A Day In Bandera TX

Today was a banner day.  A friend I've known for two years online through Women RV Forum was going to be passing through the area.  We've been planning this meet-up since she first set out on her grand adventure.  She left the northeast weeks and weeks ago and traveled down the coast meeting friends and relatives all the way to Florida.  There she met up with a friend she hasn't seen in 40 years and had a lot of play time with Micky and Minnie at Disney World.  Then she headed west with visits in New Orleans, Butte LaRose, and Houston spending time with other RVing women friends and one of her granddaughters.

And then........she came to San Antonio.  More precisely, she landed at Thousand Trails Medina Lake Preserve.   I arrived before she did....eager to meet in person and trying to match up timing with her coming from the east and me arriving from the northeast side of San Antonio an hour+ away.

She and Duncan, her beautiful long haired dachshund boy, arrived moments after I did.

And alas, no, the Traveling Longdogs did not get to meet up as we had plans for the afternoon.  The deer wandering around had Duncan very excited although the deer were pretty blase' about the whole meet-up.

Deb had her travel trailer backed into a site and set up in a jiffy.  She's an old hand at it.  We toured the park.  Glad we don't travel in anything resembling this.

Medina Lake is one of the very sad casualties of the droughts we've been experiencing.  I haven't been there for many years but there is literally nothing left of the lake except for a very small stream running through the bed.  This picture doesn't show the depth very well but it was a pretty deep lake.  The lake was constructed in 1911-1912 as an irrigation reservoir to feed an extensive canal system.  It has always fluctuated wildly but is at it's lowest level ever......currently 4.2% full.

There is a fairly deep cliff behind this buck.

After our tour of the park, we set off for Bandera TX, the Cowboy Capital of the World!

Now, you really want to come to Bandera on Saturday when you will probably see cowboys riding through and maybe even a cattle drive.  But we make do when we are visiting.  We headed to the O.S.T. restaurant for a very late lunch.  The O.S.T. has been serving food continuously since 1921.

We were too late for the Chuck Wagon buffet but we did have the salad bar.

We had the lunch special, chicken fried steak.  It was great!

We ate our lunch in one of the booths but Deb gave the saddles at the bar a try before we left.

After lunch, we just wandered around Bandera taking in the sites.  This is a typical old hill country style house.  Love the big porch across the front but the plastic chairs kind of detract from the ambiance.

The bar was closed but we could hear music and voices in the background.

This is a nice little park right on the main street complete with public restrooms.

Courthouses in Texas are a big deal even in very small towns.  Bandera's courthouse is beautiful.

They even have a coffeehouse.

It was dark by the time I made the trek back across San Antonio but it was a great day.