San Antonio, TX
When my husband learned that he had to travel to San Antonio for business, there was no question that I'd be tagging along. I mean, it's basically like a buy-one-get-one trip, and at some point I won't have the freedom or flexibility to join him, so we're taking advantage now.
We were in town from a Saturday afternoon till a Tuesday evening. Monday was all business related, so while Tom was at his respective meetings, I hung out in the hotel eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, drinking beer, and working.
Saturday
Our first night was chilly, and we were starving after our flight. We were recommended a Mexican restaurant that happened to be right across the interstate from our hotel, so we actually walked to it. It was called Alamo Cafe and we gorged ourselves on queso and freshly made, soft tortillas. I had a burrito and Tom went for a chalupa. Though it was tasty, we honestly didn't find much difference between the flavors there, and Mexican food we've had elsewhere in the country (no offense, my Texan friends!). Nevertheless, you simply must eat Tex-Mex when in Rome (or San Antonio in this case). We took an Uber back to the hotel and watched a movie until we fell into our food coma.
Sunday
This was straight up the most fun day. EVER.
- We got a day pass for San Antonio's B-cyles. These babies were awesome because you could grab a bike at any parking ramp, ride it for up to 30 minutes, check it in at another bike ramp, take it back out, go for another 30 minutes, then ditch it at another bike ramp, walk somewhere, then find another ramp and grab another bike! Even cooler, there are a bunch of cities that have these bike systems. Here's a map of the cities. It was cheap, and we got such an up close view of soooo many parts of the city. We took them through the downtown metro area and all the way down the Riverwalk. Not to mention, the dorky baskets on the front were super handy for my purse or anything we picked up along the way. I highly suggest them!
- We had a late lunch at the Farmer's Market at Pearl, which is a newer area of San Antonio with a more hipster vibe and modern buildings that still encompass the old architecture of Texas. The vendors there were top notch, and we ended up getting this GIANT piece of bread pudding that we had to carry around with us the rest of the day - haha!
- From there, we biked over to the nearby San Antonio Art Museum. We thought that admission was free on Sundays, but it was actually just from 10am-2pm, and we missed the window by about an hour. However, after finding out that we were from out of town, the sweet gentleman behind the counter gave us free admission. We both agreed that this was one of the better art museums we've been to. It topped the Atlanta High Museum as well as Milwaukee's. They had such a cool array of pieces from around the world and different time periods - including mummy cases! It's definitely worth it to take a look.
- Next, we biked throughout the metro area and the little squares in the middle of the city. We jumped on and off the Riverwalk, but we did get in trouble for biking on a portion of the Riverwalk that we were supposed to walk our bikes - oops! We stopped by Tower of the Americas for a potty break and got dizzy staring up at it :)
- Near the restaurant saturated portion of the Riverwalk, we got a little hangry. But after looking at the prices of the restaurants, (Side note: If you are anywhere, and find yourself near a Rainforest Cafe and a Hard Rock Cafe, you should probably just leave because you're clearly in a tourist trap) we decided to take an Uber halfway back to the hotel to a restaurant called Los Barrios. Here I made the mistake of thinking I actually like margaritas (or anything besides beer and wine) and tried to choke down this giant, tequila filled thing. Haha! The food was 'okay' and like we felt at the Alamo Cafe, the employees seemed to want to rush us. This was kind of annoying because we didn't have a vehicle to rush back to!
- We grabbed an Uber to a grocery store, then headed back to the hotel to hit the hay.
(pardon the quality of this video... it's hard to video and drive these front-heavy bikes - haha!)
Monday
Just your average work day in a hotel room. The day didn't exactly end very well, but I'd say the day before made up for that fact. (Told you I don't sugar coat here!)
Tuesday
- We woke up exhaustedddd. Slowly got ourselves to a vertical position, and went to work at a cute coffee shop called Olmos Perk, which was relatively near the airport. Behind the coffee shop, we grabbed a quick sandwich at All Aboard Deli - which was located in an old train car (and very yummy). It had friendly cats that kept us company, too. Not that I like cats, but it was cute.
- #airportlife
Overall, San Antonio was a TON of fun. We agreed that Sunday might have been one of the best days we've had over the course of our five years together. That has to say something, huh? Tom and I love to explore and make an adventure out of anything, and San Antonio just highlighted our adventurous nature so well! The bikes were seriously a huge factor in the day being so fun. I'm super jealous that Atlanta doesn't have them... although, Atlanta drivers would most definitely plow bikers over soooo there's that.
Visit San Antonio, friends, because there's more Tex-Mex than you can handle, lots of sunshine, and an overload of friendliness from the locals.