Good Afternoon From San Antonio, Texas

It's Friday here in San Antonio, Texas and we're currently located inTraveler's World, an RV park about 5 miles down the San Antonio Walk, Hike and Bike Path south of downtown. There's an entrance to the path about 50 feet from where we're parked.

We may leave next Wednesday. But before San Antonio, there was Austin, Texas. And we liked Austin very much.

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Austin, Texas

We arrived in Austin on Saturday afternoon (January 19th) and spent the evening in the RV park we'd booked south of town. Oak Forest has an eclectic mix of travelers and vehicles and the right amenities. You know, heated pool, hot tub, showers, laundry facility. But what made Oak Forest unique is that it's also a tiny home community. 

They offer a variety of tiny homes for sale and offer lots for lease on which you may locate them. Melanie and I have discussed living in a tiny home when we leave our travels whenever that may be so it was fun to take a tour of what Oak Grove had to offer. I suppose because we live in about 100 square feet now, these homes seemed voluminous. 

Texas has a magazine called Eater I discovered while looking for places my lovely bride and I might dine while traveling in Texas. They haven't led me astray yet and I've used them both in Dallas and in Austin to good effect. 

So, after checking out Eater we started our Sunday exploration of Austin with a brunch at Easy Tiger in downtown. We both enjoyed our brunch and our gregarious server gave up some great advice for further explorations, starting with Austins relatively new library.

Across the street from Easy Tiger on 6th Avenue

The new Central Library in downtown Austin overlooks the Colorado River and offers a rooftop garden area for reading and taking in the sites below. Melanie and I parked Miranda a few blocks away on the street and made our way to the library on foot. Like many cities in the U.S., Austin is seeing a lot of new construction happening in their downtown. There are lots of new condos and high rise apartments going up and great places to eat and shop. We parked across from Whole Foods flagship store and in front of a Starbucks. Google has a presence. 

Like many cities, Austin has taken advantage of having a river, the Colorado, running through it. There's small damn just below downtown that forms the reservoir, Lady Bird Lake. Created in 1960 as a cooling pond for the cities power plant, it now serves as mainly a site for recreation and flood control. The Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail runs around portions of the lake and the Colorado. We walked and rode our bicycles along the trail on several days.

Melanie wanted to see the University of Texas tower where, in 1966, a former Marine killed 16 and wounded 31 before being shot to death by an Austin police officer.  Mass shootings. Not a new thing. 

Our visit to Austin was great and we look forward to traveling back there at some point. Next up, San Antonio.

Willie @ Austin City Limits