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Originally Posted by kai
Shannon- its out BEYOND the 1604 loop (further NW). Scenic loop road runs from SH16 to grey forest, then eventually meets up with the end of hausman rd (kind of behind frederich park-ish. in the hills behind there) at a T intersection. Scenic Loop rd eventually intersects Boerne Stage rd at the intersection where Scenic Loop Cafe is located. (if you haven't been to the Scenic Loop cafe- go). Boerne stage road then connects with I-10 in leon springs.
here's a map, if it works- not sure if mapquest will replicate the directions. |
Thanks, that description and map refresher sorted me out. I knew I must've had it wrong, since I couldn't think of a bare spot of land at the Bandera/1604 intersection!
I now know exactly where you're talking about, and it's definitely one of the last "natural" areas around San Antonio. And you're definitely right that with one large retail store, especially a Walmart, others follow quickly. That's exactly how the Bandera/1604 intersection went from nothing but a Jim's restaurant to 160+ stores and fast food eateries in the span of several years. And as more retail development moves in, any available land gets purchased for more housing developments, which feeds the cycle more.
Having grown up in Southern California (my first 5 or 6 years on Earth) and the rest of my life here in San Antonio, I've only experienced cities that ceaselessly sprawl outwards, incorporating once outer-lying areas and developing them. And yet I know even quaint mountain towns in Colorado that have, over the course of my lifetime, turned into nothing like they once were, which is to say they're now over-commercialized, over-hyped tourist-traps rather than quaint, genuine towns (and if anyone in Redstone, Colorado, wants to disagree with me they can. It's just not the same anymore.)
The same things that draw many of us to a place are the first things that get dulled when development (or "progress" if you're an investor) moves in. And with all the land area we have in Texas, we seem to expand outward at the fastest pace of all -- because we can, unimpeded by mountains, other major cities (which resist incorporation), or the ocean.