Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Messin' With Texas - October 2009


We messed with Texas and it was fun! Here is a recap of our trip...

We flew out on Friday night from Indianapolis to Houston to San Antonio. I think that I saw one of my good friends from high school in the Houston airport. We stared at each other and neither of us said anything. Oh well. I will just assume it was her! So, Nicole Crecenzi - if you were in the Houston airport on 10/9, yes, that was me...

Late night to San Antonio - our 33 minute flight from Houston ended up taking like an hour and a half - bad weather. We finally got to the hotel and got settled and honestly I don't even remember what we did! I think that we walked the Riverwalk. hmmmm - it was late!

Saturday was fun - we ate at a 24 hour Mexican restaurant for brunch - Marc had breakfast, I had lunch. :) We walked the Riverwalk and all over. San Antonio is a really simple and fun town to get around. The mass transit system is easy, fairly cheap and the people are nice. Especially if you act like you need directions - which is basically what we needed for the week! We walked everywhere - I think that we probably walked over 20 miles by the end of our trip and that is NOT an exaggeration! We went to the International Accordion Festival on Saturday in a little arts village called La Villita. This is where Marc found the brisket taco and he claims that it was the best thing he ever ate (well... until we went to DeWese's on Tuesday!)


We decided on some hearty steak like food for dinner - went to the Texas Cattle and Beef Company (something like that...) and had LOTS of good food. This is my pose on a tree stump/bench thingy outside the restaurant:

Our waitress, Evelyn, was awesome. I have never had anyone in a restaurant tell me where other really good places to eat and drink were! She even told us where she lived and why she liked it there. I wish we had a photo with her...
There were like 7 weddings that we saw that day and evening. It was insane. Our alter-egos, Harvey and Michelle, signed a guest book for one wedding at our hotel. I bet they will always wonder where the gift is.

Sunday was chalk full of rain, cold, tourism and artsy photography of everything. We saw the Alamo and snuck in the back door - we again signed the guest book - this time in our real names since after all, that is a historical document! :)


Marc and I did sooooo many things on Saturday and Sunday... we did lots of shopping, rain dodging, eating and drinking. We walked around the King William Historical district and ate at Rosarios where we had an appetizer who's name roughly translates into "flaming cheese with spicy pork" - it was amazing! We went to the Marketplace on the other side of town and found the most amazing bakery called Mi Tierra. Of course was part of a restaurant on one side and a bar on the other (Thank you Mariachi Bar for your delicious margaritas on Monday night). Here are several photos to enjoy of random things such as us on the Riverwalk, El Día de los Muertos flower halos modeled by yours truly and Mi Tierra:
Monday we rented a car and drove to Austin. We were told that we couldn't drive the car out of state... but she never said out of the country... We seriously considered driving to Mexico for the day since it was only a couple hours away - but we didn't have our passports (foiled again!) Austin had amazing food too! (are you getting the picture that we ate A LOT!?) We decided that this trip we were going to basically just ask for recommendations of the local folk of where to eat and drink. It served us very well... This is Guero's Taco Bar. Marc made up his own concoction and the server was so excited about it that he said he was going to make one for himself later... we are wondering if the made it a permanent menu item.

This is Austin, folks...
So since Austin is really a town to enjoy the nightlife and we got there at 11am, we walked around, shopped a little more (those of you who know me would be VERY proud to know that I didn't purchase the Coach bag I found while shopping...), and then we headed back to San Antonio.

Our evening was filled with MANY margaritas and frozen lime tossing into the River. No people or ducks were injured.

Tuesday was more eating... Marc and I really like watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. We had done extensive research on all of the places featured on the show that were within our range of public transportation in San Antonio. We found DeWese's Tip Top Cafe. Known for their onion rings, enchiladas and chicken fried steak, we knew this was a place that our clogged arteries could call home. And we were right... This seriously was some of the most incredible food that has ever passed my lips (sorry mom!). I got many comments on my facebook page once I posted the onion ring photos. You all were jealous I know!


We did a really good deed on our gluttonous vacation... well, you see how much food was on our table? We tried to eat all of it - but that my friends, was impossible. So, we packed the left overs up and gave them to a less fortunate individual who looked VERY hungry... and he was thrilled. He started chowing down immediately. We did the same thing with dinner that night - we just couldn't eat all of it. So we gave that away too. Funny thing is that we gave it to a guy that we could see from our hotel window (no mom, we didn't stay in the ghetto...) and we watched him eat it - well, after he walked down the sidewalk and threw his pee bucket into the street - but that is a different story... very satisfying. (the food giving, not the pee!)

Wednesday, we had to come home. But it is always nice to come home. We had a really great time and came home with many reminders of our wonderful trip to Texas!
Join us for our next adventure :)