Seven Free Things to Do in South Texas

Susanne is your driver for this post!

On Sunday morning, we'll be packing up Clark and leaving Texas. According to my calendar, we've been here almost eight weeks. We've thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I think all of us are going to miss it despite the unrelenting heat. (Clark's A/C, however, will not miss Texas. It is due for a nice long vacation.)

Texas has surprised us with its beauty, diversity, food, and outstanding state parks system. In particular, we have appreciated the many quality FREE things to do in south Texas. We're trying hard to save money and still immerse ourselves in our surroundings. We're also trying to incorporate local opportunities into homeschooling. Thus, the free stuff is a boon for us.

Looking back, here are some of the best free things we've done in south Texas:

1. Mission San Jose, San Antonio: We keep talking about this one because it was that good! The Alamo might be the most famous tourist destination in San Antonio, but in our opinion (just our opinion!), it pales in comparison to four gorgeous nearby missions that are part of the national parks system. Mission San Jose was absolutely beautiful: stone buildings draped in flowers, an informative NPS film that provided historical context, and an excellent self-guided tour. We would recommend it to anyone visiting San Antonio.

2. Speaking of free in San Antonio, the Riverwalk is a must-see. If you're a walker, runner, jogger, or biker and you're visiting San Antonio for any reason, head to the Riverwalk early in the morning and enjoy a colorful, peaceful adventure along the San Antonio River before all the tourists come out. Not only does the Riverwalk offer a plethora of shops and beautiful landscaping, it also features plenty of artwork and interesting architectural features. It's total eye candy. (Note: parking later in the day is tricky and expensive, but early in the morning, you should have no trouble finding free parking.)

3. If you're in Austin and needing to get your run or walk in, the Lady Bird Lake Hike-and-Bike Trail is a perfect option. During the week, I parked along Veterans Drive; on the weekend, I parked at Austin High School. I ran several loops along this trail, the shortest being about three miles and the longest being eight. I felt completely safe in the mornings and on the weekends (mainly because there are so many people here) and loved crossing the bridges, watching the paddlers and rowers on the lake, and meeting so many adorable puppies along the way!

4. We have an ASTC science museum membership through the Kentucky Science Center that gives us free admission to science centers across the United States. With the membership, we were able to visit the Children's Museum of Houston and The Thinkery in Austin for no extra charge. The Children's Museum of Houston features an indoor playground, a large water play area, and Kidtropolis (a city run by kids). 

One word of warning: The Children's Museum of Houston is loud. Really loud. There's something about the acoustics in that building that seem to magnify any sound times five. It was a little much for us, and we ended up leaving earlier than we'd planned. If you have children who are sensitive to noise, you may want to avoid the busiest times. 

The Thinkery is smaller but has some excellent mini-classes, an indoor water play area, and a super-cool outdoor play structure that made me want to be a kid again just so I could climb to the top. 

5. Kid's Kingdom Playground, San Angelo: This playground is one of the first spots we visited when we arrived in San Angelo. It's well-shaded, features a wide variety of playground equipment, offers plenty of places to sit, and has an adjacent picnic table/bathroom/water fountain area. It's also located right next to the beautiful Concho River riverwalk, which features plenty of local artwork. 

6. The Children's Room at the Tom Green County Library, San Angelo: The children's room at the Tom Green County Library is phenomenal. It's totally kid-friendly: colorful artwork, stuffed animals propped atop the shelves, and built-in reading nooks, and well-labeled shelves. The architecture in this building is excellent, allowing plenty of light into the children's room on the first floor.

7. Art Thursdays at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts: Sam and I had the opportunity to participate in a free art activity at SAMFA. We created steampunk stamp art, clay sculptures, and watercolor paintings. Everything was free, and we didn't even need to sign up beforehand. Art Thursdays take place every Thursday from 3-6 PM at SAMFA's education building. The SAMFA is in itself a great little museum - and very affordable at $2 per adult!

This list doesn't include the many of not-free yet still-affordable activities in south Texas, including the spring-fed pools in Austin (such as Deep Eddy and Barton Springs) and the state parks (we visited McKinney Falls State Park and San Angelo State Park - both excellent).

For those of you who have spent time in south Texas, what other free attractions would you recommend?

2+ months: Interview with the nomads!

We left Indiana on June 1. Now it's August 10, and we've been in Texas for the last six weeks or so. We figured this might be a good time to check in with everyone and see how they're feeling about summer RV living in the Lone Star State.

