A Good Morning

We woke to the sound of thunder rumbling above us and raindrops tinkling on the roof. Soon the chatter of the magpies filled the air. I checked the weather to see that the clouds would quickly give way to a sunny afternoon.

Walking back to the truck from the bathhouse, I saw a great egret flying. The bright white wings were a fantastic contrast against the dark grey clouds behind.

As Chris packed the truck, I walked down to the water with my camera. A blue heron flew out of the reeds in front of me. I followed the trail next to our campsite, to the spot where I thought he went. I didn’t find the heron, but the lighting over the water was spectacular. When I returned to the truck, another heron flew out of the reeds. It was such an exhilarating way to start the day.

Hamilton Pool Preserve

Our next stop was Hamilton Pool Preserve. Reservations are required to visit. You pay for the reservation, and then there is an $8 per person admission fee at the park, cash only. When we arrived at the park, we learned that they were waiving the entry fee because of the risk of handling money during the pandemic.

The hike down to the pool was not long. Part of the trail was rigorous but not too difficult. We enjoyed following the self-guided tour, stopping at the markers to learn about the plants and animals in the area. The bald cypress trees in the stream were beautiful. The closer we got to the pool, the more rock walls we saw rising above us.

When we turned a corner and crossed a bridge, we saw a spectacular round pool of clear blue-green water. We enjoyed watching the various fish swim around. At the back of the pool was a rock bowl. Water streamed from the top, dropping into the pool. We followed the path as it meandered around the water against the rock wall, making a full circle.

As we had driven through Texas on our way to the hill country, we had discussed the fact that we should get some barbecue before we left the state. Chris had seen several shows featuring the award-winning Franklin BBQ, and it was the only place he wanted to go. When we looked it up, we found it is in Austin, right in the middle of our planned route. We scheduled a curbside pickup for lunch at 1:30, between our visits to Hamilton Pool Preserve and McKinney Falls State Park.

McKinney Falls State Park

We didn’t spend as much time at Hamilton Pool as we had planned, so we were about an hour ahead of schedule. We decided to go to McKinney Falls State Park before lunch instead of after.  In the interest of maintaining social distancing, Texas State Parks are allowing a limited number of visitors at any given time. They highly recommend making a reservation to guarantee you will be able to get into the park. Our reservation was for 2:00. With it being a dreary weekday, we took the chance that we would be able to get in before our appointment time. They weren’t busy, and we had no problem getting in.

We first stopped at the lower falls. We walked across the rocks, typically covered in water. The river was running low, but it was still flowing over the falls. While I was on the beach, I decided to cross over the river to capture the falls’ other side. When we got to the top, we realized it was a much longer jump across the rocks than I had anticipated. We decided not to attempt it. Another couple attempted the jump as we walked away, and the guy ended up falling in the water. I was happy that we had decided against it.
Initially, I planned to hike between the upper and lower falls but. In the interest of time, we chose to drive instead.

The upper falls were beautiful as well. The rocks near the falls were interesting, forming an alcove. People were fishing right at the top of the waterfall, so regretfully, we didn’t get to take our usual selfie.

After enjoying both waterfalls, we arrived at Franklin Barbecue right on time. After picking up our food, we headed to the hospital. Chris had a flare-up of diverticulitis, so as much as we did not want to go anywhere near a hospital, we thought it best to get him checked out.

We put the word hospital into Google maps and followed the directions. As we drove through downtown, we passed the capitol building, which was beautiful. I would have loved to stop for a photo, but the traffic did not allow it. When we arrived at the hospital, we ate our delicious chopped beef sandwiches before going inside.

A Trip to the Emergency Room

I have never been a fan of going to the emergency room. Our experience has been that it takes forever (most of our visits have taken no less than six hours), and the staff is more interested in how much you drink than what brought you to the hospital.

Our visit to Ascension Seton Medical Center’s emergency department was a far different experience. Within five minutes of our arrival, they called us back to get vitals. The nurse apologized that they did not have a room ready. She asked us to return to the lobby to wait, but that it shouldn’t be too long. Not even ten minutes later, they directed us to a room.

When we got into the room, there was no chair. I didn’t even have time to think about the chair before a doctor entered the room. As he did, I noticed a nurse just outside the door to our room. He disappeared, only to return a moment later with a chair for me. The nurse, Aleczander, looked like something from a tv show. With both arms covered in tattoos, he had an extraordinary manner, allaying our fears of being in the hospital.

Chris needed bloodwork and a CAT scan to confirm his diagnosis. The radiologist, Alex, was outstanding as well. Before we knew it, we had a prescription and were on our way in under three hours. It was the best hospital experience we have ever had. I loved the fact that the doctor listened to what we had to say about what was wrong and then proceeded accordingly.

Once we picked up the prescriptions, we were on our way south. We stopped at Whataburger for dinner. We had heard good things and wanted to see for ourselves what it was all about. We were not disappointed. The burgers were fabulous, and we enjoyed the Dr. Pepper milkshake as well.

Palmetto State Park

After a good night’s sleep, we went on a nature walk at Palmetto State Park. The palmettos were beautiful, but we couldn’t help but remember the time Chris had a palmetto poke him in the eye, almost ruining our vacation.

The park had a beautiful water tower and refectory built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. When we walked down to the river, we saw a couple of black vultures in a nearby tree. They stood out to me because they looked like they were cuddling.

San Antonio

We made our way to San Antonio. We had some time to kill before checking in to the apartment where we planned to spend the next two nights. Our first thought was to play a game of disc golf. We found a highly rated course, but with the crowd, we decided to skip it.

After a crazy, unsuccessful search for coffee, we picked up lunch at Arby’s. We decided to visit a Japanese Tea Garden that sounded promising, but it was also too crowded for our comfort.

Instead, we went to the store to pick up a few things that we needed. On the way, we passed a giant pair of cowboy boots. Once I saw them, I didn’t have time to grab the camera before they were gone.

As we drove around San Antonio, we could see a tall column with an orb-shaped structure at the top. Intrigued, we decided to go downtown to look around. The architecture on the buildings was beautiful. There was a mixture of older buildings and new modern ones.

As we drew closer to the building that attracted us to downtown, we saw a glass elevator on the outside of the column. We later learned that there was a restaurant at the top.

We still had a little more time before we could check in to the apartment, so we headed to Essex Street to look at street art. While the project was closed for the day, we could see some lovely murals as we drove by.

We next headed to the St. Mary’s bridge to see the street art underneath. There is a parking lot under the bridge. The concrete bridge supports in the parking lot have been painted with murals. I particularly enjoyed three of them. One depicted a Greek god, one had a ballerina, a graduate, a little girl, and an astronaut, and the third had sugar skulls on each side.

It was finally time to head to the apartment, and as it turned out, we were just around the corner. I was concerned by the run-down neighborhood with boarded-up buildings, broken windows, and an extensive homeless population. The street was not as bad. The buildings were older, but they looked to be in various states of repair.

Our apartment had a locked gate, which made us feel a little more at ease. Once we got inside, the apartment at Five Points Landing was lovely, with high ceilings and a comfortable king-sized bed. It was a great place to hang out for a few days and watch the Superbowl. We liked the place so much that we asked to extend our stay an extra day.