They say everything is bigger in Texas

Back in August, I made the decision to visit family in Texas for my nephews birthday in October. They had recently moved to Houston and I thought it the perfect opportunity to visit them and do some exploring. A quick Google search yielded a round-trip plane ticket for less than $200; I booked my flight without a second thought. I'm convinced that finding a cheap flight on a whim is the universe telling you to go.

Arriving on a Thursday midday, I thought for sure traffic wouldn't be too bad and I could zip right down to my brother's house. LOL that was a no. Have you ever driven in Houston? It's massive; and I live in Minnesota and have driven through the Twin Cities many times. It took me over an hour to get from the North end where the airport was to the southern burbs where his house was. And they have a significant toll road system that I wasn't about to navigate so the long route was my option. My niece and nephew had no idea I was visiting; my brother elected to keep it a secret so they would be surprised. I got to the house a few hours before they came home from school and anxiously waited their arrival; it had been almost 2 years since I saw them last. When they walked through the door they didn't realize at first who I was, but then immediately ran towards me and just about toppled me over! Haha. My niece was quick to jump into my arms and my nephew wrapped us all in a big hug where we all stayed for several minutes before we all let go. I was so glad to see them <3

Friday: The biggest thing on my "to do" list was to see the ocean. I recalled I hadn't seen it since February of 2020 visiting NOLA right before covid hit. Check out my post about that trip; plenty of laughs, food and ghost stories to share. My sister-in-law tagged along and we headed out for Galveston; just a quick hour drive and we had our butts parked in the sand. But not before I ran to the water and got knee deep in the salty sea. Sunny and 80 degrees on the beach didn't take long to convince us to hit the water altogether. I scooted into my suit and before long was bobbing in the waves with salt on my lips, taking in the fresh salty air.

I've had many a sunburn in my life and especially with tattoos, am usually pretty good about wearing my sunscreen. Even though I brought it with me, I didn't think I would need it for the short time we were at the beach. And every time I think that is when I should have put it on. My blonde hair blue eyed fair skinned self had not seen the full sun since August and it didn't take long for me to burn my butt cheeks.... yes, you read that right, my butt cheeks. THAT was a new experience in and of itself, and not one I recommend going forward.

On Saturday we visited one of the 89 state parks in Texas, Brazos State Park, and laid eyes on several large alligators. Thankfully, that was the only species we ran into while walking the trails... I was not too keen on coming across any of the various spiders, snakes or other venomous creatures known to Texas. I live where the air hurts my face, because I don't like spiders and snakes (if you know, you know). I like to be outside, to hike and see all the animals, at a safe distance... but others I just would rather not see. After a long 3+ mile trail walk in flip flops, we visited my family's favorite place thus far, Sugarland. They were having a movie in the town square (Hotel Transylvania, perfect October fall movie) and we got some of the best ice cream I've ever had in my life, and I've eaten a lot of ice cream! Between a belly full of Texas BBQ, the best of ice creams, and the hike, it didn't take me long to fall asleep that night.

Sunday morning we went to church; my family is Catholic and we walked into one of the most gorgeous churches I've ever seen in my life. It was stone beige in color with large wooden beams spanning across the ceilings and huge colorful stain glass windows letting sunshine pour into the church. I would have taken a picture but I usually leave my phone at home to really disconnect from the "outside" while I'm there. The rest of the day we spent celebrating my nephews birthday while he made his own birthday cake, an appropriate Halloween theme, complete with oreo cookie ghosts, Jack Skeleton figures, and marshmallow spider webbing.

Monday the kids went to school and I ventured out to spend a few hours in San Antonio. Driving 3.5 hours in Texas is not like driving 3.5 hours in Minnesota; the size of the state makes that drive feel like you only went a few miles. Along the way I stopped at the infamous Buc-ee's gas station... that was an entire experience in itself! If you've never heard of Buc-ee's, Google it. It's a gas station that is FILLED with stuff. I'm talking walls of jerky, candy, personal items, clothing, food; so much food, for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I grabbed a few things and ventured the rest of the way to San Antonio.

Knowing I only had a few hours in the city, I headed straight for the San Antonio River Walk. I had the perfect weather to stroll along this beautiful park-looking pathway along the river underneath the main web of city streets; sunshine, 70 degrees and a light breeze. The walk is filled with huge trees that over arc the river, lush green spaces to lay on, flowers of every size and color, and landscaped waterfalls. Various shops and eatery restaurants also dot the river line, filling my nose with delicious smells. I'm pretty sure they also encourage a "walk and drink" mentality where you can order an alcoholic beverage from one of the outdoor restaurants and take it with you while you walk; kind of neat! I took plenty of pictures and then took a quick glance at the map to direct me towards the Alamo.

Not far from the river walk, in the middle of the city, was the Alamo. Being perfectly honest, I was expecting a much larger building on huge grounds; but it looked exactly what I had seen in books and movies alike; a stark white stone building against the bluest sky with proudly waving USA and Texas flags. There's quite a few placards to read throughout the grounds depicting the entire history of the Alamo and the Texas annexation from the Spanish, including the history of Davy Crockett and James Bowie. Unfortunately I didn't have time to read it all but I got a good historical grasp of the area. The main building in the movies/pictures is actually a church which you can go into for free. In some parts of the grounds like the barracks, you can't take pictures at all. Some, like the church, you can but they just have to be flash-free. I didn't have time to get into the Visitor Experience Center where it's a small fee to enter, and again with the no photography part, but will definitely get back to some day. I feel like I saw a lot but also saw nothing in the few hours I was in San Antonio, definitely making me want to make a return trip in hopefully the near future.

Before I knew it, Tuesday came and it was time for me to head back to Minnesota. There's never enough time when it comes to spending time with family or adventuring in a new place. Hopefully I'll get back to Houston in April, but until then, I'll be dreaming of 70 and sunny while it's snowing and cold in the mountains of Idaho.