Sunday morning at the river and things were mostly pretty calm – a few people fishing, a few more sitting in chairs watching the water go by, a woman doing about a thousand push-ups in the shade of the bridge, a wandering photographer do her thing.

When I was a kid and we’d go visit my grandparents (who lived about another hour down the road), we’d sometimes stop and have a picnic beside the river. That was in the Old Days, before the park was really developed the way it is now, but it stuck with me as a Thing One Did. San Angelo has really done an exceptional job with this park, and as with the lilies, if I lived here, I’d visit often.

Also, this is a cool thing – every year the American Planning Association names the Great Places in America as part of their effort to “recognize the neighborhoods, streets, and public spaces that make communities stronger and bring people together through good planning.” One of their selections in 2017 was the Concho River Walk. Somehow, even though I am (literally) a dues-paying member of the APA, I was unaware of this recognition until right now. And I feel sort of bad that my photo features that machinery making clouds of dust on the other side of the water.

San Angelo, Texas
photographed 8.2.2020