful (minus the people).

After the garden was completed, there was a caretaker for many years. The city then asked Mr. Jingu and his family to live there and maintain it. They lived there even after Mr. Jingu’s death caring for the garden, until WWII when the family was kicked out of their home due to Japanese fear. The garden was renamed. It wasn’t until 1983, that the city restored the name. Can you imagine living there for generations and then being kicked out of your home?

It’s a gorgeous area with lots of history. I would definitely check it out if you are in San Antonio!

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Exploring Texas, Hiking

Exploring San Antonio, TX: Brackenridge Park

Written by tepetravels

We wanted to find a new place to explore and walk around. After Googling for a little bit, Ben found a park with a 4.5 star rating, Brackenridge Park. It definitely earned its rating! It was a really neat area to walk around with trails, water, picnic areas, and lots of neat bridges and buildings.

It was on the San Antonio river, near the zoo, so parking could be a little busy.

The area had been used as a swimming area in the early 1900’s and there are still several buildings from then, including the Pavilion (which is gorgeous).

It was a really nice day to walk on the trail and around the area. If you are in the San Antonio area, I would definitely check it out!

Posted in: Exploring Texas, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

BUC-EE’S

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on BUC-EE’S

As we were driving into San Antonio, we had passed a huge gas station called BUC-EE’S. We had never seen such an animal and made a note to come back to see it. We weren’t disappointed when we finally got there. Apparently it is a chain, mostly in Texas (eastern). We stopped at the Bastrop location.

Outside had a large store, with 3 fuel/Ethonel Free/DEF stations.

They are apparently known for their clean restrooms. These restrooms were huge, clean, and very nice. The boys reported even the men’s restroom was clean! I had a toilet cleaning dispenser and a hand sanitizer dispenser in my stall.

There were so many food and drink options you could find something for everyone. We ended up buying Beaver Friends (animal crackers), licorice, a slushy, and chopped and sliced brisket sandwiches with chips. The brisket sandwiches are made right there in the store.

This company did a great job with putting the Buc-ee mascot on pretty much everything (clothes, wine glasses, keychains, food items). We found a few Christmas gifts for people as well. The store also sold ice really cheap (10lb/$0.79, 20lb/$0.99), so we got a bag on our way out. We browsed around the shop for awhile and picked up a couple of items.

The parking lot was pretty large as well. If we see another one on our travels, I would definitely stop. It was quite the experience.

VIDEO: Walking Through Buc-ee’s.

Posted in: Christmas, Exploring Texas, Food, Holidays, Sightseeing

Exploring Austin, Texas

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Exploring Austin, Texas

Austin was a little over an hour away from the campground and we were excited to see it. We had heard a lot of good things about the city, plus there were a few holiday events there that we wanted to check out.

We started off at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar. It was a really neat store with booths from different artists. Nick made out with a new baby Yoda face mask and a keychain guitar pick holder. I found a chocolate bar with locally sourced ingredients. It looks like it will be tasty. They did a great job with Covid precautions: everyone had to wear masks and they were limiting the amount of people allowed in the space.

We drove further into Austin and had a little bit of a hard time finding parking. There were several artist booths with items for sale ranging from food to jewelry and clothes. We found a couple of items for Christmas gifts. We wandered around and tried pizza from Home Slice and ice cream from Amy’s. We explored this amazing candy store called Big Top Candy Shop. The inside decor was awesome and they had all different types of candy (chocolates, gummies…).

We also saw the Austin Motel’s Winter Wanderland. This must be a fun place to stay. It was close enough to walk to shops and restaurants and had a really cool vibe. They decorated the courtyard (even the pool area!) for Christmas with a lot of trees and garland. Even the prickly pear cacti had ornaments on them! It was really neat to see, super festive.

I did notice as a whole, the part of Austin we were in did a much better job with wearing masks, even outside.

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Christmas, Exploring Texas, Food, Holidays, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

San Antonio River Walk

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on San Antonio River Walk

We had been looking forward to seeing the San Antonio River Walk for a long time, years in fact. So, of course, one of our first stops in San Antonio was the River Walk.

