Everything's weirder in Texas.

This statement is not entirely true. Texas is a very big state and it takes hours and hours to get anywhere, but it is no stranger than Florida. 

So yesterday we spent the entire day traveling. It was a 8.5 hour drive, which should have been 7 hours, but we hit Houston right at the optimal time to sit in traffic for an hour and a half. I am not pleased with Houston. In fact, I think it's safe to say I hate Houston. It's so huge. Why is it so huge? It's a like, 75 mile wide city. I've never even heard of such a thing. Anyway, I was lucky that Rachelle was driving during that time because I wouldn't have handled it as well as she did. This is a stop we got to before Houston. It was very Texan. 

Exhibit A. 

Exhibit B. 

And this is Exhibit C. 

Get it?? GET IT??

Again with the amazing clouds.

We got in pretty late last night to the campground. They had left me a little note with my name on it, which was cute. It had my tent spot and the WiFi password and everything on it. We set up our tent and chilled for the rest of the evening. I didn't get any photos of the beautiful sunset, so you'll just have to imagine it. Today we got up and decided to go to Rainey Street for lunch because it was recommended to me by Stephanie's friend in Baltimore. It's definitely more of a nighttime place as we only found one restaurant that was open. But it was seriously cute. 

Here is the beer and sausage garden. We did not eat here.

Here is the container bar. It's made from old shipping containers. 

Here is an equally cute place. They also had a food truck lot and several other, quirky, hippie places to hang out with the cool kids, of which I hear Austin has plenty. 

This is the place we ended up eating at. 

Interior style Mexican food. It was good, but I don't think mine was overly Mexican; it was a sandwich with roast eggplant, red peppers, poblanos, and avocado topped with goat cheese and pesto. It was warm and delicious though. 

Rachelle had the babiest tacos I've ever seen. She ordered some guacamole to go with it though. 

Goodbye, Austin! See you next time! 

Hello, San Antonio!! It was only an hour and fifteen minutes to San Antonio, which was a wonderful treat after the 8.5 hours the day before. We got to our airbnb by 1:30 pm, which it was a little early to check in, so we decided to go to Mission Conception, which was honestly like 3 blocks from our airbnb.

It's really beautiful. 

From another angle. 

It was really interesting to see the architecture. It was, of course, all built by Native slaves, which was super awesome, but it is what it is and while the situation is rather upsetting, the place had a lot of history to it.

Massive ceilings.

Rachelle pointed out that she would have liked to have seen some of these signs from a Native's perspective; it would help with the whole I-feel-terrible-about-what-happened feelings on both sides.

Some of the old paintings have been uncovered. 

Old, intricate carvings. 

Loved these stairs and the sunlight coming through.

This is the ... main alter I guess? I don't know why Catholics have so many alters.

Another one?

This is where the audience sits. I mean, congregation. 

More high ceilings! 

We were sitting here nicely, just enjoying the cool and WiFi (why do they have free WiFi in a church that they still have services at every week? Wouldn't that discourage people from listening to the sermons?) when two guys came in and one of them started singing Gregorian chants. That was actually really beautiful. The acoustics in this place are intense. 

So this was a fun thing that happened. When I got in my car in Austin to drive to San Antonio, my low tire pressure signal went off in my car. This was a very bad sign as I had just filled my tires the day before. I worried and worried (as I am wont to do) until I found this place literally about 1/4th of a mile down the street from our airbnb, so I drove down there. This little latino kid (he was like, maybe 20 years old) just popped off my tire, told me to wait in the car, did something to it, popped it back on, maybe like 5 minutes, tops. $10. Fixed. I love San Antonio. 

Lovely desert purple plants.

Hey, it's the Alamo! We parked like two blocks from here and just walked over. It was right in the middle of town. I said to Rachelle, "I think that's the Alamo." And she said, "Really? Right here?" and I said, "Yeah, I mean, I think so!" And lo. I was right. 

Beautiful garden. We weren't allowed to take photos inside so this is as good as it gets, sorry. But the inside was enlightening. My favorite part was when Rachelle said, "What happened here, exactly?" and I said, "Well ... some sort of massacre, I guess?" And she said, "I'm going to go ask that guide. I'm allowed to not know because I'm Canadian." So went up to the guide and said, "Yeah, I'm from Canada, ummmm.... what is this place?" He told us the whole story, in great amounts of detail, in approximately 3 minutes flat, while running around telling everyone not to do things in the meantime.

I'm so happy we went and so happy we found a parking spot like not even 2 full blocks away, and so happy we didn't even have to pay because it was after 6 pm.

We found the river walk! Again, not even 2 blocks away. 

I guess I didn't realize it was below street level. I mean, it makes sense when I see it, but it wasn't what i was expecting. 

Down we go! 

Oh my gosh, I love it.

Every 30 seconds I stopped to take another photo. 

Look! They have boat rides! 

And loads of restaurants!

And what looks like Ginko trees! 

I mean, how lovely is this. 

I went up on the kissing bridge to get my photo, but Rachelle kept making faces and getting frustrated with my phone so I look worried or anxious or just weird in this photo. 

We stopped for dinner at this place. 

My feet were really hot so I walked down the steps to dip my feet and almost fell in because the last step is super slippery. 

I wisely sat down and dipped my feet in instead. It felt amazing. 

These ducks were downright thrilled with the boat waves. They would jump in the water every time a boat came past to ride the waves. It was so freaking cute. 

Hey! Mariachi! Unfortunately we had no cash so they didn't play for us, but fortunately, these people did and we listened in on their song from a few tables down. Damn waiter kept getting in my way. 

Man, this state is obsessed with their flag. Stephanie and I were talking about this in Maryland, too.

It's the Father of the River Walk! Thanks, buddy! 

We did a little retail therapy after dinner; this place was gorgeous. 

I absolutely loved it. It was all made from a specific type of quartz found locally; it's not salt, though it looks like it. 

Little Texases and alamos. 

The river walk at night is so lovely! 

We were walking back to the car and we saw this. I was like, WHAT. Cinderella up in here. 

Alamo all lit up at night. 

About 8 people stopped to ask me questions before I could take this photo. 

So this is confusing. It didn't suddenly become daylight again, it's just that I took this photo earlier in the day before realizing what it was. It's the Alamo when it was first build. The next few are how it developed and what happened to it over the years. Click the pictures to enlarge and see better. 

Right across the street from where we were eating. 

 What I learned today: Texas roads suuuuuuuuuuuck. They are in horrible condition.

On the agenda for tomorrow: New Mexico!! We're going to Carlsbad to see some caverns and camp out again.