Heather's last day in San Antonio

Sadly Heather's holiday has come to and end and she is now on her long flight back to OZ.  So before her departure we needed to fit in a couple of more dinners.  On Monday evening we dinned at The Wildfish Restaurant and below are a couple of the appetizers we enjoyed.  Heather followed this up with a very nicely presented lemon sole.  It was a great night.

Then Tuesday evening we went to the Fish City Grill.

 
Here Heather is planning her attack on the flounder which is stuffed with crab meat.

We also enjoyed a trio of shrimp which included battered, butterflied with coconut and a very spicy combination.  All very good.

 Then on Wednesday it was time to hug our much loved Heather as she prepared to return home to Australia. Not before however, she had a photo with her nephew and of course had to try on his cowboy hat.

 
We really appreciate that Heather came all this way to visit  and it was a joy to have her company.
Safe travels Heather and keep happy and well.

Best  Beverley and Ross 

Heather's Visit Continues

It's always a pleasure to show off San Antonio to family and friends who come to visit.  This day we took Heather to see one of the oldest Missions in San Antonio.

This handsome stone church was dedicated in 1755, and appears very much as it did well over two centuries ago. It stands proudly as the oldest unrestored stone church in America. In its heyday, colorful geometric designs covered its surface, but the patterns have long since faded or been worn away.

Inside speaks for itself.

 

Then off to lunch at IHOP which is known for its pancakes.

On Saturday we visited the Pearl Brewery.  The Pearl Brewing Company (also known as the Pearl Brewery or just Pearl) was an American brewery, established in 1883 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. In 1985, Pearl's parent company purchased the Pabst Brewing Company and assumed the Pabst name. In 1999, the Pabst Brewing Company began transferring its production to Miller Brewing, on a contract basis, and closing all of its breweries. Pearl beer is still in production at Miller's Ft. Worth, Texas facility, but the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio was closed in 2001.^[1] Since then, the former brewery was purchased by Silver Ventures, Inc., which has made the property the crown jewel in revitalization efforts of southern Midtown and northern Downtown San Antonio.^{[2]  Courtesy of Wikipedia}

The original stables.

Each weekend there are food stalls and crafts.

There are several good restaurants in the area and The Sand Bar is one of our favorites.

Here Heather and Ross enjoy oysters from Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick .  Brings fond memories of our 3 years in Canada.

Then the main course.  Heather had a huge salmon sandwich and Ross had a shrimp roll and Beverley, the fish and chips.

On Sunday it was off to the San Antonio Zoo.  After seeing these creatures in the wild on our recent trip to South Dakota it seemed to us that these fine beasts were relegated to a Motel 6 standard of accommodation.

We could not miss out on saying hello to the animals that appear on our National Coat of Arms.

Finally the Kookaburra.  He may be small in statue but has a unique voice well know to all Australians.

Heather's visit is sadly coming to and end and she flys back to Australia on 29 th July.  We truly hope that we are as fit as she at 90 years and we are much better for having her company over the last month.
Safe travels Heather.

Best Beverley and Ross

Heather's Visit and friends

On July 4, Ross' aunt Heather arrived from Australia to visit with us. This day we went to Gruene which is a pretty historic town.  It is the home of the  oldest dance hall in Texas where the film Michael was set.  We had lunch at the Gristmill.

 

The restaurant  is situated on the banks of the Guadalupe River .

 

We all enjoyed a great lunch.

Another pleasant Sunday afternoon with Susan, Wayne, Heather, Ed and Jesse.

 Yesterday we visited the River Walk and enjoyed lunch at Lucianos.

 Last night we have a fun evening with our good friends.

We are so pleased that Heather, a sprightly  90 year old has come to visit and to get to meet with some of our dear friends.

Have a happy day.

Beverley and Ross

On our way home

Well all good things have to come to an end.  We have seen so much and had such a great time over our month traveling in this great country and we now on our way back home.
The weather overall has been very good but we have had a few wet days here and there. We have been some stunning sky shows.
On our trip home we have stayed at Terry Bison Ranch and it is almost 12 months to the day when we visited there last with Trish and Murray.  They in their motor home and us in a cabin.  This time it was us in a motor home. Check our blog of 12 months ago and you will see more of Terry Bison Ranch, Cheyenne.

We are now in Abilene where we stayed on the first leg of our journey earlier this month.  Dinner tonight was left- overs as we need to clear the refrigerator and freezer out before we deliver it to  Camping World for a freshen up after it's maiden voyage.

 

Another interesting Texas sky.

We have spoken for many years about having a motor home and it is one of the best investments we have ever made. 

Cheers,

Beverley and Ross

Mount Rushmore, Grazy Hourse Monuments

Mount Rushmore was the brainchild of Gutzon Borglum  a Danish-American artist and sculptor famous for creating the monumental Presidents' heads at Mount Rushmore.  The President's are Abraham Lincoln, who has been credited for holding the country together during the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of the the Declaration of Independence.  Theodore Roosevelt,  a fiery individualist who embodied American culture of the early 1900's.  George Washington, the first President who led the colonists in the American Revolutionary War of Independence from Great Britain.

The bust of Cutzon Borglum was sculpted by his son.

There are signs throughout the area of the Memorial saying not to feed the Chipmunks.  For our Australian friends this is a Chipmunk.  They are very small and very fast.

To get to Mount Rushmore we traveled through the famous Black Hills.  If we go back to the Treaty of 1868, signed by the President of the USA it said, in effect: As long as rivers run and grass grows and trees bear leaves,  Paha Sapa - the Black Hills of Dakota - will forever be the sacred land of the Sioux Indians.

Then through Keystone.

Then onto see Crazy Horse.

This is the model of how the Monument will finally look like on completion.  The mission of the Crazy Horse Monument is to protect and preserve the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians.  The sculptor was Korczak Ziolkowski, (1908- 1982) a Polish - American.  He was invited by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to built the Crazy Horse Monument.  

Crazy Horse was chosen as he defended his people and their way of life in the only manner he knew.  After he saw the Treaty of 1868 broken, after he saw his leader, Conquering Bear, exterminated by treachery, saw the failure of the Government agents to bring required treaty guarantees, such as meat, clothing, tents and necessities for existence which they were to receive for having given up their lands.  He saw his people's lives and their way of life ravaged and destroyed. He never lived on a Reservation and when asked by a white man "Where are your lands now?"he replied "My lands are where my dead lie buried".  He was killed by a soldier while under a flag of Truce.

In 1891 Red Cloud, Lakota said "They made us many promises, more than I can remember - They never kept but one;  they promised to take our land, and they took it !"

The Monument has no State or Federal funding and this is their choice so monies are raised through admission fees, donations and monies made from The Indian Museum of North America.

There are Native American performers and lots of crafts and artists.

We enjoyed lunch in Custer City.

Many of the cities we have visited in South Dakota have something significant to the area on every corner.  Here in Custer it was the Buffalo.

Custer is an interesting and pretty town to visit.

Since leaving San Antonio on our RV maiden trip we have met such nice people and seen some incredible sites.  We have eaten fantastic food and enjoyed every day of our RV adventure.

We are now on our way back to SAT and we are grateful for the the opportunity to be have have been able to enjoy the sights of this great nation.

Cheers,  Beverley and Ross