After a Home Alone-style run through the airport and getting on the plane literally seconds before they closed the door, we went forward in time to summer. I mean, Texas. Where it was winter and people were cold. We were sweating. First stop: 1940 Air Terminal Museum. Definitely a hidden gem!
We met up with K's friends J and R. They took us to a late lunch, followed by people-watching in the park, then hanging out at a wine bar. The next morning, we had a delicious brunch with mimosas.
R had to head to the airport, but J went with us to Space Center Houston. A and I are pretty big space nerds, so we were excited to see Mission Control.
Because it was a weekend, we were allowed to see the new control room for the Orion project. When men go to Mars around the year 2020.
We also got to see Rocket Park
Which includes a Saturn V rocket which was never launched due to the Apollo program ending.
It's very big!
Can you tell who is a Trekkie?
K liked seeing the spacesuit of Kathryn Sullivan, the first woman to walk in space.
And don't forget the moon rock you can touch!
As we headed to San Antonio, we grabbed kolaches for breakfast. Yum!
In San Antonio, we stayed in the beautiful Oge House Inn bed and breakfast.
We rented bikes for the day through San Antonio's bike sharing program. First stop: The Alamo. It's smaller than you think. The grounds used to be much larger, though.
We had lunch at Schilo's, a German deli. They make their own root beer - super delicious.
A had schnitzel and pea soup.
The river walk is very nice, though touristy.
We rented the bikes in order to follow the Mission Trail to the other churches in the area. After getting a little lost and feeling like we went to Mexico on accident, we got back on track and started at Mission San Jose.
It's known for the Rose Window - a mystery as to why it is where it is.
Then we biked down to Mission San Juan. Very different look than San Jose.
We realized it was getting late (and our butts were getting sore), so we headed back towards the city and stopped at Mission Concepcion before it closed. There are still some original paintings on the walls.
That night we had dinner at a restaurant along the river walk. Beautiful weather! The next morning, we checked out Natural Bridge Caverns.
Unlike every cave we've been in, these were warm and extremely humid! My camera lens fogged up immediately.
This room was huge!
A was very excited for our next stop: A dude ranch!
After arriving, we headed out on a private trail ride. Just us and two wranglers. Afterwards, one wrangler attempted to teach us to rope. A got pretty close! K did not.
That night, we had a campfire and saw more than two stars for the first time in a long time!
In the morning, we saddled up for another trail ride. This time we were joined by the four other guests. (Off-season is great: Not too many other tourists!)
The other guests left and we told the wrangler we were up for anything... So he assigned us to paddock clean-up. Good thing A had some of Orion's poop bags in his jacket pockets!
Just kidding...
Before dinner, we helped the wranglers feed their cattle. Then we took the bull by the horns.
The family raised this bull from a small calf after it's mother was killed. He's so tame, you could sit on his back and he wouldn't care.
One more starry night later, we headed out towards the German town of Fredericksburg which we learned has the second highest concentration of wineries after the Napa/Sonoma region in California. Who knew?! We tried a wine downtown (not good), then drove along the wine trail to Becker Vineyards. Super delicious wine and a very fun Frenchman sommelier.
That night we stayed at the Chuckwagon B&B. Our room was SO cute and the owners were super sweet.
Yes, that's a wagon in our room.
We braved the "winter" weather to head downtown for a German dinner. There was a little ice and sleet and everyone panicked. The next morning we were the only people hiking at Pedernales Falls State Park. There was a dusting of snow in certain spots.
Personally, I had no idea A) Texas had a hill country and B) it was actually hilly!
The Falls themselves were very quiet and mostly dried up due to the multi-year drought. But apparently when they get rain, the river flash floods in about 10 minutes.
Our last stop before Austin was recommended to us by the B&B owners: The Salt Lick. It's in a tiny town, out of the way, and not easy to find. But people find it. Oh, they find it. They have expanded the restaurant so it seats 300 people! It looks like it's ready for Disney-level crowds. All those people are smart: It's the best barbecue we've had. Hands-down.
We also went for their homemade pecan pie. Delicious.
The pit is the secret - yum!
In Austin, we met up with my Chicago coworkers at a happy hour. This isn't all of us, but it's a bunch!
Saturday we had a small group explore the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library together. Can you tell they built the Library in the 70s?
Some of LBJ's pens used to sign famous legislation.
Lady Bird had her office in the Library itself for many years. They left it exactly as it was when she used it, including the filing papers on the floor.
Our new pal. All the way with LBJ!
That night was the company-sponsored dinner. We had about 400 people gather in a local Mexican restaurant. The food was confusingly of the Italian/banquet variety, but the drinks and fun were plenty!
These are the two awesome girls I work with at The Pampered Chef.
One fun thing the company did was hand out coupons to one of the food trucks. Sunday morning we attempted to get our donuts from Gourdough's, but the trailer by our hotel never opened (due to a "missing manager"). So we hit up their second location while exploring.
We had a chocolate strawberry donut and this one, the Flying Pig. It was the winner.
We only saw a small part of Texas and it was a fun trip! I leave you with this (truncated) quote from Davy Crockett:
