San Antonio - Hill Country adventure

Here are photos from my recent trip with my kiddos to the Hill Country and San Antonio. Most are taken by Savie, actually, but I took a couple! :) She always is taking my camera so I rarely had time to shoot my own!
Bluebonnets at the Dahlstrom Ranch near Buda Texas which the landowners just entered into a conservation easement, which permanently preserves the ranch and prevents it from being sold to development or rock quarries, etc (though there is already one quarry on site). Usually conservation easements are done voluntarily by the landowner, but since the property is in the Edwards aquifer "recharge zone," Austin has a program to pay in some money to make it more worthwhile. It's a very cool property as you'll see in the next photos.
Julie Jenkins from the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District shows us one of the "karst features" on the property - basically a hole in the limestone that takes water in, bringing it down to the Edwards aquifer below. The recharge zone is a very porous part of the Hill Country where there are tons of caves, sinkholes, etc and so it's very important to keep yukky stuff out - like lawn chemicals, oil from roads etc. If you can protect properties in the recharge zone, it helps to keep the aquifer water pure. I took this pic.
A prickly pear cactus.
Me and Jack Dahlstrom, Jr., who manages the ranch currently. It had rained the day before and the mud, oh the mud! It was caked like 6 inches thick on the bottom of my hiking boots!
I think this is called Christmas cactus or something. Anyone know?
This is Sam holding a "devil's toenail" fossil - a little clam that there were thousands of in the ground. This part of the Hill Country used to be the ocean shore!
Possumhaw sinkhole, also on the Dahlstrom Ranch.
Sam at Hobbit Hole cave.
After the Ranch we headed to San Antonio. Here's the Torch of Friendship sculpture.
The San Antonio Riverwalk is a really neat place. We ate dinner the first night at Paesano's, an Italian restaurant right here. The redbuds were in full purply bud!
Another shot of the riverwalk.
The kiddos on the Riverwalk, with the riverboat in the background. There are shops and restaurants all along the riverwalk. Obviously I took this pic. :)
The Tower of the Americas. We took the elevator to the tip top and looked around, got a bag of candy... and then at the bottom did the 4D theater which was very cool. We'd gotten a passport to the city, courtesy of the San Antonio Visitors Center and Convention Bureau - I love being a writer! A famous Texas Jackalope. I took this shot.
I love these night-time shots of the Alamo. I took these two.
Another view, also by me.
We also went to Natural Bridge Caverns, where we met my friend Laurie her hubby Doug and her grandson. This is a shot inside the caverns (obviously) :)
Sam looking at a formation on the cavern wall.
Another view. There were giant rooms of stalagmites and stalactites that looked so Lord of the Rings!! So very cool. The photos do not do the place justice. I highly recommend it if you're in San Antonio or the Hill Country!
The kiddos and me in the caverns.
Afterwards Sam climbed a tree on the property...
Laurie sitting outside the caverns. I love her laugh!!
Me & Laurie at the caverns. I don't like this pic of me, but it's the best one we got!
On the Riverwalk I had to try Boudro's Texas Bistro which was recommended by a couple of my friends who live in S.A. It was well worth it! Yummo!
We splurged on 2 desserts for the 3 of us. The double decker brownie was so decadent and delicious (though the brownies were a bit hard). The other thing was fruit and whip cream in a sopapilla.
Me and Savie inside a ginormous tire at the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. Doug and I had also visited the one in Gatlinburg Tennessee on our road trip, remember?
Last but not least, our visit to Government Canyon State Natural Area (for my article on aquifer recharge zone protection) included a trip in a helicopter!!
A view inside through the window.
Sam and Savannah before we took off.
Another shot of the helicopter in the sky (this was after we got out, shooting him leaving so we had a few pics of it!)
Sam in the helicopter.
A view of Government Canyon from above, in the helicopter. It was amazing!
On the ground, we did a short hike of the Joe Johnston Route in Government Canyon St Natural Area. This is Wendee on the job... interviewing Deridre Heisler, Superintendent.
Me on the hike, taking notes!

back from amazing San Antonio!

