30 Minutes in the Life: May 2019

Yes I know it says May, and it is now June, but truth is we delayed it one week so that we would all have a chance to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend.  For me it was an awesome 11 days of vacation.  5 of those days were spending in the stinking hot sun down in the Florida Keys.  Phew, when shade is at a minimum, happy hour seems to be the way to go.  But more about that another day.

For this month I wanted to continue with the San Antonio trip.  My flu that I had just before the trip left me in a funk and so I am really behind on editing. For our afternoon session of sightseeing, my brother was going to join us.  I know that he likes to visit things like Botanical Gardens and such.  So we decided to jump on the local transportation (which I highly recommend as a way to get around San Antonio), and head to the Japanese Gardens, and then on to the Botanical Gardens.  These photos were exactly 35 minutes of walking around the garden.

 

We have a Japanese Gardens locally at home, and I know what that one is like and so my expectation was that this one would be bigger.  The one we have at home is a 2 mile walk.  It normally takes me 3 hours to get around.

The upside of the short time frame was that we were not sure how long it would take us to get around the Botanical Gardens.

Our first view was of the beautiful lakes with pathways going through them.

In the water were koi, and the random ducks.

We meandered along random pathways taking in the beautiful stonework, the rich colors of gardens.

And were impressed by the creative building behind us.  Layers of rock had been used to build the pillars, the pathways and the bridges.

The gardens were very peaceful and I guess we were fortunate that there were not too many people visiting at the same time as us.

There were small waterfalls and large waterfalls.

Amazing bridges to cross.  Each stone layered one on top of the other.

Typical of our walk about, Richard is 10 steps ahead of Barry, and I am lagging with the camera another 10 steps behind.  There was too much that captured my attention.

We walked past the waterfalls and slowly climbed the pathway to get a view of the area below.

We continued to meander along this random pathway until we found our way back to the building area.

My brother started out his career as a Civil Engineer, and he spent a good bit of time looking at the structural layout of these pillars and how each stone had been laid uniquely above the one below.

As we walked away from the structured building I looked down below to what was probably garden storage buildings.

Barry and I meandered along this short bridge to a deck adjacent to what appeared to be some kind of silo.

It gave us a better view of the buildings below.

Of course, it was hot, and so we ventured inside to get some liquid refreshments and sat for a while in the shade of the umbrellas.  We all got to try Japanese beer.

We also had company while we were relaxing.

I took one final lookout from the sheltered area.  The trip to the Japanese Gardens had been fun and it was definitely well worth going to visit.

Last but not least, this was one of my favorite images of Richard, and I just felt like it had to be in black and white.

Beers were drunk, bags packed up, we are off to the bus stop.  Next stop is the Botanical Gardens.  Look out for a blog post soon.

Thank you for joining us for another month of 30 Minutes. Just a reminder that this is a circle blog, so take some time to visit my friend Stacey Markel Photography, and see what she has for you this year.