Texas Bound

Leaving Saint Augustine was hard, but the prospects of seeing old friends along the way seemed to add a little sunshine on the horizon. We had originally planned on taking a very indirect route so that we could stop over in Nashville and add a new city and state to list of time spent, but once I knew that one of my dearest and best friends was going to be in Alabama while we were on our trek west, our route became more direct. Plus an added bonus, we would be driving through Pensacola, which meant a dinner with one of my college/sorority sisters must be included.

Loren and I

We arrived in Pensacola early Friday evening and it allowed me the opportunity to sneak away and meet up with Loren; a ZTA Sister from SUU, for a drink and reminiscing about the good ol’ days at college and all the life developments since then. It was such a great night of fun conversation and I a reminder as to why I completely adore this lady. Plus I haven’t had the chance to see her since her wedding many moons ago, but seeing her and talking, it was like no time has passed; I just love those relationships where you can get together after years apart and it’s as though no time has gone by, it’s almost as though the conversation started off just where we left it last.

Sunrise view from our hotel room

Saturday was full of surprises and unexpected gifts that all started early. First we were lucky enough to have a beautiful east facing hotel room over the bay, so all we had to do was open the drapes and let the suns painted light permeate our room all while we laid in bed in sipped on our coffee; this was a much needed start considering the early morning loading of the car the day prior. A sunrise call from Stephanie, letting us know she landed safely in Alabama the night before and her ETA to meet up with us for a full afternoon of hugs, laughs and non-stop talking. We quickly devised a plan to meet up in downtown Pensacola for lunch, giving her time to drive the coastline and for us to stop and visit the Air Force Armament Museum.

Tom and the look of joy on his face from staring at planes

The Armament Museum was great, giving Ethel the opportunity to strut her stuff by age old planes and of course my favorite, watching Tom completely geek out at all the aircrafts. His bits of history and information about each plane floored me, I knew Tom loved them, but how much and what he knew was such a pleasant surprise. His giddy reaction and fascination was well worth the stop and total man haven if you’re ever the area.

Beads, beads, beads!!!

From there we were on to Pensacola to find a dog friendly lunch haunt and to meet up with Stephanie. We had originally planned on meeting up with her downtown, but once we arrived we were immediately met with the mayhem of a Mardi Gras Day parade and celebration. We had a bit of time on our hands so we parked the car and took off to explore some of the floats and the crazy antics that were already unfolding. It is these spontaneous adventures that I just love stumbling upon and getting to be a part of, plus the people watching just takes the cake!

Fighter plane engine

Instead of trying to figure out how and where to meet amidst the Mardi Gras crowds, we found a little diner just outside of downtown to meet up at. Fortunately for us we were the only ones outside for the three short hours we occupied their tables, which was wonderful for Ethel, she was able to run amuck and not be bothered to share anything, especially her people. Sorry, y’all I have raised a dog diva!

Stephanie, Bonnie and Tom

Time flew by and before we knew it the sun was beginning to set, at some point the restaurant staff ceased to exist and all that remained was endless conversation. Although Stephanie and I would regularly text and often talk on the phone, there is just something to be said about seeing one of your favorite people in person after a long absence.  I don’t think I realized how much I missed Stephanie until she was standing in front of me and couldn’t stop hugging her; seriously, if people didn’t know us, they might have though us lesbians; especially after the boundless hugs goodbye! You’d think somebody had died!

Crossing the Mississippi as we head back west.. What an amazing year since we crossed it going east!

Next day, we were off to Texas and bound for our new home for the next six weeks. This is the first time since we set out that we have not used Airbnb for one of our extended stays, instead this time we used Execustay through Marriot. Not because of a lack of options with Airbnb, but pricing more or less; I don’t know if it because part of our stay was during spring break or what, but the housing prices were off the charts high for Airbnb. In fact I had checked out the cute little retro place we had stayed at last time we were in San Antonio (click here for that post), but that had close to doubled since our last stay over a year ago.

