{"id":468,"date":"2015-12-16T09:38:15","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T07:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/?p=468"},"modified":"2015-12-18T05:37:35","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T03:37:35","slug":"leaving-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/?p=468","title":{"rendered":"Leaving the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-imgp6857.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"IMGP6857.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-imgp6857.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Alamo, San Antonio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>DEC 7, 2015 &#8211; From Austin I continued south to San Antonio, where a hostel just recently opened its doors. It is called &#8220;Woodward Lumber&#8221; and will also be a shop for wooden furniture and gifts. The owner Max was a good host, and after returning my rental car and visiting the city center, I stayed an extra day to plan my Mexico trip. San Antonio itself is surprisingly touristy &#8211; it has a crowded riverwalk full of overpriced restaurants, a wax museum, a &#8220;Ripley&#8217;s Believe it or not&#8221; and generally a lot of things that made me feel like there wasn&#8217;t really anything to see here. Which is not true &#8211; there is the Alamo, where an important battle happened in 1836, and the Spanish Missions, which I didn&#8217;t end up visiting. Since I don&#8217;t have a lot of photos from here, I&#8217;m adding a little retrospective of my US travels &#8211; mostly phone pictures that I hadn&#8217;t copied yet, plus some from my camera that I forgot to include in earlier posts.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-imgp68601.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"IMGP6860.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-imgp68601.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beer garden along the riverwalk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-imgp68651.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"IMGP6865.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-imgp68651.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Max with his dogs Tom and Dot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0359.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"DSC_0359.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0359.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pickup truck dealership? No, a restaurant car park in El Paso. (Phone pic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0356.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"DSC_0356.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0356.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cactus in Saguaro East, before sunset (phone picture)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0340.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"DSC_0340.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0340.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">View during my run in Saguaro East NP (phone picture) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0317.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"DSC_0317.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0317.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sun setting on Grand Canyon (phone picture)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0287.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"DSC_0287.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0287.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scene from Cirque du Soleil&#39;s Zarkana show (phone picture) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-wp-1450409599916.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"wp-1450409599916\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-wp-1450409599916.jpeg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Japanese garden in San Francisco (forgot to upload)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-imgp4770.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"IMGP4770.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-imgp4770.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Portland priorities (forgot to upload)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0227.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"DSC_0227.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0227.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beer selection in a typical grocery store in Portland (phone picture)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0211.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"DSC_0211.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0211.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tentative dashboard of Ryan&#39;s VW Rabbit (works fine! Phone pic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0149.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"DSC_0149.JPG\" class=\"alignnone size-full\"  alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wpid-dsc_0149.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Halloween cake at a Seattle grocery store (phone picture)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DEC 7, 2015 &#8211; From Austin I continued south to San Antonio, where a hostel just recently opened its doors. It is called &#8220;Woodward Lumber&#8221; and will also be a shop for wooden furniture and gifts. The owner Max was a good host, and after returning my rental car and visiting the city center, I<span class=\"excerpt-ellipsis\">&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/?p=468\" itemprop=\"url\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472,"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awayfrom.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}