SAN ANTONIO

Torn between wanting to snuggle down in our warm camper and the excitement of being in a favorite city, we had to venture out and see what we faced. Management had posted signs on each RV warning of the freeze and instructing us to leave our faucet dripping. If we didn't, the consequence could be frozen, broken pipes that would affect our whole row. Peer pressure!

That is our transmitter for outside temperature behind the icicles.

Ice slides off the roof and window as it melts.

The ice coating on the car is a quarter-inch thick  Rolling down the windows just left you looking at ice from the inside.

After much scraping with makeshift tools, we headed for the Commissary for drinking water, toilet tissue and pralines for Ed and Betsy. 

Tickled by the icicles, we both photographed the cart corral.

One of the things that most excited Linda about being in Texas was getting wonderful Texas grapefruit. Now the Commissary has never been a source of much of our food, and the produce is rarely of great quality, but this just made Linda furious. 

Grapefruit the size of apples. This, in the state that produces the most and best grapefruit in the country!

Remember we said the power went out briefly during the night? Apparently it didn't come back on here. Well, so much for getting some Blue Bell Ice Cream.

Employees emptying the freezer cases. Oh no, not the ice cream!

Okay, there's better news. Our favorite market in the world is the Central Market in San Antonio.  http://www.centralmarket.com/Home  We were looking forward to so many things they had and regretting we only had two days to enjoy it. The theme of the moment was Citrusational! We have never seen such a variety of citrus fruit. And samples all around you. Any employee would also cut you a taste of anything you asked for. Carole learned that she liked the Page Tangerines better than any other. And Linda got Texas-sized grapefruit.

Every department in the store was bigger, better, prettier and more complete than anyplace we have been. Every aisle held unexpected delights. 

Thirty-nine different blue cheeses.

There are aisles and aisles of bulk foods.

Interesting that Carole chose the candy bins to show how many bulk foods there were.

Linda's favorite gelato - made in San Francisco. 

We never find Fiorello's outside of the Bay Area. Now here it is in Texas. If you look at their website, there is a photo of a Central Market. http://www.fiorellosgelato.com/

It was darned cold. We were amused by how warmly people were dressed. After all, it was South Central Texas. 

By Saturday, we had sunshine. Cold in the morning, it gradually warmed up enough that we saw shorts and tank tops. Hardy folk!

Pecans with the tricky part already done. Linda's family had a special nutcracker for pecans so the nutmeats came out unbroken. Nutcracker link  We began seeing pecan groves in New Mexico.

Yes, Karen, Texas is on board with all the latest food trends. You'll do just fine here.

The vendors don't appear to be used to this cold.

Nothing is ever the same what you go back. On our previous visit to the farmers' market, it was closer to the Riverwalk and CIA had a bakery/café with memorable pastries and espresso. Now, CIA has a fancy restaurant and no bakery. But they serve brunch during the market. http://www.ciachef.edu/texas/

OMG!

The yarn bomb is still here.

In California, dogs aren't usually welcome at farmers' markets. But Texas is MUCH dog friendlier. There were more dogs than children, more dogs than vendors - just a lot of dogs. Mostly purebred. Hmmmm.

Conan, the Goldendoodle

Wonder what breed this pretty boy is? Pharoah Hound. Thanks, Doris. 

Eight month-old Jax is an Alaskan Klee Kai

Carole found this video she thinks you'll like. Alaskan Klee Kai puppy freaks out over lime.

At last, no stop is complete without a book store. The Twig was small but packed with things we both wanted. Weight considerations, however, kept our purchases to small, light things. 

This is really Carole's sneaky way of getting a cat picture in.

What's that saying about an ill wind that blows no good? We thoroughly enjoyed even a brief stop in San Antonio.