Sam never likes to smile for the camera unless you catch him unaware. Or, apparently, when he jumps up and into Savie's photo, as you can see in the first shot! This is him by the Alamo in San Antonio!

I had an absolutely wonderful time on my recent trip to the Hill Country, mostly in San Antonio - both in researching my article, and in the exciting things the kids and I got to do in and around the city. Where do I even begin to explain the short but awesome trip? Since it's almost 2am, and I've got a mere 9 days until my deadline, a brand new writing class that just started today, and loads of other things to do, how about... I cut and paste some of my tweets from the past few days updated with a few details and links (Tweets, to those unfamilar, is the name for what you call the 140-character sentences within a Twitter update). You can follow me on Twitter - I'm @bohemianone or http://twitter.com/bohemianone.

In a nutshell, we first went to the Dahlstrom Ranch in Buda, Texas, which plays a part in my article I'm researching. Saw some cool aquifer recharge features such as sinkholes, caves, plus karst, chert, and devil's toenails. Then we headed to the Grand Hyatt on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. After checking in at the highrise, we walked around the riverwalk a bit, eating dinner at the Italian restaurant Paesano's.

The next day, we went to Government Canyon State Natural Area and interviewed the biologist/superintendent there for my article, and got the chance of a lifetime to go up in a helicopter with conservation real estate agent Mike Luigs, who helps preserve land and ranches. We were a bit scared- all of us - and I think I'd have passed on the once-in-a-lifetime offer to fly in the copter were it not for Sam saying he wanted to do it (despite his initial fear). I'm so proud of him, and Savannah, and me for that matter!

After the hour-long 'copter ride over Government Canyon, Bullis Air Force base, San Antonio and out to Bracken Cave, we landed, then headed back to the hotel. Back in the city, we did a few things on the riverwalk (Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum), then out to eat with my friend Laurie. The next day we spent all day exploring San Antonio thanks to the San Antonio Convention & Visitor's Bureau for providing us with a "passport" to the attractions and hosting our accomodation. Last, we stayed that third night at the breathtaking Westin La Cantera Resort, which provided us with an amazing meal at Francesca's at Sunset, a fine dining restaurant that specializes in locally grown sustainable food! Here's the tweets on the details of our cool explorations in the city.

March 16th:

• About to drive to the Dahlstrom Ranch in the Hill Country, site of a unique public-private partnership to save land for aquifers 751am
  
• I saw a patch of bluebonnets! very pretty! 1039am
  
• Going to walk around the San Antonio Riverwalk 551pm
  
• My son is naming his child Hubba Bubba 714pm
  
• realized tonight my son is just inch or two shorter than Savi tonight (&hence me too) how did this happen?! 1016pm

March 17th - St. Patty's Day:

• Just took my kids up in a helicopter over gov canyon near San Antonio for a hour! awesome! 234pm
  
• Sam wants to know if he can go around pinching people not wearing green! Umm sure! just kidding 504pm
  
• Checking out the Ripleys wax museum- my 1st wax museum. interesting. 531pm
  
• Looking at a giant cow hairball at the Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum! 554pm
  
• I'm now waiting by the Alamo for my friend Laurie who we're going 2 dinner with! im starving! lots of green clad peeps walking by. 746pm

March 18th:

• Heading to brekky at the Contessa Hotel! 845am
  
• I'm enjoying a vacation from my computer! havent downloaded email in 3 days! I guess the blackberry doesnt count right? 958am
  
• We are about to go to the Tower of the Americas 4d theater (Skies over Texas). this tower was at the 1968 world fair. 1027am
  
• About to go up a very very very tall elevator thingie-Tower of the Americas! 1057am
  
• Now it's time for a river boat cruise tour down the riverwalk or technically down the river. what river is this anyway? 1225pm
  
• Boudros (a local fave): Now its time for dessert! what the heck. a double decker brownie w/toffee ice cream & creme anglais. plus a tortilla fan w/berries & cream 204pm
  
• Now headed down the earth at Natural Bridge Caverns. havent been in caves since Carlsbad at age 14! 417pm
  
