The Food We Ate

My recap of our southern experience would be utterly incomplete if I didn't give some serious attention to the food.

How much did we eat?

Well, I had a recurring nightmare for several days after coming home about having to step onto a scale.  If that's any indicator.

So today you get sharing of a different sort.  I'm sharing where you must eat in Austin & San Antonio. Because we are experts now.

Number 1 : P. Terry's 

Definitely the closest thing you'll find to In 'N' Out.  Seating is outside, and there's a sandbox to entertain the kids!

Number 2: Hula Hut

Best dinner ever! Hombre and I split this sampler tray (that was about the size of a large pizza pan) and every single thing on it was amazing.

Number 3: The Salt Lick

Most thrilling bar-b-que experience I've ever had.  Great food. Great atmosphere.

And you can't leave without having the blackberry cobbler.

Seriously. There are no words to describe the satisfaction of this dessert.  

Number 4: The OASIS Restaurant

Honestly, the food here was not anything to jump up and down about….but it was worth it just to see the view.

Number 5: Hey Cupcake

This is the one we can't stop taking about.  

These cupcakes are perfection.  If you ever go, have the carrot cake. Trust me.

Nothing else on the trip made us all smile at the same time like these cupcakes!

Number 6: Rudy's

Another hot spot for bar-b-q…totally different from the Salt Lick.  But very good.

Number 7: Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers

I never thought a fast food burger place could really top In 'N' Out, but this place did it.  

Number 8: Acenar

Delicious Tex-Mex and super sophisticated atmosphere overlooking the Riverwalk.  Just watch out for bees! 

And Number 9: Romeo's

For our last meal in Austin we went italian.  It was a fun change.

So now you know where to get all of the best food and you also know why my clothes are a bit snug.

The Places We Went

We packed so much into our few days down south it was a little crazy.  But there is just so much to see and do, we had to fit in as much as we could.

I'm sleepy tonight, so you get a photo recap of all the highlights.

Beautiful scenery while passing through north/central New Mexico.

The Continental Divide…I never really knew what it was until I read the sign.  Very exciting.

Don't really remember what this place was, but it's historical (homeschool points!) and it was a pretty place to have breakfast.

Once in Austin, our first stop of course had to be the capitol.
(double homeschool points )

We visited the Austin Children's Museum.

Checking out the new Lego Store.

Our first time experiencing the wonders of Build-a-Bear.

Wading around in Barton Springs.

Part way through the trip we headed down to San Antonio where we visited Sea World for the first time.  (can you tell they were excited about posing for pictures in the blinding sun?)

While in San Antonio we had to see the famed River Walk.

We wrapped up our sightseeing with a tour around the Alamo. (gotta keep the homeschool points coming)

Everything we got to see and do was loads of fun. We packed it all into such a brief amount of time I feel like I'm still processing all I saw.  But it was worth it.

Coming soon….the vacation conclusion… The Food We Ate. 

People We Love

We are starting to feel recovered from our sweet southern getaway, and I'm finally getting around to sorting all of the pictures I took.  (I think I literally had a camera in my hands almost the entire trip.  I just couldn't take the chance on missing something.)

SO many aspects of our vacation were amazing. We were totally blessed in every way.  But of course, the thing that made it so richly satisfying was getting to spend time with some wonderful people.

Do you have any friends that you can just be with, and it doesn't matter if you haven't been together for years, you are still the same kind of friends, and you don't even really have to catch up, you're just together again and it's perfect?  Those are the kind of people we got to spend our time with.

We were able to join some friends from high school at their church while we were visiting, which was a very fun treat.

The majority of our trip was spent with some very dear friends, the ones who had invited us to Austin in the first place.

I can't even begin to tell you all of the ways they poured out their love on us while we were there.  They were amazing hosts and made sure we got to see and enjoy everything Austin had to offer.  And in the meantime we got to just enjoy being together again, and our kids all had a blast together. We loved all of our time with them so much, and all of us miss them terribly now that we're back home.  Guess we'll have to make our way back there sometime!

And a special highlight of the trip for me was taking a (kind of big) detour to spend some time with my great aunt.

She met me when I was a baby, and was sweet enough to be my pen pal when I was a little girl.  I was so excited to really meet her, and to introduce her to my family.  She welcomed us into her home and fed us her famous homemade tamales.  I'm so thankful for the time we were able to spend getting to know her. 

As great as every other part of our trip was, the time spent getting to love and be loved by so many wonderful people is definitely what I'm most thankful for.