Q: What are three words you would use to describe Texas?

Susanne: Surprising, worthwhile, beautiful

Trent: Big, hot, awesome

Sam: Hot, burning, desert

Biscuit: Birds, birds, birds!

Q: Thinking about the places we've visited in Texas, what's been your favorite so far?

Susanne: I loved Mission San Jose in San Antonio! That was such a nice surprise (and so much better than The Alamo, which was packed and actually kind of boring). I also really enjoyed our time in Austin, mainly because we got to spend time with friends.

Trent: Austin food and beer, and the state parks.

Sam: The San Angelo Nature Center.

Biscuit: Lake Medina, because I got to stalk deer from the window.

Q: What's been the most challenging thing about living in the RV over the past few weeks?

Susanne: It's hot. The air conditioner is keeping up as best it can, but when it's 104 degrees outside, it's no cooler than about 85 degrees inside. And we can't get much better than that, really.

Trent: Biscuit waking us up all the time. It’s like having a baby again but with no promise she will grow out of it.

Sam: Trying to deal with all the questions you're asking me!

Biscuit: The humans. The humans are very trying.

Q: What's been your favorite meal over the past few weeks?

Susanne: I loved the Florentino and Freakin' Vegan tacos at Tacodeli in Austin! 

Trent: Out of the RV it was the kimchi fries I had in Austin (at Chi'lantro), in the RV it was probably the Buddha Bowl Susanne made.

Sam: Mangoes! 

Biscuit: The bug I caught and devoured yesterday. These Texas bugs are delicious.

Q: What do you miss most about non-nomadic life?

Susanne: Personal space. Sometimes I would love a little more room.

Trent: Nothing at all.

Sam: Not being settled down somewhere.

Biscuit: Private space for doing my business. If you must know.

Thousand Trails Medina Lake RV Campground, Lakehills, TX

Trent will be your driver for today's post.

We stayed at the Thousand Trails Medina Lake RV Campground in Lakehills, TX for two weeks at the end of July, 2016. Overall our review is we would happily stay here again.

Verizon coverage was good enough for work and Netflix for both our phones and our jetpack without using an antenna or booster.

There were lots of sites to chose from. They ranged from flat and shaded to not-so-flat and full Sun. We went for a flat spot with good morning and evening shade. Our electric, water, and sewer hook-ups all worked as expected.

The pool was nice and big.

The lake was nice but we chose to stay up on a hill in case there was a storm. We didn't want to worry about flooding and we thought there might be fewer bugs away from the lake. Bugs were not a problem for us at all, so maybe they would've have been a problem down by the lake.

Deer are everywhere in this RV park. They don't really care if you get within a few feet of them when passing by. If you want to see deer - this is your park. We also saw a Roadrunner and a dung beetle (someone has to clean up after the deer).

We seemed to have had the place to ourselves a lot of the time. I worked down at the rec house a few times. The WiFi there was very slow. It wouldn't be fast enough for work but would be ok for checking mail or maybe a website or two.

The laundry mat (building with ramp) was good for an RV park and the bathrooms were in decent shape. 

This is a Thousand Trails; the place could use some work but everything was functional. Nothing is in perfect condition but we don't really expect that for the price we like to pay.

Day 1 in San Antonio

Our first day in San Antonio can be summed up in one word: HOT. It's hot. Sure, it's a dry heat, but it's still 102 degrees and sunny, and Clark doesn't have particularly effective air conditioning (it's okay, but the extent that it can cool the RV is limited to about 20 degrees below the outside air temperature).

Nevertheless, we ventured into San Antonio for a couple of hours to check out the Riverwalk and eat some ice cream.

 

 

 

The ice cream was from a shop called Lick Honest Ice Creams and it was delicious. They offer a variety of original flavors, some of which are vegan. Yes!

Then we went back to the campsite because we were sweating like maniacs and some of us (you can probably guess who) were getting grumpy. We took naps and played Minecraft.

And then when it cooled off a bit, we checked out the campsite's playground. This weekend, we're staying at a KOA that has a playground dating straight back to the 1980s. Behold:

Object 1 - The Spinny Thing

 

 

 

Object 2 - Dangerous(ly fun) Metal Climbing Apparatus

 

There were also see-saws, a metal climbing teepee with chipped paint circa 1985, and swings in the shape of ponies.

Sam's assessment of the playground: "For once, they have some GOOD STUFF to play on!" Truth, buddy. THIS is why we're taking you across America. To help open your mind to new things.