San Antonio apartment

Our home in Texas was a great location for Tom, less than half a mile to his client, so he could walk to and from work, making the need for the car almost obsolete other than Ethel and I’s adventures during the day. Our cute little apartment was exactly that: cute and little, although we don’t require much. Execustay managed to win us over with everything: new, clean and completely organized for our stay. This is definitely a service we would use again, the fresh new towels, bedding and dishes, pretty much won us over.  Not to forget the pool and the gym, seriously though, the pool was divine at the complex; it almost felt like we had been transported to a Vegas resort! So here it is, our perfectly located Execustay:

Remember the Alamo

One can not visit San Antonio and not visit the iconic Alamo, it is like a contract one must make with the travel Gods, it is an absolute must. I mean who would come all the way to San Antonio and not see this part of Texas history? I don't even want to mention how hard it was for me to refrain from buying a coon skin cap and not going full Texas patriot, it took all my strength to not purchase one. What? I just wanted to channel my inner Davey Crockett!

The Alamo itself is treated as hallowed ground, to honor those that lost their lives fighting for independence from Mexico, so sacred that photos aren't even allowed inside the Alamo itself. And although the Alamo holds a special place in history, it was my least favorite of the missions; I don't know if it was due to the massive amounts of people, or the fact that a lot of the remnants, outside walls and the active church don't exist on this historic site, part of the charm that I found so appealing about the four other San Antonio missions. Regardless of my views on it, it was amazing to see, to tour and to witness what this part of Texas/American history was all about and most important, to pay tribute to those that lost their lives defending freedom.

 

Just down from the Alamo, is the River Walk, another must see in San Antonio. Restaurants, bars and hotels line the river as water taxis zip up and down the river, delivering people to their destination. No trip could possibly be complete without a walk here along the cobblestone paths, taking in the smells of all the fabulous outdoor cafes that line the river. The River Walk makes for a great escape from the city, even though you're right in the heart of it, it almost feels like you've escaped right into a Disney movie, especially if you are lucky enough to catch one of the horse drawn carriages pass by on one of the bridges above.

And last but not least on the list of must do tourist stops in San Antonio;  The Tower of Americas, the only remnant left of the 1968 Worlds Fair. We had the opportunity to have dinner here at The Chart House with Tom's coworkers, and it was delicious, the view of the entire San Antonio area was just amazing, and when I say entire San Antonio area, I mean it, the restaurant actually rotates while you're eating so you can take in a complete 360 degree view. Visiting this place was a two for one, I finally got to put the names to the faces of those that Tom works with, and take in this part of the Hemisfair history.

 

So there you have it, the  tourist side of San Antonio! I figured we had better share that aspect before our departure tomorrow, yes we are done with this leg of our journey and head to New Orleans tomorrow for the month of February, so be prepared for the Mardi Gras fun that is about to come your way; parades commence on the 15th! 

Other updates in the Compagno world; the house is under contract again and this time we were a little smarter about it all and even have a back up offer waiting in the wings, which makes for a nice safety net. We are scheduled to close the beginning of March and I still have a house full of furniture from the fail of the last sell, so I might be calling in favors for those of you willing to let people in to our home once we get everything listed on KSL; so thank you dear friends that volunteered to help us out. Also, we might be in need of a space to store some furniture if it doesn't sell, so if anyone has space they aren't using over the next year or so, a basement or garage or something, we would love it if you would let us take up a bit of it for a short time, I promise to hunt down movers so you don't even have to do manual labor.

For those of you that don't know me well, this relying on other people to take care of all this for me is about enough to drive me crazy. I am a do it yourselfer and a bit of a control freak, so not being there to handle it all myself has me all up in knots, but knowing how blessed we are and that we have some of the most kick ass family and friends around does tend to lighten the load. So thank you to everyone, I don't know what we would do without you! I promise rewards for your service!!! 

Next stop NOLA!!! And this, just for you because I just couldn't resist!

On A Mission

San Antonio is home to five Spanish frontier missions, built to convert the natives to Catholicism in the 1700's,  and are now part of the National Historic Parks. The park itself spreads across eight miles of San Antonio and follows the river; trails wind their way through the city and visitors can walk or bike from one mission to another; in fact they have bike rental stations at each mission for guests to pick up, so you can ride and enjoy the scenic route and take in a little more of what San Antonio has to offer.

