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!

Raleighwood Weekend

A couple of years ago, our friends Lindsay and Casey moved to Raleigh from Texas. We haven't seen them in a while (the last time we saw Lindsay was our visit to Congaree National Park in South Carolina) so we planned a trip to North Carolina for President's Day Weekend. We explored the local cuisine, toured the state capitol building and the universities, and also spent some time with our friend Matt and his adorable new puppy.

The research triangle is an area that has a reputation for Universities, basketball, and a quickly growing population, but you don't really hear much else about the cities. Charlotte steals the thunder as North Carolina's main city. David had only spent a short amount of time in downtown Raleigh for a conference, and Paul had never been to the area, so we were excited to explore a new area that we didn't know much about.

Our first meal in Raleigh on Friday night - Yummy Peruvian chicken. Forgot to get a picture of the food because we ate it so fast!

On Saturday morning we set out bright and early for a day of sightseeing around Raleigh. We visited the State Farmer's Market for breakfast and some shopping. The farmer's market was neat - it was a bit quiet on a cold winter morning, but you could see it would be bustling during good weather.

The view from Lindsay's and Casey's house in Cary.

Breakfast at the North Carolina State Farmer's Market Restaurant. This logo was everywhere around the city.

They had yummy biscuits. And more biscuits as an appetizer!

They're huge!

Just hanging out with a little cowboy.

NC State Farmer's Market. Not too busy in sub-freezing February weather.

Our next stop was downtown Raleigh to tour the old state capitol and the museum of natural sciences. There was a huge "Moral Monday" rally (not sure why they had it on a Saturday), so we couldn't walk much around the main street, but we did get to see most of downtown. The capitol building was nice. It was a bit small, but had some nice old rooms and furniture. Also, our tour guide was a hilarious senior citizen who owns several yorkies, believes in ghosts, and had a crush on Casey.

The NC Capitol dome.

Copy of a statue of George Washington by an Italian sculptor who had never seen him. The original was destroyed in a fire. It was the strangest depiction of Washington we've ever seen.

Original woodwork.

Lindsay has been promoted from Chemist I to Head Geologist!

The capitol grounds.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is a large free museum that explores various aspects of science and nature. It's great to see the state government support this. Fernbank in Atlanta is nice, but it's private and expensive. We've seen other state-supported science and history museums in nearby states, including South Carolina. Get with the program, Georgia! The museum was hosting Darwin Day, so it was full of special exhibits and a ton of children.

Big exhibit about the various ecosystems in North Carolina.

There was in interactive climate change exhibit that included health impacts.

After visiting the museum, we went to the Raleigh Depot/Warehouse district. It's a neat area with a lot of local restaurant. We had chocolate and beer and then played some video games. No complaints!

Videri chocolate factory in the old train depot.

Yum! Hot chocolate! It was a really cold day.

Boxcar is a big bar with a ton of video games, including this pinball section.

Even the bathroom at Boxcar is Mario themed.

We stopped by Matt's to visit with him and his new puppy, Banks.

He was a little blur of energy!

We took Banks to a dog-friendly bar and bottle shop named after the open ocean.

When in North Carolina, you gotta have some BBQ! Not as good as what we've had in Texas or Georgia, but still good.

This is Gus. He enjoys laser pointers and attempting to enter the garage. He's single, but has a complicated relationship with his live-in female friend, Chloe.

North Carolina State University makes its own ice cream! I assume student athletes make this in "ice cream 101" class.

The next day we visited Lindsay's office with the State Department of Agriculture, where she manages a lab that runs samples for farmers to learn about what nutrients their soil needs, or if their lagoon water meets certain standards. They perform a great service for agriculture in the state of North Carolina. Then we drove around the different universities in the Research Triangle area. We started at NC State (seeing Casey's office), moved on to Duke, and finished up at UNC. 

We toured Lindsay's lab. Don't ask what's in those bottles!

We stopped by NC State's stadium. Somebody forgot to turn the fountain off when temperatures went below freezing!

Frosty the wolf.

The new student center at NC State.

Yummy lunch in downtown Durham at Pizzeria Toro.

Duke University's main quad.

The famous "old well" at UNC.

UNC's campus. It was cold!

Everything here is made of chocolate!

Paul with his chocolate cup.

Yum! Pretentious little cupcakes!

We were originally planning to stay Sunday night, but an incoming winter storm convinced us to leave so we wouldn't get stuck. Even though it was a short trip, we got a little taste of what the area has to offer, and still have a list of things to check out the next time we visit. It was great catching up with Lindsay and Casey, and we look forward to them visiting us in Atlanta! And we'll have to come back and see Matt and what we assume will be a 100 lbs full-grown Banks.

Greensboro was on the way home, so we popped by for a minute to check it out. Bigger than we thought, but pretty empty because it was a freezing Sunday evening.

Charlotte was also on the way home. We stopped in Uptown for dinner on Valentines Day.

This was the traffic map as we arrived back in Atlanta. Can you see the snow/ice we were avoiding?