The Lone Star State: Austin

Load em' up, move em' out...we are on the way to Austin, Texas.

It's time for the second leg of our vacation. We rented a car and made our way North to Austin.  The drive is no more than a little over an hour and a half.  But, we milked it for all it was worth.  We made a few stops on the way and even took a scenic route.

Our first stop was the Natural Bridge Caverns just outside of San Antonio.  We hit up some of the on property features before taking the cavern tour.  The favorite was the Maze.  Jack took first place among our family and actually beat the current maze record by a few seconds.  I'm just so proud!

Maggie and Daddy came in second and Lucy and I were a pitiful last.  We all had fun though.

Next up was the guided tour through the caverns.  We've seen a few caves in our time, but nothing quite like this.  It was impossible to capture the awe of it on camera.

We ate lunch right there on site and then got back on the road.  From there, we took a scenic route through hill country and ranch lands.  I was loving it, I can't speak for the kids.

Of our tiny town stops, Gruene was by far my favorite.  I could have spent the night at one of the quaint bed and breakfasts and called it a vacation.  I could not get enough of this authentic little Texas town.

We made a stop at the oldest dance hall in Texas and the General Store.

And although I could have spent hours hopping from town to town, we had an appointment to make in Austin.   And it was a good one!

We pulled up on two wheels to Live, Love, Paddle for our bat watching kayak tour in Austin.  No time to check in to the hotel.

We changed shoes, got our equipment and were out on Lady Bird Lake in no time.  I was blessed with Lucy on my kayak.  Needless to say, I was soaked from her "paddling" and we did a lot of circles, but that girl sure can make me laugh.

We paddled for nearly 45 minutes before we reached the Congress Street bridge to see the annual bats who migrate from Mexico.

Hundreds of them leave the bridge right at dusk and we were right below them!  It was incredible.  The pictures could never do it justice.

We made it to our hotel well past bedtime, soaked and exhausted.  Time for a good nights sleep and a full day in Austin tomorrow .

After a free breakfast at the hotel {always a treat}, we headed over to catch our Austin City Tour with Austin Detours.  Our guide was great fun and we were able to see all the highlights of Austin.

The Austin skyline....

The capital building...

{love me some George W}

Lots of murals and graffiti art...

Food Court Trucks...{can you spot my children?}

...and much more like the UT campus, Barton Creek Park, Congress Street, and on.

We opted for an authentic BBQ lunch at Terry Black's and nearly stuffed ourselves silly.   I mean, I don't think I've ever eaten so much food.

After we rolled ourselves out of there, we made the mile walk up to South Congress Street where we did lots of browsing and people watching.  Austin is definitely an eclectic town.

Dinner time rolled by and no one could even consider it, but we knew we couldn't leave Austin without a Taco.  So we grabbed electric scooters and made our way over to Torchy's.  We each forced a taco down, checked it off our list, and headed back to the hotel for bed time.

Tomorrow, we are off to Waco!

The Lone Star State: San Antonio

Spring Break is here and The Cibulas  love a good vacation.  This go around, we took the kids to The Lone Star State.  We can officially check Texas off of our list.  We made our rounds from San Antonio up through Austin and ended in Waco.

A little bit of adventuring and a lot yee hawing along the way.  The bulk of our adventure was spent in San Antonio, there was a lot to see.  We flew in early and spent three full nights in SA.

As soon as we arrived, we wanted to get a lay of the city.  So we checked into our hotel, The Omni on the Riverwalk, and set out to find our tour bus.

The tour lasted a good two hours and we were able to see a lot of San Antonio.  It also helped to finalize our itinerary for the next few days.  The kiddos had front row seats on the double decker and were pretty much in hog heaven.

Post tour we went back to our hotel and took the exit out the back door to find the Riverwalk waiting for us.  We grabbed a bite to eat and then set out for our final adventure of the day.

If the kiddos hadn't been so tired, this very possibly could have been a family favorite.  I highly recommend the Battle For Texas-Night At the Museum tour.  It was literally at night, through a dark museum with only the use of flashlights.

The "museum's night guard" gave us the tour while the characters came to life to tell their stories.  We met Davey Crockett along with a few other historical characters, and got to witness the start of the Alamo battle.

We couldn't take photos so just imagine The Night At The Museum movie.  It was a very unique experience.

We woke up the next morning to unseasonably frigid temperatures.  Just what I love...not.  But, the warm Texas shaped waffles were a great prelude to our Alamo visit.

The Alamo was certainly high on everyone's list of must sees.  With the battle scenario the night before everyone was excited to see the site where it all took place.  Sadly we were freezing!  I literally had about four layers on.

We did the 45 minute Young Texan tour with a guide who catered to the young ones, obviously.  The outside part of the tour was excruciatingly frigid, but once we we made it indoors all was well.

The grounds are pretty cool.  There are definitely a lot of interactive opportunities.  But, we were just too cold to enjoy them for an extended period of time.

My Young Bucks were ready to warm up and eat.  So our next stop on the itinerary was the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum.  They had a grand time exploring the museum.  It was three floors high with just about everything Texas you can think of.

We ate lunch in the saloon {which is clearly not known for its great food} and then the kids made their rounds through the museum a second time.

One of Clay's dear fiends, who is a Texas resident, brought his daughter over for the afternoon.  We enjoyed the museum with them as well, and a stroll through San Antonio.  They showed us all the famous stops, such as this classic cowboy hat shop.  As you can imagine, I was in awe and almost came home with my own hat.

We spent the afternoon swimming at the heated hotel pool...crazy!  I literally sat in a lawn chair bundled up in about three blankets.  But the girls loved it.  It never fails a pool is their happy place.
 

We ended our day with dinner at The Iron Cactus and a walk on the Riverwalk.  I took the girls back for an early bed time while the boys enjoyed a City Ghost Tour.

So, by this third day in San Antonio, I was convinced it was going to warm up tremendously.  And it did warm up, just not enough.  We still donned several layers and searched for any source of sunshine we could find.

Another breakfast of Texas waffles and we were off to our next adventure....Historic Market Square.

We strolled around and stopped at just about every booth there was.  The girls loved it and the boys were done about 10 booths in.  However, it was fun to see the cultural influences and we definitely walked away with a bunch of goodies we didn't need.

We ate an authentic Southwestern lunch right in the square and were serenaded by the mariachi band. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant, but it came highly recommended and it was delicious.

Thankfully the sun made more of an appearance as the day proceeded because next up on our itinerary was the Go Rio river cruise.  As we waited, for what seemed like forever, we all took gambles on what color boat we would get.  I don't think anyone picked pink, but there it was and we were just thrilled to finally get on.

The cruise was the perfect blend of a history lesson and bit of relaxation before our next adventure.  From boat cruising to electric scooters we made our way over to The Tower of Americas.  The electric scooters were a blast.  Jack got his own and the girls each rode with one adult.  We were zooming all over town {illegally I'm sure}.

We grabbed a snack at the cafe while we waited for our elevator ride up to the top of the tower.  We definitely recognized a lot of the landmarks we had seen the previous couple of days in SA.

At the bottom of the tower we watched a 4D Texas movie in the theatre and perused the grounds.  As you can imagine, no one would leave without a picture with the angel wings.

We scootered back to the hotel where we had another dinner on the Riverwalk and prepared for an early bed time.  Tomorrow we were hitting the road!  Adios San Antonio!