Heart of Texas

Back in November we took another trip to San Antonio to visit with family. We previously were in San Antonio in early 2016, but this time we visited a few new areas and also took a trip up to Austin, so we thought we'd make another blog post. Our trip included a Notre Dame football game, a visit to several historic missions, and of course plenty of tacos and BBQ! We'll let the pictures do the talking:

Teaching "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to our nephew.

Hanging out in Brackenridge Park. Yes, there's another nephew on the way!

We went to Alex's soccer practice. Poor little guy!

Mission Concepcion is one of the sites we didn't make it to on our last trip. It's part of the UNESCO world heritage site.

Inside the main chapel at Mission Concepcion.

A weird little outdoor shrine.

We also stopped by Mission Espada, where a dog followed us around for a bit. This happened on our last trip to San Antonio too!

The National Park Service signs at the missions are great photo spots.

San Antonio's bike share is really useful for getting around to different missions.

David on the bike path. There's that friendly dog!

Paul on one of the bridges on the bike path.

Paul got a roller coaster credit at ZDT's in Seguin.

Only person on the ride, right when the park opened!

Doh! David's worst nightmare!

We had a lot of great tacos on this trip.

We also went to Notre Dame vs Army at the Alamodome. Big win for ND.

Both teams joined for each other's alma mater.

Some beers after the game.

Alex is ready for the road trip to Austin! Or maybe he just likes to kick David....

We stopped by Buc-ee's on the way there. It's basically a ginormous gas station.

Gotta have BBQ when you're in Austin!

The inside of the dome of the Texas capitol building.

Texas senate chamber.

The Texas state capitol building - one of the largest in the country.

The floor of the capitol. Six seals for six nations that controlled Texas at some point.

Downtown Austin. It's growing quickly!

More tacos! This time at a food truck park.

We'll be back to Texas again soon to welcome nephew #2 into the world in February!

San Antonio - Alex's First Birthday

Recently we spent a long weekend in San Antonio, where David's sister Natasha lives, for his nephew's first birthday party. We've both been to San Antonio before, but have never really had time to explore much of the city. This trip was a perfect chance to visit family and get to know the unique city of San Antonio a bit better. We also happened to be there during Fiesta, which is a huge week long celebration with multiple events all around the city. We started off in Market Square, an indoor/outdoor tourist market. It was particularly lively because of the Fiesta events, with food and live music.

Fiesta activities in Market Square.

Market Square was very colorful... and hot.

Colorful dia de los muertos dolls.

Delicious food at Fiesta on the square.

Downtown San Antonio is very tourist-oriented, and doesn't have many residents. The riverwalk is charming, but lined with chain restaurants. The streets above were pretty quiet while we were there. It doesn't really have much of an urban vibe, but it's worth a visit to wander the riverwalk and see the Alamo.

San Fernando Cathedral in downtown.

The riverwalk is touristy but charming.

The huge trees provide welcome shade.

We made it to the Alamo! We couldn't find the basement.

Of course Paul rode some roller coasters. This is Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

Happy birthday, Alex!

His cute monkey cake.

There were TWO cakes. Lots of April birthdays.

Mostly he just looks confused. But he loved it!

"I could get used to this...."

Mmm, frosting....

One thing that makes the San Antonio area really unique is the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of four Spanish frontier missions built in the 1600 and 1700s, all connected by a riverfront bike trail. We only had time to visit one (Mission San Jose), but it was really neat and we'll definitely try to bike the whole trail next time we're back.

Mission San Jose, built in 1720.

It's a cool structure, and used to be painted in bright colors back in the 1700s.

Colorful flags despite the grey skies.

One of the chambers in Mission San Jose

The former Pearl Brewery area, now with restaurants and apartments.

The river goes by the Pearl Brewery area as well. It was raining so we couldn't explore much, but it looked nice.

Some of the local beer was pretty good.

Paul's not a fan of Bigfoot...so we had to stop by its namesake town near San Antonio.

Saying bye to the birthday boy!

Grandma and Grandpa miss having Alex in Georgia!

Four Generations!

Uncle Paul!

Starla, the super dog!

Yiaya, David's Mom and Alex enjoying the patio and bubbles!

With David's sister living in San Antonio now, look for more posts in the future detailing our adventures in Texas and especially the Hill Country and Austin!