November 22, 2012: Thanksgiving
	October 16 - November 1, 2012: Our Fall Trip to Florida
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For quite a long time, Fred and I have been trying to plan a trip down to Ruckman Haus (Ron and Prudence's B&B) in San Antonio with our friends Barbara Reynolds and Lynne Richardson along. We have finally been able to work out the logistics, and I will be driving the girls down early on Wednesday, November 14th. We will spend the 14th and 15th there and return on Friday afternoon the 16th. We are looking forward to introducing Barbara and Lynne to Ruckman Haus, and giving them the opportunity to reconnect with Prudence- whom both of them have met. We thank Prudence greatly for allowing the four of us to stay with her and Ron.

Driving to Ruckman Haus

You've probably seen a map of the route from Dallas to San Antonio before. It is pretty simple, for once you get on the Tollway south from my house, and merge onto I-35 South, it is a straight shot for about 280 miles all the way to downtown San Antonio.

We now have a choice when we go through Austin; we can either follow I-35 all the way through town (a route that is sometimes slow and congested) or we can take the new bypass around the city of Austin (something we did for the first time earlier this year). With the girls along, I thought it best to stick to the more well-traveled I-35 route in case they wanted to stop somewhere (which, as it turned out, they did). There is not much in the way of services along the bypass.

Actually, the only reason to take the bypass would be if you were pressed for time; it is almost empty and the speed limit is 85. It does require a toll of about $10, which also only makes it attractive if you happen to know that I-35 through town is clogged (as it can be during rush hours).

You can see the bypass going around Austin in the little map at the immediate right.

Once in downtown San Antonio, all you have to do is follow I-35 South until you come to the exit for San Pedro Avenue. Once off the expressway, you just take San Pedro Avenue north. You can see this route on the far right-hand map.

Finally, you just take San Pedro Avenue by San Pedro Park on your left, and, one block past the park, you turn left onto French Place. Prudence and Ron have their bed and breakfast at the end of the first block on your right.

At Ruckman Haus

Actually, this trip worked out amazingly well, for not only were Lynne and Barbara with us, but Guy Blair had also come down to San Antonio for one of his own periodic visits (something we'd known about when we were planning our trip). And as if that weren't enough, Prudence's sister Nancy and her husband Karl were also in town. Nancy is in the midst of doing some work on the house she and Karl have purchased in suburban San Antonio. So all of Prudence's closest friends are here- along with Barbara and Lynne whom Prudence knows but has not seen in some time. It was a great three days.

(L-R): Guy, Prudence, Barbara and Lynne

Fred was the official photographer while we were at Ruckman Haus, and he took a number of very nice candid shots of everyone in that very comfortable house.

The first group of photos he took was right after our arrival. Guy was already here, and so we all spent some time having a snack and a glass of wine and getting acquainted. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to see some of Fred's candid shots of us in the Ruckman Haus kitchen:

Fred also took some candid shots of all of us at one time or another in the Ruckman Haus living room (although I borrowed his camera once so he could be in a picture). You can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at some of these pictures:

Lunch at Taco Haven

On Thursday, Ron took a rest from fixing breakfast, and when Karl and Nancy came over we all went down to Taco Haven on South Presa Street (just south of downtown) for a Tex-Mex breakfast.

Fred and I switched off and took some pictures of the group; you can use the clickable thumbnails at left to have a look at some of these. Almost everything at Taco Haven is inside a taco (although they do have other stuff). Ron Ruckman is partial to the chorizo; I like the egg-and-chorizo tacos.

Museum Reach on the RiverWalk

Thursday afternoon, Barbara, Prudence, Lynne, Guy, Fred and I went down to the northern extension of the San Antonio RiverWalk. This extension is officially known as "Museum Reach," since it goes from downtown north in the direction of the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Witte Museum.

At the RiverWalk Pearl Brewery Access

We drove from Ruckman House to the Pearl Brewery (now a mixed-use urban development); here there is parking and stairs down to what is, at the moment, the northernmost point on Museum Reach. We paused at the top of the stairs for pictures- like those at left and below:

At the Pearl Brewery, we crossed to the west side of Museum Reach and headed south. We went as far as the San Antonio Museum of Art, which was built on the site of another old brewery. There, we crossed to the east side of Museum Reach and then returned to the parking area by walking north. Below left you will find an aerial strip view of the part of Museum Reach that we walked. To the right of that image will be clickable thumbnails for the pictures we took along the way. I have arranged it so that the thumbnails are all just to the left of the position on Museum Reach where they were taken. (Comments may be placed above or below the pictures.) There is also one movie that we took at the stairs; you will see the player for it just below the first set of thumbnails. Just keep scrolling down this page to see what we saw.

I hope you found the aerial view interesting. It is always a pleasure to walk the Museum Reach portion of the RiverWalk. There is wonderful landscaping, enough water features to be interesting, artwork and numerous signs detailing the history of the area and of the RiverWalk itself.

We all had a really great visit with Ron and Prudence, but we had to return to Dallas on Friday afternoon- after one of Ron's signature breakfasts. We thank Ron and Prudence, as always, for their hospitality!

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	November 22, 2012: Thanksgiving
	October 16 - November 1, 2012: Our Fall Trip to Florida
	Return to the Index for 2012