We arrived at Stephen F Austin State Park in San Felipe, TX on a Thursday afternoon, after some rough roads through LA and the eastern part of I 10 in TX!  Wow!  Worst roads we’ve been on yet!  Thankfully it didn’t last too long!   We were rocking and rolling – and not the good kind!

We planned out time through Houston just right and didn’t hit a bit of traffic!

Our site was very nice – very large and BONUS! – a pull through!  On our door side was a huge wooded common area.  The whole place was very peaceful!

Jo and Craig were there waiting for us with lots of hugs all around!  They had arrived earlier in the week, on their maiden voyage with their brand new home on wheels!  You may remember me telling you about how, when they left us in Ocean City, NJ, they were heading to IN for some warranty work on their Lifestyles 5th Wheel.  Well, turned out they had HUGE issues and basically Lifestyles replaced their rig.  They are in the adjustment stage, figuring out where to put things, etc.   This rig is about 3 1/2′ longer than their previous one and they have a half bath and a HUGE beautiful front bath!  It is a great rig and I’m sure they will have many happy trails in it!

Our first night, we all went to dinner at one of their fav Mexican restaurants.  Seems Craig sampled some of Indiana’s Mexican places and they just didn’t make the cut, so he needed some authentic good stuff!  The portions were HUGE and I brought home some of mine for lunch!  Thanks guys!

One day we all hopped in Jo and Craig’s truck and made our way to Galveston. Neither Bill nor I had ever been there so we were very excited to see the Texas shoreline.  Little did we realize that Galveston would be celebrating Mardi Gras, which was the upcoming Tuesday!  We got to see some parades and all the Mardi Gras festivities, including a live band!  We had some delish lunch, and just enjoyed all the excitement!

We arrived home well after dark and called it a night!  We were all exhausted!

Jo took me shopping one day and we went to H-E-B, a grocery store with excellent prices and selection.  We also visited Heberts where I picked up a few things to send the kids.  (shhh – don’t tell them – it’s a surprise!).

Jo cooked the whole time we were there – at least it seemed so!  She made Corn, Crab and Shrimp Bisque, a recipe she got from Bridget, and there was enough that we got to take home leftovers – even some homemade rolls!  Another evening she cooked up a stuffed de-boned chicken from Heberts!  Made me wish I had gotten one (or 2 or 3) for us! On our last morning, she sent us on our way with tummies full of Blueberry French Toast Bake!

We loved our time in San Felipe with Jo and Craig, and it went very quickly, but we are moving westward – time for San Antonio!   Thanks Jo and Craig for a great time!

It was a short drive day to our new CG home in Canyon Lake.  We stayed at Cranes Mill Park, which is a C.O.E. campground.  We were blown away!  The park is beautiful!  Bill backed into the HUGE spot, and we had an amazing view of the lake!  Huge thank you shout-out to Cori and Greg for suggesting Cranes Mill Park to us!

The next day, after running a few errands, we found our way into San Antonio.  After finding an on-street parking spot, we followed signs for the famous San Antonio Riverwalk.  It did not disappoint!  We checked TripAdvisor and it seemed all the places nearby were good, so we just walked along until we came across Country Line BBQ.  We sat right on the edge of the river. There was a slight chill in the air and the manager lit the propane heaters.  We choose a combo platter to share, it included all different kinds of BBQ.  We had baby back ribs, beef ribs (my fav!),   peppered turkey, brisket and smoked sausage.   It was all very good.  We usually prefer a sweeter BBQ sauce, this was different, more tangy and had a little bite.  I liked it and so did Bill.  For dessert, which we rarely get, they had homemade bread pudding and I couldn’t pass it up!  I was very glad we had decided to share it b/c the piece they brought out was HUGE!

 

After dinner, we decided to take a boat tour of the Riverwalk.  Our guide, Alfred, was very funny – kept us laughing!  I just loved the sites all lit up!

Jo had told us about San Fernando Cathedral light show.  I had already looked it up and since it only shows on Tuesdays and also on the weekend, we needed to see it that night – it was Tuesday – Fat Tuesday – Mardi Gras!  We were only in the area for a short time (we have that westward bound thing going on), so this was the night!

 

The following day, we walked around San Antonio, and toured The Alamo and Mission San Jose.  It was all very interesting, I think Bill and I both learned a lot,  about how the Spanish started the missions to bring Catholicism to the area.

Thursday morning, we were up and packed for our drive to Carlsbad Caverns area.  I’ll tell you all about it next time!