Category: Weekend trips

Day 1
We started our first morning by trekking over to Pancake Joe’s, the highest yelp rated breakfast restaurant in San Antonio. We ended up not caring a ton for the food, the pancakes weren’t what we’re used to. My favorite part was the hash browns, those were good. After we headed to the San Antonio stock show & rodeo. That was a lot of fun. We saw many pigs being led by their owners to get weighed. I’ve never seen so many big pigs. We got to observe a horse auction, a first for us. We also saw a roping competition for the first time.

My favorite was the petting zoo which included lots of soft animals including alpacas, pigs, deer, goats, chickens, and more.

There were a lot of vendors selling many cowboy boots and cowboy hats. Even the police at the event had their cowboy hats on. That was definitely a fun experience, my first visit to a rodeo was a rodeo in Texas. After the rodeo we went back to our hotel to nap, and then headed back out to have dinner at Rosario’s, the highest rated restaurant in San Antonio. We were able to queue in line on the yelp app, and wait at the bar inside. The food here was sooooo good. I ordered the chicken flautas and Joseph had the beef and shrimp fajitas. We especially loved the fire roasted salsa that came with the chips.

Day 2
We started our morning with a trip to The Alamo. We parked at the Shops at the River Center parking garage and walked over to The Alamo which is very close to there. There was a long line to enter the Alamo church but it went by fast. We picked up the audio tour in front ($7 per adult) and walked around.

Then we went to historic market square, and i enjoyed shopping all of the various shops.  I love mexican clothing, so i especially had a good time here.  They also had some live performances for local folkloric groups.  As a snack, we got some churros in the plaza and they were the best churros we’ve ever had.

Once we finished up with market square, it was the afternoon and we didn’t have anything else planned for that day.  We decided upon going to the San Antonio botanical garden. I am a lover of succulents and cacti, but they didn’t have many succulents there.  They did have a lot of cacti and agaves though, so i enjoyed that.

After we left the botanical garden, we went to the Pearl Brewery.  This is an area where people sit and chat, near a place where there are various food vendors, as well as a bar.  We bought some fries and beer, and people watched outside as the sun set.  This was really relaxing, and there were a good amount of people and some kids here.  We also grabbed ice cream at Lick honest ice creams, and they had the craziest flavors but it was absolutely delicious.

Day 3
We had free breakfast at our hotel, checked out, and headed over to Mission San Juan around 9:30am. They had a free ranger guided tour at 10am (there are various tour times on their website). The mission was gorgeous, but sadly by the time we got to the point of the tour to go inside the church it was closed for a special event. The tours are about 45 minutes long and do teach you a lot about the history behind the missions. We left the mission close to 11am and headed to the San Antonio airport for our 12:55 flight.

Overall thoughts
We had a fun trip, but felt like we ran out of stuff to do.  I hadn’t thoroughly planned a schedule for this trip, but wish I had.  Thankfully we did know of some items that were mentioned to do, such as the Pearl, and we really enjoyed that relaxing time and environment there.

Recommendations
Rosario’s is a must
Historic market square and their churros
People watch and drink Pearl beer at the Pearl District, then grab a cone at Lick Honest Ice Cream
The Alamo

Joseph and I traveled to Seattle for a weekend trip October 20^th to October 23rd, and we had a really good time.  Seattle is a perfect weekend trip.

Day 1 – October 21st

We stayed at a hotel in Renton about 20 mins out of downtown Seattle.  We had breakfast at the hotel and drove to the Seattle Center around 10:30am.  We parked across from the Museum of Pop Culture at the Seattle Center 5^th Ave N. Garage which has cheaper rates than the official Space Needle parking ($6 for first hour, $13 for 1 to 2 ours, $15 for 2 to 12 hours).  We walked over to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum.  That museum was worth a visit, the glass is beautiful.  There are also definitely a lot of places for photo ops here.  They have free photos that they take with professional cameras at the museum too, they give you a card that they scan and you can use a machine there to email the photo to yourself (or you can access the photo online).  The Chihuly garden and glass is right next to a few other places including the Space Needle and Pacific Science center.  You could definitely hit up a few of these places in day.  We decided just to do the Garden and Glass for day 1.

