Lakehills, TX (San Antonio)
Campsite: Thousand Trails Medina Lake, Lakehills TX
Dates of stay: Dec. 19, 2021 - Jan 1, 2022
We drove through some pretty beautiful hill country to make it to our campsite, which is a Thousand Trails location based in Lakehills, TX - about 45 northwest of Downtown San Antonio. Upon arrival, we were told not to “feed the deer” and we quickly learned why, as at our campsite we were surrounded by about 20 extremely tame deer, just waiting to be fed. They’d come within a few inches of us and while tempting to feed them, we did not. Originally, campers WERE encouraged to feed them, but given the risks to the deer of not being able to fend for themselves in the wild, the campers are asked by the wildlife management not to feed them (although we noticed many people still did).
While we are not all that close to San Antonio, we are within 20 miles of a wonderful state park - Government Canyon State Park, home to dinosaur tracks and lots of great trails. We made it there about 3 times during our visit, and on our 3rd trip, we made it to the tracks. They were left by sauropods and therapies, and you can make the prints out really well as they’ve been preserved in the limestone for centuries.
On this leg, we were fortunate to have visitors! Mike and Judy, Tom’s parents, came down to to visit over Christmas. While this was a celebration unlike any other holiday we’ve experienced, it was so so nice to have family with us for Christmas and we feel extremely lucky that they took the time to drive for 3 straight days from Wisconsin. We were able to have them stay at the little (tiny) cabins available on the property, so the distance from our RV to their front steps was about 30 seconds! Quite convenient and Owen loved hanging out with them at their place.
We did explore San Antonio - checked out the Alamo of course, and the Riverwalk. As part of Owen’s education this year, we are taking full advantage of the locations we are visiting to learn more about the history. So this week has been about Texas’ independence from Mexico, the significance of the Alamo battle (which the Texans lost) and how it led to the Battle of San Jacinto (which was ultimately won by the Texas, and secured their independence).
On our first trip in with Mike and Judy, we toured the Alamo but there were SO. MANY. PEOPLE. Too peopley for me. I think I’m getting used to the quietness of the campgrounds. I last visited with my grandparents when I was about Owen’s age, so it was fun for Owen to be there with his grandparents. We also had lunch at Cafe Rio on the Riverwalk, and enjoyed the Mariachi band play Guantanamera for us! We discovered another sculpture garden here - not as expansive as the one in New Orleans, but very enjoyable.
On our second trip in (just Owen, me and Tom), we walked 5.5 miles along the quieter portion of the Riverwalk at night, after we had finished an early dinner at Iron Cactus. Even more people on this day, as we are in the holiday week. We wanted to do a riverboat ride, but the lines looked hours long! The walk was really enjoyable and so glad we did that, as it gave us a look at where the boats don’t go. We made it up to the lock and dam area, and turned around, enjoying the Christmas lights all along the riverwalk.
We settled in here for a couple of weeks, heading to the small town of Lakehills for groceries from the sole store in town and also visited the 4-Way bar and grill for good burgers one day. We also got lucky and found a local meat market (Schott’s) for some wonderful local cuts of meat, which was good, as we needed to restock the freezer. We are trying to shop local as much as possible, and realizing that many of these smaller towns offer a lot of great options.
Medina Lake is really no longer - it has dried up over the past 3 years, and we learned that it “cycles” about every five. We walked and biked the lake bed, but realized it would be a much better campground if we were able to get out on the lake. The dock itself was completely dry docked, and except for a few roaming cattle, there wasn’t much to experience. There are a lot of really great trails throughout the campground, and we enjoyed the expanse of this campground. They also had a decent activity center with a mini golf course, shuffleboard, and Tom and I even tried pickle ball for the first time (kind of fun, and I beat him the first time).
New Year’s Eve was quiet - both in and around the campground, and in our RV! Movie marathon until midnight, and we celebrated and said good night at 12:01. Happy 2022 all!