Texas: San Antonio RiverWalk & Houston Space Center

We had an amazing time in South Padre Island, Texas.  I am missing the ocean views and the amazing weather.  

Renting a condo right on the ocean was the best idea ever.  

I am also so thankful I was able to enjoy a vacation with my best friend, her significant other, her children, and her parents.  Despite so many people, we got along well and everything went off without a hitch.

Our Texas vacation started in San Antonio.  We landed at the airport at 1pm, collected our rental car, and headed to the hotel as our room was ready.  We went for a hotel right off the riverwalk and were able to book for free with rewards points.  This was also an excellent idea as we didn’t need to move the car for the remainder of our evening stay.  The hotel had a walkway directly to the riverwalk and you could see the boats come by right outside our window.  I couldn’t wait to get out and explore.

Our first stop was The Alamo.  Although free to tour, there was an hour wait for the timed entry.  We popped into the visitor center to purchase our riverwalk narrated boat tour where the gal suggested going to the Bier Garten for a quick bite to eat.  It was also $7 liter of the day beer, which was an amazing price!  We shared two sandwiches and loved the chicken schnitzel the best.

We toured the Alamo and headed back to the room before venturing out to the San Antonio River Walk, the reason for this stop on the trip.

On foot, we walked up one side and down the other taking in all the sights along the water until finding a spot to grab a bite to eat and watch some of the NCAA games.

I wanted to wait until after dark to take our narrated river cruise as it all looked so magical when the sun went down.  The boat we boarded was packed and we got the last two seats.  In hindsight, I wished we could have been on a less crowded boat and/or been one of the earlier ones to board.  We were seated at the front and able to take in the amazing views.

It was a quick trip but we will be back.

The next morning we drove the 5-ish hours to Houston to take in the Houston Space Center.  Along I-10, I spotted my very first Buc-ee's, a gas station similar to Pilot Truck Stop but waaaaaaaay cooler.  I have been many travel You Tubers posting about the Buc-ee's excitement and I could hardly contain myself.  We made sure to hit up one more before our time in Texas came to an end.  Sadly, the really cool ones are right off the major interstates.

We also spotted an Igloo Factory Outlet just outside of Katy, TX and you know we had to stop.  The storeroom was small but this cute security shack was in the shape of the old school Igloo coolers we had growing up.  That alone made the stop worth it.  We left with a collapsable travel cooler, which is something we needed for our trip.  The couple ahead of us bought $1,233 worth of Igloo.  WOW!

After some grueling traffic delays, Texas traffic is insane, we arrived at the Houston Space Center a little later than planned but with plenty of time to explore.  We enjoyed the visit, which Kenyon was able to get us in for free with his EAA Oshkosh Membership.  That is a nice perk.

We stayed the night in Victoria, TX so we could get a head start towards South Padre and miss the Houston morning traffic.  On our way, I had to visit my favorite Mexican restaurant, Chuy’s.  It was just as good as I remember and I also remember how spicy it was!  OMG.  This may not be a go-to from here on out after all.

All was redeemed when we visited Rudy’s Country Store & BBQ for some of the BEST brisket I’ve had ever in my life.  I have been dreaming about it and will be looking forward to our next visit where we can stop in again and get a full pound of brisket.  Trust me, it is that good.

And with that, the first part of our trip came to an end.  We were looking forward to several days of no driving after the long trek across Texas.  I’ll be back with our South Padre adventures.