We started our day with a pancake breakfast at the campground clubhouse. Then we headed out into the Texas Hill Country. North of San Antonio there really were hills! From the freeway, we saw a store called "The Look" advertising country furnishings. On the roof it said, "Cowhides Mean Romance. Well, that got Rich's attention, so we had to investigate. They had deer antler chandeliers, furniture made of longhorn horns, lots of kinds of hides, rugs, and Texas-style mission-style ranch furniture. It was quite the store! We didn't find anything we needed, but there was a quote we liked - "Friends are family members you meet along the way." We were talking about ways to teach kids to grow up happy and satisfied with what they have. We have a new motto -"Dream Within Your Means". We arrived in Fredericksburg, a German settlement with many limestone block buildings. The main street is like Virginia City only four lanes wider and without saloons. There were cute shops with interesting art and unusual gifts. We stopped in an Amish store. It had beautiful buggies and wagons. The hills were covered with live oak and mesquite trees. We saw a herd of goats, too.
On the way back, we looked for Rudy's BBQ in Leon Springs. We found it across the street from the cowhide place. Rudy's was delicious. We had brisket with their yummy BBQ sauce, creamed corn, and beans. (Thanks for the tip, Susan B.!) We got back into San Antonio in the late afternoon. The neighborhoods we went through or passed by were mostly rundown and weedy except for the north edge of town. There were shopping centers, tall hotels, new apartments, and big houses and mansions. Looking out again over the flat land in San Antonio, there were lots of low trees, but you could easily see all the tall things - water towers, grain elevators, hotels, downtown, smokestacks, McDonald's signs, radio towers,church steeples, and cell towers. Since we were in town in the early evening, we decided to see if the line to ride the boat at the River Walk was very long yet. We parked in the same parking lot because we knew our way around there. To see the lights was $5 apiece. Why not? We were glad we went. It was very beautiful. It reminded us of the Pirates of the Carribean ride in Disneyland. Then
we stopped at Wal-Mart to get the rest of Rich's prescrip[tion, but while we were boat-riding, the pharmacy closed! Tomorrow. We got back to the camper and did the three B's - blog, backgammon, bed.
We dreamed about cowhide furniture and Texas barbeque.