Ethel was welcome at all of the mission sights, except for inside the churches and then Tom and I would just take turns running in and taking a look at the architecture and cathedrals; all of which still hold mass and weddings to this day, except for the Alamo.

Every time we would roll up on one of these missions the primary song "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission," would pop into my head, oh the irony coming from me, but you know, those Mormons make some catchy tunes and I still know it (even though I defected close to twenty years ago!)  Now don't get your hopes up my LDS friends, each time I order Mexican food and server asks if I want rice and beans a little "Baby Got Back" pops in my head. Oh the wasted brain power I have on song lyrics. Enough of my side rant and back on point, look at these gems!

Mission Concepcion

Mission Espada 

Mission San Jose

Mission San Juan

Aren't they gorgeous! San Juan was my absolute favorite, there was just something magical about that place. You also may have noticed that I didn't show the Alamo, that building and its iconic history will get its own post, even though out of all five of them it was my least favorite architecturally!

These four missions are often overlooked by tourists to San Antonio, if you saw the hoards of people at The Alamo versus these, you would know exactly what I am talking about. At some of them, it felt like Tom, Ethel and I were the only ones there, which of course only adds to the experience. I highly recommend breaking from the average tourist mode, renting a bike and checking out this National Park, all of it!

Vino in Texas!

Imagine our delight when we discovered that Texas has its very own wine county! Beyond giddy and thrilled to check out what the Texas vines had to offer. We headed off to the hills last weekend, them there Texas Hills and surprise, the wine was actually good; Texas belt buckle award winning good, seriously the medals are belt buckles, this is not a fabrication and I was completely amused by this! I might want to own my very own vineyard now just so that I can win one of them there belt buckles! 

Again we had little Miss Ethel with us, so the vineyards had to be pet friendly, and we discovered that most of them were! Woo Hoo! We had the opportunity to check out Becker Vineyards and Singing Water Vineyards, both beautiful and very different.

Becker wines were great, live music, lovely grounds; a perfect place to throw down a blanket, eat some appetizers, sip on wine and enjoy the music. Seriously if we lived in San Antonio or Austin area, I am pretty sure we would spend a good portion of our weekends at Becker Vineyards; excellent atmosphere to just unwind, relax and relish the moment. 

Second stop was Singing Water, much smaller, but crazy dog friendly; so dog friendly that the owners have named their Merlot after their Golden Lab, Lupe.  In fact, they actually let Ethel come in and hang out on my lap in the tasting room and then let her tour the wine cellar with us; they loved her at Singing Water, so much so that I am actually surprised I made it out of there with her without a dognapping!

The Texas Hill Country was quite a pleasant surprise and made for a wonderful day, if you ever get the chance to visit, I highly recommend you put the Hill Country on your list of must do's! Honestly they have so many vineyards you could spend an entire weekend, all day, everyday that you're there and still not get to all of them. 

 

Oh and one more thing, if you make that way, stop in Fredericksburg, an adorable little German town with amazing German food; stop at The Auslander and make sure to get the beer battered mushrooms!  A-freaking-mazing!!!

Austin

Austin is truly a dog lover and runner’s paradise and all I would ever need to wear would be yoga pants all day and everyday and I would fit right in. Ah, a gym rats heaven! We had the pleasure of a little weekend getaway to Austin last weekend to see the hip side of what Texas has to offer and offer up they did; good food, great weather and a very clean and friendly place to visit. 

Did I mention the dog friendly? We checked into the Omni in downtown Austin and upon checking into the room they had Miss Ethel set up with bowls, treats, toys, a list of dog parks and a fabulous list of pet friendly restaurants for us all to dine at. Oh and the crème de le crème, they had a room service menu just for dogs! Love the Omni!

We spent the weekend eating, walking, eating and eating! We received quite a few suggestions on things to do, but most of the time we spent walking the city, enjoying the parks and the running trails along the river. Why? Because we have a fur daughter, who likes to be in bed early, especially after a long day of walking and/or being carried, mostly carried; so 6^th street not in the cards for us plus I’m old and if I make it past ten these days I think it is a huge accomplishment and deserves a happy dance! Even though we didn’t get to experience the wild side of Austin, it was still a great time and a city that we could totally live in, other than Tom is officially allergic to Texas and is currently addicted to Benadryl!