• We are back out from middle earth! 608pm
  
• About to eat in Francesca's at the Westin La Cantera 753pm
  
• All I can say is... I am soooo full! It was absolutely delicious! The resort restaurant (Francesca's) specializes in locally grown food. 1025pm

March 19th:

• I'm loving the Westin resort at La Cantera & wishing i had more time here. we may just have to come back! heading to b-fast at Brannon's here 953am
  
• driving home! 1216pm

Oh but there's so much more... I had a wonderful time visiting with my dear friend Laurie, whose laugh lights up a room and I just love to be around her! She and I hiked up Guadalupe peak with much laughter (remember "Wendee Holtcamp EXPOSED!"), and traveled to Granbury Texas together, both for articles in Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine- the first trip was for Top of Texas and the last trip for a 3 Days in the Field - Birds Over Broadway. At any rate, Laurie picked us up from downtown, and we ate at the Blue Star Brewing Company restaurant which was inexpensive and very good. Then the next day she and her hubby and grandson went to the Natural Bridge Caverns with us.

It's not almost 3am, so I will sign off... more updates on general life, and my February, March and April monthly resolutions! Have you made any monthly resolutions? How are you doing on your New Yera's ones? I found focusing one month at a time makes it more doable. I'll give an update next blog.

And I'll leave you with some classic Sam & Savannah photos. This is my attempt to get a normal nice photo of the two of them. Despite my begging and pleading and insisting, I could not get a single shot where they both smiled! They are always making goofy faces!

Wow!

Somewhere in the Texas Hill Country...
Copyright (c) 2005 Wendee Holtcamp

Wow! It's been a fantastic day. Just one of those days where I could really see God at work in my life and like a lot of things are coming together. I can't explain it, totally, but things I've been praying about for a long time are coming to fruition. Subtle things, things within my heart and soul, things of God, things of grace, things of love, things of friendships. When connecting with an old friend from college recently, I told him the last 20 years in a nutshell: life has been both incredibly hard and painful, and amazingly spectacular. The paradox is that without one we can't really see or feel the other so well. At any rate, I'll be glad to put my 30s behind me later this year, and move into a hopefully better decade. The 30s were not the best, but many good things took place during those years at the same time.

In the past few days, I connected with a really neat woman, a new friend, which is always so good for the soul! I also participated in something at our church called theophostic prayer. The concept is simple: expose the lies we believe in and that keep us stuck. Interestingly, it's kind of controversial in some evangelical circles. Lucky for me, I'm not what you would call an "evangelical." It is offered though my pretty traditional Lutheran church and seems pretty normal and legit to me. I have read about it and now participated in it and found it very healing. I will keep going for several times more. It's sort of a guided visualization/prayer session over some issue going on in your life currently as well as how it connects back to your past memories. It's such a blessing to have these opportunities for spiritual and emotional growth, and the women who are sharing their time and their hearts leading these ministries to help people voluntarily- it's really quite amazing. To God be the glory!

At any rate I'm super psyched about tomorrow, and next week! Tomorrow is a long-planned but never-seeming-to-happen get together with my best friend Daline (who I met at Texas A&M years ago)! For Christmas she got me this "groupon" to Naked Body and Bath. Get your mind out of the gutter, already! That does sound kind of kinky though I must say, especially when combined with the word groupon. At any rate, it's not! Naked Body and Bath is a place in Rice Village in Houston where you can make your own perfume and potions and lotions. The groupon is just a gift certificate and to tell you the truth I had no idea what the heck "groupon" meant until today. I thought it meant coupon that you do with a group (hence, Daline and I). But I think - and I have to ask her - that its rather through this Groupon website where through group purchasing rates online you get good deals on various stuff.

Also we are going to do FREE HUGS! Remember Doug and I did this the last two Christmases in a row - 08 and 09. I've always had to rope my friends, kids, and Doug into this crazi-fun-ness but Daline is totally into it too so it will be fun to have two hug-a-holics hugging away!

