Trip to Texas

After a long winter of COVID cancellations and staying home, we decided we wanted to go somewhere fun.

So, for 9 days in March we traveled to Texas to see both San Antonio and Galveston.

John and Cindy and Tom and Joan joined us for this trip. Our First Stop was San Antonio where we stayed at a hotel on the Riverwalk.

Our hotel

After we settled into our rooms, we explored the Riverwalk. It sits a level below street level and is 15 miles of an urban waterway. The area we walked along was near our hotel and was filled with restaurants, hotels and shops.

                   There were lots of people there due to Spring Break in Texas.

               

             We saw lots of picturesque restaurants, buildings and bridges.

We then had dinner at Lorenzo's Italian Restaurant. The food was really very good!

   After dinner, we decided to take a river cruise. John said he didn't want a         boring guide. So after Hal told our guide to tell lots of jokes, we had a most          entertaining cruise!

                      

        Below are some of the sites we saw as we floated along the river.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church

View 2 of St. Joseph's Church

       

The Tower Life Building

         Bells of San Antonio??

    (Actually I don't know the name of these bells!)

 I don't know the name of these buildings either! I just liked the look of dusk with the lights reflecting on the river and the silhouettes of trees and buildings. 

        After our cruise we walked around and enjoyed the Riverwalk as it 

            was getting dark - when the lights come on it is beautiful.

The next morning we ate breakfast at IHOP and we were fortunate to beat the rush of people that came after we arrived! Then we headed to see the Alamo. We were glad to be walking distance from places to eat as well as the sites.

As we walked, we had a good view of the Tower of the Americas - San Antonio's tallest building and landmark.

"Remember the Alamo!"

The Alamo was a fortified old mission in the center of the town of San Antonio that was defended by about 200 rebellious Texians. Chief among them was Lt. Colonel William Travis, famed frontiersman Jim Bowie and former Congressman Davy Crockett. They were opposed by a massive Mexican army led by President/General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The battle was fought March 6, 1836 following a 13-day siege of the Alamo. Most of the Texians (as they were then called) and Tejanos (Mexican Texians) inside the Alamo were killed in the battle. Santa Anna's cruelty - as he ordered all Texians to be shot even after they had surrendered, inspired many other Texians and Tejanos to join the Texian Army. They then defeated the Mexican Army the following month at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836. The rallying cry to gather the Texian troops was - "Remember the Alamo!"

                                                          

                                            All of us in front of the Alamo

John (a big fan of Davy Crockett as a kid) had read a lot of information about the Battle of the Alamo and the characters involved and he told                                          us the story in detail.

  Statues near the Alamo

Wm. Barret Travis

James Bowie

                 

Davy Crocket with Tom

Davy Crockett - "King of the wild frontier!"

                                               

                                                       

      All of us in front of the old church near the Alamo fort. The women and    children hid in this church during the battle and survived.

A live oak tree

An old well - both the tree and the well were there during the battle.

          

                Outside the fort there is a monument to this famous battle.

  

This monument stands to commemorate the men and women who chose to defend the Alamo rather than surrender despite overwhelming odds.

After exploring the Alamo, we headed back to the Riverwalk, stopping in some shops on our way. When we dropped down a level, we could see that they had dyed the river green for St. Patrick's Day!

                                                               

       The Riverwalk was packed with people and the restaurants were busy, so we put our name in to eat at The County Line and waited about 30 minutes. This was a barbeque restaurant because, of course when in Texas, you have to try the barbeque!

Hal and I shared a piece of pecan pie a la mode for dessert and it was yummy!

                                            

    After our lunch/dinner, we walked on the Riverwalk to the Shops at River Center which is a huge mall. 

                        After exploring that for about an hour, we made the trek back to the hotel and called it a day!

   

We passed this statue on our way back.

 St. Hal and St. Anthony

Trip to Natural Bridge Caverns and New Braunfels

The next day, we rented a vehicle (a Toyota Highlander) and set out to see the Natural Bridge Caverns. Discovered in 1960 by four college students, these caves are the largest in Texas. The name is derived from the 60 ft. natural limestone slab bridge that spans the amphitheater setting of the cavern's entrance. These caves are located near San Antonio in the Texas Hill Country.

There were lots of fascinating formations and caves to see.

After seeing the caverns, we took a drive through some of the Texas Hill Country to enjoy the beauty and to look for bluebonnet flowers. Bluebonnets are the Texas state flower and bloom in late March and early April. John had promised that we would see them in the Hill Country, but we were a little early in the season to find them. We had hoped to see something like this:

OR this:

Though we didn't find our bluebonnets, we did have a pleasant ride and found a cute town that had been founded by the German immigrants - New Braunfels. 

We spotted an antique store that looked interesting and so we stopped to check

it out.

Joan and I bought matching blue and white plates.

New Braunfels is famous for their many recreation options. They have lots of beautiful parks, rivers and a giant water park called the Schlitterbahn - which had not opened for the season yet. 

However, we found another smaller water park and watched the kids slide down the big, open tube and into the river.

It looked like they were having lots of fun!

We then found a highly rated Mexican Restaurant (Las Fontanas Mexican Kitchen) for a late lunch/dinner.

The food was delicious!

On to Galveston!