After Garden and Glass, around noon we hopped on the monorail and headed to the only stop—Westlake Center near Pike Place Market.  We got passes that included a ticket for each of the following: the tram, garden and glass, space needle, and pacific science center.  It’s a good deal for $59, but I don’t suggest visiting the Pacific Science Center so I suggest a different package from their offerings.  From the Westlake Center it’s a quick walk to Pike Place Market.  We arrived to Pike Place around 1pm.  We walked through the market area and shopped around.  We stopped by Bubblegum Alley for a photo op.  Most people there took photos blowing a big bubble of gum.  I had gum handy to try and do this myself but my stick of Extra didn’t cut it.  Make sure to bring a big piece of gum if you’re planning to take that photo.  Joseph was grossed out being surrounded by all of that chewed up gum.  After, we walked to Pike Place Chowder and the line was very long.  But, it went by pretty fast.  The chowder is the best chowder I’ve ever had, totally worth waiting in that line.

Day 2 – October 22nd

We started early on day 2 and arrived back to Pike Place around 9am.  We got in line for Piroshky Piroshky and got some baked goods.  We took the baked goods over to Storyville coffee (across from fish market up the stairs, look for a logo of a woman with an umbrella) and ordered a mocha and latte.  The mocha was sooooo good, best mocha I’ve ever had.  I had a lot of “best ever” experiences in Seattle.  I didn’t end up caring for what I ordered from Piroshky Piroshky, I wished I had just ordered one of the baked goods at Storyville.

After breakfast, we walked over to the first Starbucks, this is right by Piroshky Piroshky.  The line looked long, and Joseph definitely didn’t want to wait in that line, but I decided we would for some souvenirs.  The line went fast, and there were lots of cute mugs that said “First Starbucks” on it, for a good price.  Most everyone in line is in line for the merchandise, but they also sell drinks there.  We drove around 10:30 to the Troll and took a quick photo.

Then we drove to the Fremont Sunday Market and walked along this short flea market.  It was smaller than I expected, but there was a beautiful nature area nearby.

We hung out at the park for a bit, and then drove over to the Hiram Chittanden Locks.  We arrived to the Locks around 11:30am.  The Locks are in the water and used to help boats go from saltwater to freshwater, and vice versa.  At some points in the year you can also view the salmon ladder, where you see all the fish passing by.  When we visited it was nice just walking along by the trees with their leaves on the ground and all of the fall colors.. We took a look at the salmon ladder for a bit but there weren’t any fish. Then we walked along the bridge and got to see the process of how the boats make the transition, and that was pretty cool. I never knew that such a system was in existence.  After the Locks, we stopped nearby at Red Mill Totem House for lunch.  It wasn’t too memorable from what I remember.

Day 3 – October 24th

In the morning we stopped at another Storyville location and ordered delicious mochas.  Then we headed over to the Space Needle.  The view was nice, but that was only about a 30 minute visit.  After we went to the Pacific Science Center.  This place was more suitable for children, we still had a good time but it didn’t meet my expectations.  I don’t recommend visiting there.  We walked about 15-20 minutes from the Seattle Center area to Serious Pie and had amazing pizza.  We ordered the mushroom and truffle pizza, it was so good.  It was definitely in the top of all pizza’s I’ve eaten.

Overall, perfect weekend trip, so many good places to eat, places to see, photos to take.  I recommend Seattle for you next weekend getaway.

Recaps on the “best ever”’s

• Chowder at Pike Place Chowder
• Mocha at Storyville coffee
• Runner up: Mushroom and truffle pizza from Serious Pie

Also, for things to do, I recommend:

• Chihuly Garden and Glass
• Pike Place Market