The Texas Hill Country
Nancy May 15th, 2008
One of our favourite spots in Texas is the Hill Country, in central Texas. After departing from the very south of the state, we settled in a park near San Marcos, midway between San Antonio and Austin. The park was very nice - situated by a river and there are lots of big pecan trees ( pronounced peCAHN, as we were soon corrected by the park maintenance man), squirrels running around, lots of birds and kids. We set up our canvas patio room and loved sitting outside after finally leaving the winds of the Rio Grande behind.
We explored San Antonio, Austin and many of the small towns surrounding San Marcos. We are so impressed with the Riverwalk in San Antonio – the city has developed their river valley into a walking area with many restaurants, neat shops, a tour boat ride, all lining the river. What a wonderful spot for exploring, dining and relaxing in the downtown. It’s really amazing and every city should consider doing it. Because we were there during their annual Fiesta, there were several bands set up at different locations and an art/craft sale. One of the craft exhibitors had beautiful woodwork using mesquite wood and truquoise so we treated ourselves to a small decorative dish.
San Antonio is very historical with the Alamo right in the middle of the business section and all the streets are named after the famous figures of that era – Crockett, Bowie etc. We were tempted to get faux coonskin hats for the grandsons but remembered that this memorabilia was from our childhood, not theirs.
We also toured several small towns in the region which have revitalized themselves as artistic areas. Gruene (pronounced Green) has the oldest dance hall in Texas and there was a band playing so we stopped and listened for awhile. One of the players turned out to be a very well-respected session steel and dobro player, Cindy Cashdollar. We also wandered all the interesting shops and purchased the best salsa we’ve ever tasted.
Another interesting town is Wimberley which hosts a large art, craft & farmer’s market almost every Saturday. There is a resident glassblower there who is originally from Saskatchewan.
San Marcos is a college town and we were there during the end of term and graduation season. There were always students tubing down the river so that’s on our “to do” list for next time.
We didn’t spend too much time in Austin - it’s a musician’s city so most of what we wanted to see happened at night and we felt we were staying too far away to travel so late. Gives us a good excuse to return to this area to take in the many live bands.