What a wild couple of months it’s been. I feel like I’ve been through the ringer, but now I’m on the other side and things feel better. Texas was a surprising experience in getting to know myself, my comfort level, and my limits. I didn’t get as much exploring done as I wanted to, partly due to work and partly due to how widespread Covid was in the area I was working. But! I did get some adventuring in, and that is what we’re here for today!!
Cody and I spent some time in San Antonio. San Antonio is a really awesome city. There’s great food, the Alamo is there, and the River Walk is always a highlight. There are tons of restaurants and shops along the River Walk, plus it’s just beautiful to walk around. We stayed with friends, played a TON of board games, and had a lovely time exploring almost daily.
The Alamo 
Love Lock bridge 
Farmer’s market! 
The Pearl 
Japanese Tea Garden 
River Walk at night 
We visited Houston! It’s a huge city. 7 million people live there, and it is the 4th largest city in the US. While we were there, we checked out Pappasito’s and got the fajitas WITH the butter, which is the best (read: only) way to go. We stumbled across an ice skating rink in the park, and some murals. It was a strange visit because it was a Sunday and the city of 7 million felt dead. That is, until we went to the Galleria, where apparently everyone and their brother goes on Sunday afternoons. There was also a skating rink in the mall. Lots of skating rinks for a city who’s temperature rarely gets below freezing.
Of course we went to the Johnson Space Center! You can’t go to Houston without going to space. I wish we would have known before going that there is a whole self-guided tour. We scheduled a tour and didn’t realize that there was so much there. So, go early! And shell out the money for a guided tour, because it’s incredible.
And you can’t go to Texas without checking out the Silos in Waco! If you’re a fan of Chip and Joanna, or just a fan of neat buildings and good food, check out the Silos. And maybe hit up Baylor while you’re there!
The craziest part of the entire Texas adventure was the weather. The ice storms proved to be quite a mess for the state of Texas. Lots of people were without power for days. We were some of them, but we were lucky, because we had power off and on, and we have a ton of camping gear, so we were able to filter clean water for ourselves and eat whatever foods we had squirrelled away for backpacking trips. I got to experience spending the night on a hospital cot for multiple nights (would not recommend).
We also checked out Chinatown! We went to Mala Sichuan Bistro and got a variety of dishes, including one of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten in my life, shredded pork with bamboo shoots. Seriously, I still talk about it, it was so good. We also went to Snowy Village and had bingsu, which is a dessert consisting of shaved ice and fruit.
One of my favorite nights was probably our last night there. We decided, since it was crawfish season, to go out to eat and get a crawfish boil. 5 pounds of crawfish, two corns on the cob, two potatoes, and a bunch of mushrooms later, we were stuffed to the gills and happy as another delicious seafood. 100% would get a crawfish boil again.
The eatage 
The carnage 
The damage
I hope y’all enjoyed this catch-up post! I’m planning on posting more soon, with the next one being about our quick trip to New Orleans! Once again, stay safe, mask up, and keep healthy!
ShutterbugRN Travels 