Just the Two of Us

This past weekend, David and I were able to go on vacation to San Antonio.  No kids (thanks to Grandpa and Grandma), no real schedule, and 3 days all to ourselves.

So, what do two people do on a weekend away?

First, you go garage sale shopping.  (seriously?)

Yes!  The King William District was having it's annual garage sale that Saturday.  We are not ashamed to say we love a good garage sale.  You never know what you'll find.  And guess what I found? 

A bicycle.  I really did!  A Schwinn 12 speed...in my favorite color, PURPLE.  The owner wanted $50 for it, but we bargained and paid only $35 for it.  Now I finally have a bike and can go bike riding with the kids around the neighborhood lake. 

SWEET! 

Before I go any further, I must say the B&B we stayed at was wonderful.  Rex and Jay were our hosts at King William Home; they were so gracious...and good storytellers.  Next time you see me, I'll tell you how they found a time capsule in their house...no kidding.  (Oh, and the house if for sale, if you're in the market for a really gorgeous B&B ;-).   
Next,  a visit to the Alamo...I've lived in Texas for 15 years and hadn't been yet.   Sorry. 

Then we stumbled onto a street festival featuring chalk art.  Interesting. 

Next was lunch with my Granparents at the retirement center.  We were actually able to have a leisurely lunch with decent conversation.  Usually the kids are with us and we're just trying to get through the meal without a disaster. 

The rest of the afternoon, we went Spanish Mission hopping.  San Antonio has 5 missions, all established in the first half of the 1700's.  We had already started with San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), and after lunch we went to Concepcion...

San Jose...

and San Juan. 

The missions close at 5 PM, so we didn't make it to the last one, Espada.  I borrowed this pic from Google.

We went back to the Riverwalk for dinner and ice cream.  Did I mention I had ice cream every night we were in San Antonio?  Yep...I did.  I walked off some of it ;-). 

There's an ampitheater along one end of the Riverwalk, and they were hosting an International Accordian Festival.  We listened to some great music there, at the stage in La Villita, and even got to dance a little. 

Then it was back to the B&B for some wine, conversation with Rex and Jay, and off to bed.

The next morning, we had breakfast and went to Mass at Mission San Jose at 12 noon.  They had a mariachi band, and it was a neat experience.  They sang everything in Spanish (of course), and played special songs after mass for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. 

We wanted to eat lunch at San Antonio's #1 burger joint, Chris Madrid's.  But it was closed :-(.  So we tried #2 on the list...it was closed too.  By now, I was really hungry, so we ended up at Chester's Burgers.  It was fair...honestly, I was hungry enough to eat anything.  I will say their chocolate milkshake was darn good. 

After that lunch fiasco, we went shopping at El Mercado, the largest Mexican market outside of Mexico.  Most of it is indoors, so despite the rain outside, we were able to browse leisurely at all kinds of handmade items from Mexico...pottery, figurines, ponchos, leather goods, and yes...even kitchen sinks (although they were way too pretty to use in the kitchen; I'd recommend the powder room instead).  We bought stuff for the kids and a leather fanny pack for David's parents.  David tried on cowboy hats...but I talked him out of it.  He did buy a handmade chalice--he wants to use it as a Blessing Cup for our family.  I got a 9-piece Nativity set from Peru, and a handpainted serving bowl.  Now I have to research a good recipe for chicken mole, or something like that :-). 

Back to the Riverwalk to listen to more good music, and finally decided on Luciano's for dinner.  It was SO good y'all.  David and I split an order of seafood pasta, and we still couldn't finish it...the portions were that big.  Of course, I got ice cream afterwards at an ice cream shop...Mexican chocolate with cinammon (makes me want to add cinammon to chocolate ice cream from now on).

It was getting late, so we head back to the B&B.  Next morning we went to San Fernando Cathedral...it was incredible.  I wish I could go to mass in such a beautiful church every day.

David and I sat in the sanctuary for a few minutes, taking in the beauty of that cathedral.  I prayed for all the intentions of every person I knew who needed prayers, so if you are reading this...you were included. 

It was almost time for us to hit the road, but David wanted to take one of those Riverwalk boat tours.  I said,

"Do you really want to do something so touristy?"  And he said, "Yeah, I do!"
All right...and it was a bit silly to me, but I did enjoy hearing about all the history surrounding the Riverwalk, the different buildings, etc.  I love history (I always read the entire history book in school by Christmas). 

Last stop that day was Taco Haven.  This place was insanely good...with REAL homemade tortillas. 

I had one bean and cheese taco with bacon, one chicken fajita taco, and one pork carnita taco.  All of them were delish.  I was full...but not too full to get an apple empanada to go (David got a pineapple one). 

We drove home in pouring rain and horrid traffic, but the kids pounced on us when we walked in the door, demanding hugs, and their presents (not necessarily in that order).  It was good to be home. 

I would have loved one more day to eat some more, but we were grateful to have our first vacation in 3 1/2 years.  I'm sure it will be at least that long before our next one.