After driving around to find parking (everything is paid parking, even street parking), we lucked out and found a spot near one of the River Walk bridge entrances.

The River Walk is as neat as everyone says. There were sections of just walking (or running for some people) with plants growing along the walls or decorations in the retaining/bridge walls. Then there was the shopping and restaurant section of the River Walk. The restaurants certainly had great patio views.

Our first trip there was during the day, which was great. But Ben had seen online that the Christmas lights really make it beautiful. So, we went back during a Luminary weekend, which was too pretty. We found a restaurant next to the river to eat dinner (Casa Rio). All the wait staff wore masks, and there were plastic curtains between tables. They also seated customers with a table in between them for spacing. The ducks that occupy the canal are expert beggars at these restaurants. The kids named them water pigeons. While eating it was fun to hear snippets of the boat tour guides speeches as they passed. Ultimately, we got to sit and and enjoy the lights as they came on at dusk.

The restaurants were decked out in lights, there were lights hanging down from the trees and they had luminaries placed along the sidewalk. It looked like open-drink carry was allowed, as we saw several people with (plastic) glasses of wine or even baggies with straws for frozen margaritas.

CAUTION: Most of the sidewalk does not have railings. Be careful while walking along the edge. It would be really easy to fall in. Luckily, we did not.


It was a really neat treat to see the River Walk and so far it has had my favorite Christmas decorations.

Nice job San Antonio!

VIDEO: Walking Down River Walk During Luminaries/Christmas

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Exploring Texas, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

This Was our First Rodeo: Fort Worth Stockyards Coliseum Rodeo

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on This Was our First Rodeo: Fort Worth Stockyards Coliseum Rodeo

The Fort Worth Coliseum holds weekly rodeos on Friday and Saturday nights. They have competitors come in from all over (on the night we went they had one cowboy from Alaska and two from Brazil). They had timed events and rough stock events. (According to their website, Saturday nights have more rough stock events.) We learned that a rough stock event is normally bull and bronco riding, whereas a timed event is the roping and barrel racing.

It was our first ever rodeo and we weren’t sure what to expect. The Coliseum had a few different seating options: General Seating, Silver Spur (set of 5 reserved seats, in first two rows), Gold Buckle (reserved seats in the middle, cushioned seats with cup holders), VIP (3 rows with a bar). We were worried about taking the risk going to a rodeo during the pandemic and chose the Gold Buckle seats to ensure our greatest chance at social distancing. We were lucky enough to be sponsored for these seats from an award Ben had received from work. It turned out great! The chairs were very comfortable and gave us some distance from other people. We were also close to the action. So close we even had dirt flung up from the arena floor a couple times.

We saw bull riding, roping, barrel racing, bronco and bare back bronco riding. The strength and flexibility to do these events was remarkable. Even with the high skill of these athletes, one cowboy get knocked out and had to be carried off the field.

Due to COVID, the Coliseum limited seating to 75% and required masks to enter. The announcer was great about reminding people to socially distance and to wear masks throughout the event. However, there was no real enforcement. Once people were inside, it seemed like at least half of them took their masks off (not for eating/drinking, just off). We left ours on the whole time.

VIDEO: Fort Worth Coliseum Rodeo 11/21/2020

Post Event Notes:

We delayed putting this blog out until we were sure we did not end up with COVID from the experience. Luckily we are all still healthy (i.e.-no-COVID fallout from the Rodeo). Yee haw!

We were worried about the animals. It was amazing to see these athletes demonstrate their craft, but it concerned us that the animals could be hurt for our entertainment. Specifically, we wanted to know what was being done to make the bulls and horses buck. I did some reading and discovered it is a combination of breeding and the use of a pressure inducing flank strap. Here are a couple of the articles on why bulls buck: Arlington, LiveAbout.

Overall, our first rodeo was a lot of fun and definitely a learning experience. I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to see another Rodeo, but I am very glad I had the opportunity to see it.

Posted in: Exploring Texas, Museums & Tours, School, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

Remember The Alamo!

Written by tepetravels 2 Comments on Remember The Alamo!

