Canyon Lake Dam

We've stayed several times at Potter's Creek and we are still finding places we haven't visited in the area. Today we headed over to visit the Canyon Lake Dam. The dam is located 36 miles NE of San Antonio and 36 miles SW of Austin, Texas in Hill Country.  The dam was put up to protect the area from the ravages of flooding from the Guadalupe River.  The dam was completed in 1964.  

Looking at Canyon Lake

There wasn't any parking near where the access to the walkway across the dam was so we went on a little further and had a nice view of Canyon Lake from above the dam.

We decided to follow the trail back to the dam walkway although we weren't sure that is where we would end up.  We haven't had much exercise all winter so it is time to get ourselves back into shape. There will yellow flowers in bloom everywhere and it made for a pretty walk.

As we walked farther we ended up in the woods.

We had to do some back tracking and actually went back and got the truck.  Then we drove it down to the walkway.  We were getting lost because trails kept crossing other trails and we couldn't really tell where we were heading.

We parked across from Overlook Park which overlooks the dam walkway.

The dam is 6,830 feet long across a narrow section of the Guadalupe River Valley.  The top of the dam is 224 feet above the riverbed.

  Looking down the other side

 Some swimmers on the shore below us

Some Scuba Divers Too 

Lots of Sail Boats Enjoying the Day - it was perfect for them!  

A spillway, located south of the dam, protects the dam by releasing water when the lake level rises to 943 feet above sea level.

Canyon Lake

Arrived at Potter's Creek Campground

We headed out this morning for Potter's Creek Campground.  We hoped that we could get in as it is one of our favorite landing points on the way to and from Winter Ranch.  The campground suffered some severe storm damage so a lot of the campsites are closed waiting to be repaired.  We arrived about 2 PM in the afternoon and managed to get the last site available.

It wasn't the easiest site for our large truck to get backed into but Lee managed it.  Lee got everything hooked up outside while I put things back in place inside.   We aren't as close to the water as we like but all the sites are pretty nice.  After we got settled, we took a walk around the area that is open..  We had seen Egyptian Geese and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers when we were here before so we wondered if they were still around,  We managed to get a picture of an Egyptian Goose and her gosling and we saw a couple of scissor-tails flying around.  Maybe we can get their picture next time.  They were vey camera shy.

After our walk, we decided to go to our favorite Italian Restaurant "The Italian Garden" in Canyon City. They make the best Chicken Marsala so we both had it.  I've been back on Weight Watchers and that dinner took all my extra points for the week!  Boy, was it worth it though!!  Yum.

Said Goodbye to Winter Ranch for the season!

We were finally able to leave Winter Ranch today.  We thought we were ready to leave the resort but then when Lee tried to take the front jacks up to get ready to leave, they wouldn't budge   The house batteries were deader than a door nail.  So, we ended up heading over to Batteries Plus in Pharr to get some new ones.  We had a late lunch while we were in Pharr and then headed back to the Ranch.

We checked out with Emma in the office at 3:30 PM.  We decided that we were leaving and getting on the road before something else happened.

It was a gorgeous day and so the drive was really pleasant even though we had a late start.  We drove until about dusk and stayed at Rockin' J RV Park in George West for the night.  We didn't even detach the truck from the fifth wheel.

Day at South Padre Island

We spent the day with friends, Dean and Patty Ellison, at South Padre.  Dean drove us over in their truck.  We were supposed to go on a catamaran cruise on the Laguna Madre, however, the winds picked up and so we weren't able to go today.  We're going to try to get it done before we leave to head North for the summer.

We had lunch at a new restaurant on South Padre called Smoky Tails. Both of us hand the pulled pork and it was really pretty tasty.  Then we  headed over to National Birding Center.  Although it was windy, we still saw quite a few birds.

Whimbrel

Female Redhead

Mexican Mallard

Blue winged Teal

Mountain Plover - he knows it is too early to migrate home yet!

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Reddish Egret

Great Blue Heron

Willet

Blue Heron

Black-necked Stilt

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Black-necked Stilt

 Red-winged Blackbird

Laughing Gull

Christ of the Fisherman on South Padre Island

Patty and Me

Dean and Patty Ellison and Me

The Gulf of Mexico

The Beach looking at South Padre Island

Sanderlings - they are so fun to watch running in and out of the surf.

There were high tides and red flag surf and yet there were surfers

Lee, Patty and Dean

Laughing Gulls

Dirty Al's Port Isabel

Before heading back to Winter Ranch, we ate at Dirty Al's.  Lee and I had the shrimp and it was wonderful.

Dean and Patty