For several years now, Brad and I talked about taking a trip to Texas to visit my dad and our friends Danny and Lindsey. When the subject came up again earlier this year, we decided enough talking and let’s just book it! And we did just that! We took advantage of the Holiday weekend and extended it to a 5-day weekend.
We flew in to Houston on Thursday night and stayed at a hotel. Friday morning, Dad and Deborah picked us up and we headed
straight to San Antonio, which is one of my favorite cities. The drive was fun to see the flat terrain of Texas! Our first stop was to eat lunch at our very first BBQ joint. It was delicious! Something I realized shortly after every place we ate is, they are big on Ice Tea down there and even Sweet Tea. So we got our fill of BBQ and Iced Tea!
Side note: As the saying goes, EVERYthing in Texas is bigger. Texans are known for big money, big cars, big homes and big hair, but you can add to that list, highways and roads, bugs, food portions, drinks, thunderstorms (even the raindrops), space ships and hats! It just seemed like, everything, even the small things, were in fact bigger than what we are used to!
We finally arrived in
San Antonio , and checked into the Menger Hotel, which is a historical and haunted hotel! We learned that famous people, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Sidney Lanier, Babe Ruth, Mae West, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and Sarah Bernhardt,
just to name a few, stayed there. It is located immediately adjacent to the historic Alamo and a block away from the San Antonio Riverwalk. We first headed to the Riverwalk, and, well…basically walked around! We had a beer at Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub, walked around more, ate at a great Mexican restaurant and took a boat tour of the Riverwalk.
Saturday we spent the first part of the morning on a Segway Tour of San Antonio! It was so much fun to ride the Segway and to get a great historical oversight of the city! The segways are a blast to ride and if you ever get a chance to do something like that, we highly recommend it.
Brad and I got pushed back to the end of the line, but we didn’t mind, as we acted like teenagers goofing off on our machines! After that we walked through the Alamo and then headed back to Houston, where on the way, we stopped AGAIN for more BBQ!
We spent the rest of Saturday with Danny and Lindsey! When discussing where we should eat (at that point, I had to put my foot down and say no more BBQ!)
the concept of BYOB came up. In Houston, you can bring your own beer or wine to a restaurant! Um…GENIUS!! Brad and I couldn’t believe such a thing could exist! We decided we must bring in our own beer to a restaurant, and Danny and Lindsey took us to a spot they enjoyed called Lola. After dinner, we went to a bar called Cedar Creek.
It was like a huge outdoor party, with chairs and picnic tables everywhere and white lights hung up across the big lawn. We sat on a little deck facing a tiny creek! Another thing we aren't accustomed too, huge outdoor seating. It was a nice change.
Sunday morning we got up and Danny and Lindsey drove us around Houston, and we got to see some of their favorite spots, including where they used to live.
We had lunch at Barnaby’s Cafe. Later that afternoon, we all went back to my dad’s house to have a pool party and bbq dinner. To cap off the evening, we got to experience a thunder and lightning storm in Texas! It was loud and lots of lightning!
We spent
most of Monday by the pool! For lunch, Dad and Deborah took us to Chick-fil-A, and I had my first experience there. It was pretty good! Danny and Lindsey came over in the afternoon for more pool fun!
We spent our last day in Houston at NASA Space Center before we had to head to the airport. It was a neat experience and we got
to see where the astronauts train and the old “Green” control room, from the Apollo missions. We learned a lot about how astronauts live in space and saw all kinds of artifacts! Then sadly, it was time to head home! Dad dropped us off at the airport and we said goodbyes! We had a GREAT time with him and Deborah and it was so fun to see Danny and Lindsey! So thank you Dad, Deborah, Danny and Linds for showing us a great time in Texas….
As we boarded our plane to head home, extreme sadness came over me. We had so much fun and I was sad to go home, and sad to say goodbye to my dad. As our plane took off, Brad was doing what he could to distract me and try to make me happy, and the minute our plane left the ground, he told me about his surprise!! He told me that we were in fact NOT going home that night, and that we are staying in Vegas for an extra day! I couldn’t believe it! I insisted that he was joking and he finally convinced me that we had another day to play! I just couldn’t believe how sneaky he was about everything!! He got it all approved with my work, booked the hotel and our flights to go home the next day, all the day before we left for Houston.
I was completely surprised and sooo happy to the point I was crying over the joy of an extra day and his amazing surprise! I must say, besides him proposing to me, this is the most surprised I’ve EVER been! He did good and he got lots of extra kisses from me!! Thank you sweetie!!
We got into Vegas at 7:30pm,checked into our hotel, New York, New York and had dinner at what seems to be one of our favorite spot in Vegas, ESPN Zone! Then we set off to gamble! Brad taught me how
to play Roulette, which is now my favorite way to gamble in Vegas, besides the Penny slot machines, where I seem to work hard for that money!
Wednesday we got up, had breakfast, gambled more and went on the roller coaster! We grabbed some lunch and then walked the strip to see new and old hotels. We hung out in Caesars for a bit and had a lot of fun playing roulette.
Then we made it just in time to the Bellagio to see the water show before heading back to NY, NY. We had happy hour at Nine Fine Irishman and then rode the roller coaster one more time before we headed back to the airport to go home!
It was a GREAT and FUN vacation! We learned a lot about different places, spent quality time with family and friends and some quality time together! We’d love to go back again and experience the Gulf coast and see other places!
Here are a few videos, enjoy!
Segway Tour
Playing in the water
Here is a slide show of pictures!
