That's how Eric and I were feeling. We needed to go away for a couple of days.
So we jumped in the car and headed to San Antonio, Texas! The only city that we really care to see in the entire State that we now call home.
The Alamo! Actually, this is only the church on the grounds of the Alamo. The Alamo was an entire compound, it's a misconception that the church is the actual Alamo.
The Emily Morgan Hotel
Eric has beef with Texas - I assume it stems from his childhood, but no matter which angle I take to try to sneak into his childhood psychology, he just shrugs his shoulders and simply says: "I hate Texas." Maybe it is that simple, but jeez, the man really hates Texas. So San Antonio is probably as far as we will explore while we are living here. I might convince him to visit Waco and the Magnolia Market - but considering his hate for Texas, and my hate for the whole farmhouse home decorating craze going on right now (I am a fan of the show though), that's a trip that's not even on our bucket list, soooo... I've got a fat chance of that trip ever happening.
San Antonio is like 7-8 hours away from our home, which didn't seem like a big deal when I was Google-mapping the distances to everything, but within an hour of driving, Eric and I both looked at each other at the same time and said: "TOO SOON!" And then we laughed because we do that all the time but it's never not funny or a little weird, even after 11 years together. But seriously, it was just too damn soon being back in the car for another long road trip after only one month since our hellacious trip to get to El Paso. But, there we were....back in the car..... again.... driving for a really long time. Getting out of town seemed like that was exactly what we needed, until we were actually in the car.... driving for forever.... with nothing to look at but the desert.... and then it all of a sudden didn't seem like it was worth it anymore.
Eric reminded me again how much he hates Texas.
But we eventually made it to San Antonio, and no part of a stupidly long car ride stopped us from exploring San Antonio the way that we do on a last minute romantic trip with just the two of us.... an open mind, no pajama's packed, and not much of a plan!
The hospital where Carol Burnett was born. If there was ever a movie made of my life, I would want Carol Burnett to play my Grandma Sue.
The Menger Bar is where Teddy Roosevelt recruited Texas cowboy's for the "Rough Riders" in the late 1800's. Eric and I got some drinks here, it was really dark in there but so beautiful! We sort of lost track of time.... it was perfect!
The Menger Hotel (the Menger Bar is attached to this hotel) is the most haunted hotel in all of Texas! There are 38 different spirits haunting this one hotel.
The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum.
Eric standing outside the oldest VFW in Texas. Eric is a member of the VFW (Veteran's of Foreign Wars).
Since Eric and I just sort of.... left town, I didn't plan anything for our weekend away. I did manage to book a hotel in a great location, and hop-on/hop-off tickets so that we could see as much as we possibly could without having to think about anything, but that was it. Neither one of us wanted to think about anything, we just wanted to get out of town and have fun, without doing any work or worrying about what to do or not to do.
And it didn't even bother me that we didn't have a plan!
If we wanted to stop somewhere, we did. If we didn't want to stop somewhere, we didn't, and then got a drink instead. If we wanted to tour a museum or Mission, we did. If we wanted to have a drink (or three) at 10:00 in the morning, we totally did! And if we wanted to go back to the hotel and take a nap at 2:00 in the afternoon, we did that too. Eric and I slept in every morning and ate all the carbs we wanted. {Back story: Eric and I are on a very low-carb/no sugar diet right now, we combined that with our already clean-eating and it's going really well! So well that I wouldn't call it a "diet," it's more of a way of life for us now. I could not physically handle the amount of sugar/carbs that we were eating just a few months ago, and I know that for a fact since I'm writing this blog post after our trip, and after our experience of eating all the carbs we wanted, because, you know, that's what you do on vacation. So since we ate all the carbs we wanted in San Antonio, I can confidently tell you that eating all the carbs/sugar/starch you want after a month of not eating any of that is a bad idea. Bad. So bad. Your gut won't give a hoot that you're on vacation. Trust me. Cringe. Shudder.} Anywho... like I was saying, we did what we wanted! My husband and I didn't pay attention to anything on our trip, except each other.
The River Walk
6 tiny babies!
We spent the majority of our last day in San Antonio on the River Walk because we wanted to save the best for last. The River Walk is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River - it was beautiful and romantic. The canals make an almost completely separate city underneath San Antonio, and we thoroughly explored every part of it.
Eric and I took a riverboat cruise (because that is an obviously touristy thing to do and we are the ultimate obvious tourists), and then we walked back and forth along the canals. The canals conveniently linked every thing we wanted to see to our hotel, they made everything so easy and ensured that Eric and I didn't have to think about anything more difficult than what we wanted to drink at the next bar or restaurant.
We truly did not have a care in the world! For our last night in San Antonio we ate dinner at a restaurant along the River Walk knowing full well that we were paying way too much just because of its location, and didn't mind at all - it was the best way to end our getaway-from-it-all weekend.
Statue of Saint Anthony - San Antonio's namesake.
I'll eventually sneak my way into little 7 year old Eric's psychology to figure out why he hates Texas so much, but until then he's going to have to suffer through a few years of living here. I don't think he'd argue though, that San Antonio was exactly what we needed! Don't let him fool you, we had a blast... in Texas! {sarcastic winky face at Eric}
My husband and I were able to run away for a weekend and spend a couple of days alone together, not having to worry about anything but each other. And I feel like when things in the world hit you a little harder than you expect, or when you encounter toxic people and they take from you your energy that you weren't willing to give, concentrating on the person you love and their goodness that sustains you, is grounding in the most valuable way. His love makes me stronger. And he knows that sometimes.... I just need to get out of town for a little bit.
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