Next week I'm heading to San Antonio for an article I'm writing on, as mentioned. And the kids are excited about getting to go somewhere new and different, rather than just sitting at home on spring break. I asked each where they want to go or one thing they want to do, and Sam wants to see the Alamo, and Savi just wants to take pictures (with my camera, of course...). I'm VERY Happy that both kids actually want to go, because sometimes I want to bring them places and they just whine and complain! OK Savi isn't too excited about the couple hour hike in Government Canyon, but I am! Anyway, we each get our favorite things to do, so it all balances out. And let me just take this opportunity to say that I am so incredibly proud of my two amazing children. They are both so smart, so hard-working and responsible, so kind-spirited, and I just can see the true light of Jesus Christ in their lives. That means more to me than anything and I hope they know that!

Anyway, while in San Antonio, we will stay at the gorgeous Hotel Contessa on the Riverwalk. There's a new mile-plus "Museum Reach" stretch of the Riverwalk that has some green development that I may check out (and am trying to sell a second travel piece on). We're going to go on a riverboat cruise thing. Not sure what else! Another bohemian adventure coming up ahead!

The Bohemian!

Sunset in the bamboo forests high in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal. A few of us were setting up a "camera trap" to try to get shots of the endangered red panda and we were on a very steep side of the mountain. I remember these moments so well. One day I'll share several from the series of the sunset that evening. Wow!
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendeee Holtcamp

I just finished a draft of my article on the Houston toad. When I say draft, I've already spent a decent amount of time editing and revising. It doesn't come out perfect! As Anne LaMott says in Bird by Bird, just work on your sh*tty first draft, and go from there. You've got to quiet the internal editor the first go-round or you'll never get anything down.

I always love this point, when after hours and days of working on it it all comes together and I can put it aside for a bit. I prefer to let an article sit for a day or two, but in some cases like this one, when I"m pressing up against deadline, that's not possible. I do however have to wait for some fact-checking from some of my sources so I may get it anyway. So lucky me, I get to blog before bed! I had an exhausting 500-calorie workout and I'm about ready for sleep. Doug is putting me to shame though. In his offshore vessel they have a nice gym and he's been burning like 1,000 calories. I'm like no fair! You weigh more so you burn more calories.

I wanted to share a link to a Q&A with yours truly at The Reef Tank blog: The Bohemian. Kinda cool, if I do say so myself. Tomorrow I'll share some more recipes! I made one that was out of this world!

I know there is much more I wanted to share, but my mind is too sleepy to think straight. Oh! I know. Next week, I am heading to San Antonio for an article I'm writing on water conservation (well, sort of) and since it's the kids' spring break I decided to bring them. We went to SeaWorld in San Antonio a couple years back, but they haven't been to the Riverwalk and the Alamo and the like since they were very young. So I'll kill two birds with one stone! I get so excited in my soul for even the smallest adventure these days! I'm going to visit Government Canyon State Natural Area and hike the canyon because that plays a role in my story.

And last, I'll point you to my latest article in Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine's March issue. Unwelcome Visitors: Invasive zebra mussels can wreak havoc on ecosystems. (They've just recently been documented in Texas for the first time ever).

happy bday to me!

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.

- Eleanor Roosevelt.
I love this photo, it is really what life is all about. Laughter, joy, the beach, enjoying the moment, and my beautiful amazing children. Everything I do, these kiddos come first! I love them so much.
M and Sam at the beach looking at seashells.

S&S picking blueberries. That was a bumper crop year!

Working on pottery using clay from our backyard. :)

Today we went to church (can't think of a better way to start my new year) and then went to the gym, and I'm going to spend the day with the kids. Probably go see the movie Hancock. Then tomorrow we are going to SeaWorld in San Antonio with a friend and her kids! I'm so excited. We haven't been in about 5 years, and had a blast back then. We're going to go for 2 days and spend the night. I'm actually doing an article on a new Save a Species tour that they just started there.

Last time we went, I took both kids on the Steel Eel, this loop de loop roller coaster and they were HORRIFIED! Savie screamed bloody murder - at the top of her lungs - the entire time of the ride, and Sam was white as a ghost. Needless to say, I think that experience scarred ME for life! I felt like an awful mom! I used to love roller coasters as a kid but after that I'm not so sure, so we'll see if I go on it this time. Savie, ironically, wants to go on it!!