The next morning, John worked hard to arrange for us to have the 2 vehicles that we had reserved with Hertz. With all the Texans on spring break and many other travelers, the cars were not being returned on time and so we only had the Highlander; and needed another vehicle! With all of our luggage and 3 sets of golf clubs, there was no way 1 vehicle would work. After being on the phone several times over a period of more than 2 hours, John was finally able to arrange a second vehicle - the only thing they had available: a huge cargo van! It was noisy and difficult to drive but it held all of our stuff and had 4 wheels that would get us to Galveston!

Tom was the designated cargo van driver and Hal was his co-pilot!

We then loaded into the 2 vehicles and left San Antonio to drive to Galveston.

John and Tom had heard about Buc-ee's - a chain of convenience stores and gas stations. They had been told to be sure to stop at one. So of course when we needed gas, we had to stop at a Buc-ee's. Their logo features Buc-ee the Beaver's head with a red cap in a yellow circle. 

The Buc-ee's that we stopped at had 80 fueling positions.

Buc-ee's are an amazing phenomenon - they are huge convenience store "supermarkets"!  It was filled with hundreds of people and everything you could want, from jerky in every variety you can imagine, soft drinks, snacks, sandwiches (pulled pork, beef brisket, turkey etc.) and a bakery that had cookies, little tarts, cakes, rolls and even kolaches (jam filled pastries). 

Buc-ee's supplies shopping carts and many shoppers had theirs's filled with goodies. I tried to capture this very busy place in the photos below.

Even going to the restroom was a new experience. There must have been 30 or more stalls in the ladies room and an attendant directing the traffic. She would call out: "Ladies there are 3 open stalls back here!" as she indicated their location. She moved the many, many ladies waiting in line through quickly!!

Tom was enjoying his pulled pork barbeque sandwich!

Buc-ee's had their own brand of snacks such as their beaver Nuggets which came in several flavors and were truly delicious!

After our Buc-ee's stop we headed out on our last leg of travel to Galveston!

Galveston Island

  Galveston Island is a 27 mile long barrier island on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

Every time I hear the name Galveston, the words to Glen Campbell's hit song come to mind: "Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin'

I still see her dark eyes glowin'" etc. etc.

After we checked into our hotel it was evening, getting dark, and we were all hungry and ready for a seafood dinner! We drove to the harbor area to find a restaurant. The wait times at the 5 restaurants we checked on, varied from 1 1/2  to 2 hours, so we began to look elsewhere. Then Joan found one on her phone that sounded promising and so we went to Shrimp N Stuff. It was  casual dining with lots of locals and the food was wonderful!

The next day we could really appreciate the wonderful location of our hotel.

This was the view from our rooms.

That morning Hal and I went for a walk along the seawall that is right above the beach. This sea wall was built in 1902 after a devastating hurricane flooded much of Galveston. The wall is more than 10 miles long and 17 feet high. It is the longest continuous sidewalk in the world. 

After our walk, we went to Landry's Seafood House for lunch.

After lunch, the guys went golfing and Joan, Cindy and I drove to what is called The Strand. This 5 block area is in the business district of downtown Galveston. It is a National Historic Landmark District due to its many Victorian era buildings that now house restaurants, antique shops, and curio shops. We did a lot of window shopping and bought a few things. We had a pleasant afternoon.

Everything is bigger in Texas - even trumpets!

That evening we ate at the Waffle House for dinner.

The next day was Sunday so we attended church in the Galveston Ward. It is always nice to know that the Church is true wherever you may go!

After Church, we took a drive to see more of the island. 

I am a fan of DIY TV's Restoring Galveston staring Michael and Ashley Cordray. They are a cute and energetic young couple that purchase historic homes, renovate them and sell them. They were intrigued by a 1960's quirky home made from an oil tank (called the "Kettle House") so they purchased it, totally renovated it and now it is their Airbnb rental! Having seen the TV episode where the Cordray's rehabbed this; I was curious to see the home - so at my suggestion we included finding it on our Sunday drive.

"Kettle House" BEFORE

"Kettle House" AFTER

Michael and Ashley - the renovators

We also drove by Galveston's famous pier-side amusement park - Pleasure Pier.

After our drive, we drove to the wharf for another seafood meal.

Lunch at Katie's Seafood House - it was delicious!

That evening we all went for a moonlight walk along the seawall.

The next morning Joan, Cindy and I went for a walk on the beach while the guys golfed.

There was a kite shop near our hotel that advertised their kites by flying them. It was fun to see them every time we walked or drove by.

When the guys finished golfing, we went for a late lunch at 

Fisherman's Wharf. Can you ever get enough seafood? Tom would answer that question with a yes, but he was always a good sport and seemed to find something on the menu that he liked!

Our lunch included key lime pie for dessert!

The next day was our last day on Galveston Island so we enjoyed both a seafood lunch and dinner.

We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe which had a fun jungle setting and the food was good.

After lunch, the guys golfed and we girls went for massages! Joan had an interesting massage experience that she will tell you about if you ask her!

That evening we went out for our last seafood meal 😞.

We went to BLVD. Seafood - the food was excellent!

John had oyster shooters for an appetizer and Cindy and Hal and I had BLVD. Capechna (shrimp, blue crab, tomato, onion salsa) that was served with blue corn chips. 

The seafood chowder was delicious.

The crab cakes were yummy!

Hal and I shared appetizers for our dinner.

The next morning we packed up and headed back to San Antonio.

Of course our gas stop was at Buc-ee's and we ate their sandwiches for lunch.

That evening we walked to a restaurant near our hotel for dinner.

We enjoyed a fun trip with lots of new things to see and do and lots of good food and good company!