Greetings from San Antonio Thursday, Nov 15

We have been having a great time in San Antonio visiting with John's sister, Susan and her husband Carl this week. We have not been here for 7 years and it has sure grown with new construction of buildings and freeways everywhere. Lots of traffic but no where near that as Seattle so we have have little difficulty driving around the area and seeing lots of things, some new and some repeats of great places that we visited on past trips.

Yesterday, Susan drove us to an area about 120 miles northeast of SA to see some lovely painted churches. These historical churches are located in Czech communities of the late 1800's. These little churches have been maintained over all of these years and all are beautifully adorned and hand painted with frescoes and beautiful stained windows. We followed the church trail throughout this rural area and enjoyed going inside each one as no two are alike but each is unique and charming. They are still in use by their congregations and but are opened to the public when there is no service.

Today we decided to re-visit an area that we have always enjoyed, The SA Riverwalk. We loved the 4 mile walk that took us up one side of the river and down the other. We have always found this to be a delight but it is even better now since they have added a large new portion in what is called the museum section. We thoroughly enjoyed this time together strolling along this lovely river.

We then drove to the Mexican marketplace and had a wonderful lunch at a great older restaurant called Mi Tierra. We have eaten here before years ago and enjoyed it very much. The food was excellent and the decorations are so funky. This place is located at the marketplace and after lunch we walked around the market and felt like we were in a Mexican Mercado, something we both miss and love.

We drove around another of our favorite haunts in San Antonio, the King William Neighborhood. This historic area contains stately homes dating back to the early 1800's and most of them are beautifully restored and maintained.

It has been a great week her in SA with family and the start of an exciting journey. Tomorrow we again board a flight and continue to travel east. We fly to Fort Lauderdale FL and board a ship on Saturday morning. We will be working on a two week cruise and will continue to share our adventures with you so stay turned for more!