One of Will’s picks to see on this trip was the Alamo. This kid loves history.

It was in the downtown area, not far from the River Walk. We walked between the two quite easily (it was less than 10 minutes, depending on where you were on the River Walk).

It was really neat to see. They did a really nice job with historical information signs and diagrams. There’s a gorgeous, huge, oak tree in the courtyard. (Ben’s favorite thing was the “historical” gift shop.)

Due to Covid, there was a limited amount of people allowed in the church area of the Alamo. Tickets were free, but they were sold out the day we were there. We do plan on going back once we can get tickets.

VIDEO: Walking Around The Alamo

VISITOR NOTE: The postcards in the Alamo gift shop were $1.99 each. The shop across the street and the San Antonio Visitor Center had them for about $0.35/each.

Posted in: Campground Review, Exploring Texas, YouTube Video Link

Cowtown RV Park (Texas): Campground Review

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Cowtown RV Park (Texas): Campground Review

For our travels in Texas, we originally had Thousand Trails (TT) parks reserved. However, after reading reviews for the first two, we decided to stay at other campgrounds. I had also talked with the first TT campground on the phone, and was not very impressed with their customer service. It also was 1.5 hours from any of the things we wanted to see.

It was a frantic internet search while driving through the vastness of Texas to try to find an open site near where we wanted to stay. We saw some good reviews for a place called Cowtown RV Park. They could get us in for 2 weeks, but then had other bookings. They were really nice on the phone and we reserved our stay. We didn’t pay anything until we checked in, although that could have been due to having a same day check-in as booking. After we checked in at the office, they had someone lead us to our site.

The office had a small store area, although it was mostly food. The campground did have laundry facilities (3 locations), bathrooms (closed due to Covid), a small playground, pool (locked for the season, but they did offer to unlock it if the kids wanted to swim, although it is not heated), horseshoes, and a basketball hoop. It was dog friendly with a couple of fenced-in dog areas. There were garbage cans scattered about on each row. Sites were concrete pads, with most having a picnic table and ours even had a charcoal grill! There were no fire rings, but I did see several people using their own fire pits on the driveways. The RV park was a mix of back-in and pull-through sites. All sites were 30/50 amp, full hookups, and had cable lines to hook into. They did sell propane onsite, as well as ice. The park also offered WiFi and had several boosters located around the grounds.

Laundry room #3, propane, office, laundry room #2 (By Rally Room)
Dog area, horseshoes, office store, our site

It was pretty dark around the campground at night. There were a few lights on the buildings (laundry, etc.), but not down the rows.

Laundry was $1.25/load for both the washers and dryers.

The park was close to the highway. Most of the time we did not hear any noise, or if we did it was not too loud.

The RV park was pretty conveniently located. There were several grocery store options close by (Walmart, Costco, Target, Brookshire’s — cheapest diesel while we were in town). Starbucks was close as well, almost walking distance but there were no sidewalks. It was about 20 minutes from Fort Worth/Fort Worth Stockyards.

I think the campground was decently priced. It had a really convenient location. If we were in the Fort Worth area, I think we would stay here again.

The boys put together another campground tour video!

VIDEO: Cowtown RV Park Campground Tour

Summary of Campground:

Our rating: 3 out of 5 hitches

Cell Phone Reception: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile

Laundry: Yes

Bathrooms/Showers: Yes, but closed for Covid

RV Sites: Yes, pull through and back in

Pop Up Tents/Gazebos/Outdoor Rugs On-Site:

Amenities: picnic table,  grill most sites, cable, playground, dog park

Cabins: No

Tent Camping: No

Full Hook Ups: Yes. 30/50 Amps

Pool: Yes

WiFi: Yes

Pop Up Tents/Gazebos/Outdoor Rugs On-Site:

Amenities: picnic table,  grill most sites, cable, playground, dog park

Cabins: No

Tent Camping: No

Full Hook Ups: Yes. 30/50 Amps

Pool: Yes

WiFi: Yes

Food On-Site: No

Camp Store: Yes, limited

Fishing: No

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