A tired dog is a happy dog. Luckily for me, Elvis LOOOOOOVES chasing balls, so we try to play fetch every day. Here in Texas, we usually go in the early morning, as soon as some of the dew has dried but the temperature hasn’t started to climb.

ballThere are some great fenced off-leash dog parks in San Antonio which we visited a couple of times, but the closest is half an hour from our RV park.

Now that we’re outside of San Antonio, the Castroville Regional Park is just a 5-minute drive from our RV, and it’s MARVELOUS. It’s now my morning routine to take Elvis for a 45-minute session of fetch at the park, followed by a 20-30 minute walk to practice heeling with lots of treats.

The 126-acre park includes a campground, a fenced swimming pool (sparkling and clear, but apparently closed for the winter), lots and lots of picnic tables and grills among trees, restrooms, several playgrounds, 2 sand volleyball lots, and a large number of open ball fields. Surrounding the park is a mile-long walking trail. Adjacent to this space are several hiking trails (see pics below). The Medina River forms the southern border of the park (second set of pics).

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“C’mon mom!”
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The trails and signage are maintained by local Scout troops.
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The Ravine Trail was full of ups and downs! And (not shown here) a multitude of cacti right next to the trail.
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View of Castroville from the top of Mt. Grenitz (known as Cross Hill).
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The Spanish moss makes this area of the river look quite mysterious. The water really is a sparkling blue that doesn’t show up well here.
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I have a knack for finding dead stuff… This is a deer carcass. Most of it. Elvis thought it was interesting enough to pee on.
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This are is likely under several feet of water during the rainy season. Elvis didn’t particularly feel like modeling today.
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Looking upstream. Same log, different day. A better camera than my Android Moto4 is on the Wishlist.
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Heading away from the park, exploring the unknown.

BUT: Just this morning I was advised by a “Park Ranger” (the campground host, really) that dogs must be leashed in the park and we could get a ticket from the cops. Whom I have see make a circuit through the park once.

Dammit. Not sure yet if we’ll keep trying to what other options we might have. There is a church not far from here with a big mowed open field, so I might ask there to see if they mind us using the field.

Keep your paws crossed for us. If he doesn’t get enough exercise we’re all going to be frustrated.