A Day with Karen-in-the-Woods and Stevio

What an exciting day!  Two of my favorite bloggers are in town for just a day and we get to meet up.  I've been following RVing: The USA is Our Big Backyard for quite a while. There have been some changes in their lives over the last year or so and you may remember it as RVing: Little House...Big Backyard or think of it as KarenintheWoods.  When I saw they were coming to San Antonio, I immediately thought of my friend Susan from Travelbug and a three way meet up.  I contacted Susan to let her know they would be coming to Travelers World RV Resort.  And guess where they ended up....right next to Susan.  Karen and Steve's Serengeti Safari is even prettier in person than on their blog.

After battling traffic due a an accident enroute, I finally made it and we all headed across the street for lunch at Taqueria Guadalahara.

 All the ladies had Enchiladas Verdes and Stevio had Chicken Fried Steak.  Just so you non-Texans know, that is not chicken; however, I have to admit that I have never seen it served with french fries and rice.  lol.

The plan was for Karen and Steve to head downtown to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk later in the afternoon to take advantage of San Antonio's free city parking after 5 on Tuesdays.  So we headed down the road a very short distance to show them Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo which is one of the 5 National Park Missions in San Antonio.  The Alamo is also one of the 5.  You can see the church part of the mission behind the very animated ranger.

It is very pretty and still in active use as a Catholic church.  The San Antonio Diocese maintains the church itself and the National Park service is responsible for the rest of the buildings and grounds. Both times I've been there, the rangers made this very clear so that no one would get any wrong ideas. The whole entrance area was recently renovated.

This area is part of the outer wall/building.  See the cacti growing out of the porch area?  The outer area is comprised of limestone and was rebuilt.

Susan and Karen were busy snapping pictures.

I caught Steve here in the granary.  This wasn't open when I was here the last time.  They had a large display area with lights and narrative in one corner.

This jug is embedded in the wall.  Since the walls are so thick, you could pour water into the top of the jug to keep it cool.  There is a spigot at the bottom.

The gate was open to go out and see the mill and the acequia this time too.

This is inside the ground level of the mill.

The front alter area of the church has been recently repainted and guilded.  It is really beautiful. The church is open for public viewing as long as there are no services or ceremonies in session.

I did get to see this area last time.  It is the corner of the outside wall where defense was conducted.  The small holes on top were where guns would provide the protection while the larger holes near the floor area were for cannons.  I guess they had to shoot blind once the weapons were in the holes.

We watched the film in the Visitor's Center after realizing that it was 4:15 and the Alamo closed at 5:00pm.  We headed back to the park where Karen graciously gave us a tour of their rig and we got to see many of the neat modifications that Stevio has made.  It has a great layout with lots of light.  We also got to meet Duke and Duchess (Duck).  Karen had them do the treat on the nose trick which they did impressively.  Then she put the other half of the treat on their paws.  After a minute, she told them they could have the treat and they just sat there.  She tried several different time but they sat there like stone statues.  I can so relate to doggy tricks on their human pack leaders.  lol.

As most of you know, Karen is an accomplished weaver and knitter.  Susan and I were both surprised and thrilled when she gifted us with a pair of socks that she knit on her sock machine.  They are so nice.  Karen has an etsy store The Loomatic Works where she sells her beautiful items.

After following Karen's blog and being Facebook friends, it felt like we were already good friends.  Be sure to check out the posts from Karen and Susan because no two posts on the same subject are really the same.  Karen and Steve headed down to the Riverwalk after we left but you will have to read about that on RVing: The USA is Our Big Backyard.

We'll see you down the road and please come back to San Antonio real soon.