The day before I left on the New England trip, phase three of the Mission Reach project was officially opened, and Henry and I braved the heat to go check it out. 
This section is downstream a bit from the section we paddled on Memorial Day, and isn't open for paddling currently. (Some fiddle-faddle about poor water quality is what we've heard...)But the walkway is pretty sweet, and if the water's unhealthy, it doesn't look that way from the shore. We really enjoyed our ramble along most of phase three.
On the left you can see part of one of the pedestrian bridges that take you from one side of the stream to the other. This particular one is just above the confluence of the river with San Pedro creek. You can see the small dam at the confluence here; the creek is in the background.
In addition to providing variety to the walk by criss-crossing the River, the bridges are great displays of public art. Here's a story in our paper about the bridge by San Pedro Creek, along with some close-ups of the art decorating it.Which brings me to my second encounter with the bridges and a chance to see some different art.
Just about 10 days ago, after returning from New England, I was graced by a visit from my son and his wife, who tore themselves away from the bright lights of Austin to pay a call on Mom and Pop.They were up for a bike ride one morning and I was keen to show off the new section of the Riverwalk. We started and ended (with a very welcome cool lunch) at Blue Star Brewery, which is becoming a traditional watering hole for their visits. One of its new perks is a pick-up station for the city's new bike rental program. (On the right you can see the kids deciphering the sign-in screen. I was patiently waiting with my own bike, transported there in the back of our van.)
In spite of the heat (even though we got a pretty early start at 9:30) it was great fun. While the bikes are moving, you're cool enough anyway, and there was a breeze when we stopped. (But the frosty cold ones and iced tea awaiting us at lunch were very welcome.)
We rode all the way down to the end of the improved area. And along the way saw another artistic bridge:
Aren't the colors neat? Our paper had an article about this one, too, along with more photos. What delightful additions these art projects are to otherwise pedestrian (pun intended!) structures.Below is another example of Riverwalk decoration. There were several of these whimsical stone eddies around the landing near Mission Concepción, and along the street between the River and the Mission. The River used to be a lot closer to it, before being re-routed during the flood control channelization process. But now it's at least symbolically reunited with its historical neighbor.
It's still not far from the River to the Mission, and we rode over to the church, which recently had some refurbishment work done. However, we couldn't go in because a funeral service was in progress. (As you may know, the Missions are unique in the National Park system for being functioning churches. The Park Service runs the grounds, but the churches themselves are governed by the Archdiocese of San Antonio.) But the kids, who'd never been there before, got to walk around the grounds a bit.
At the end of the line, at Mission Road, they have this very nice (and the shade is so welcome) pavilion. In the background you can see work going on for phase 4. I was glad to see some of the workers at the pavilion, so I could tell them in person how impressed we were with what they were doing.
Here's another view, a ways upstream, that I thought showed very well what kind of progress is being made. And how far they still have to go to get the River back the way it was, vegetation-wise, before it was channelized.
The native grasses they've been putting in are growing well, and in spite of the drought can get a least a little water. The pipes you see here are purple, noting their non-potable-ness, taking the water right from the River.
But it's looking good, don't you think?! The view just above is from about midway in our ride and in the distance you can see the Tower of the Americas, next to the Alamo our city's most recognizable landmark.We think the extension should be good for this part of town, historically an economically depressed area. We saw lots of folks out walking and biking on our own bike excursion, and it was a weekday morning. Hopefully the city's hard work will pay off, but we're pretty excited about it even at this early stage.
And we're not the only ones! We missed the politicos speaking at the formal opening last month, but one of them was the Secretary of the Interior. And he indicated his support for nominating the Missions for World Heritage Site status. Now, we've been to some of these places around the world and aren't too sure our little city can realistically compete for this honor, but it's pretty nice just to be considered!
Here's another article from our paper, if you want to read more about this downstream stretch of Riverwalk improvements.
Blogging hiatus alert! We're headed to Colorado for a couple of weeks of relief from the heat. Internet access is spotty when we're up there, though, so I won't be able to post regularly. But I'll check in when I can.
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