Southbound 35

Last weekend, Jeremy and I went to San Antonio. For my birthday, he bought me tickets to see Wicked. Do you know how much I love him (for that)?! It was a super quick trip; we drove down Saturday morning and came home Sunday night. Whew!

Instead of staying at a hotel, he found a wonderful bed and breakfast, Gardenia Inn. We initally drove past, commenting on "such a great house!" Imagine our delight when we discovered it was "our" house for the night! Both of our rooms were great; mine had an amazing bed, and his had a pass-through window that led to the 2nd floor balcony.

After we unloaded our bags, we headed to the Riverwalk--about a 15 minute walk. It was a nice walk, but it was H.O.T. We decided that walking around until dinner might be over zealous, and that a movie was in order. Let me just say, UP is a terrific, wonderful, fabulous movie! I loved it. I loved it so much that I evidently made sounds through the whole movie, which Jeremy was kind enough to point out after the movie. Bless him.

Our innkeeper suggested Boudro's for dinner. As with all restaurants on the Riverwalk, you have to really want to eat--it was an hour wait. Well, I was hungry, so I asked if they had a *baptists skip to the next sentence* bar, knowing they'd serve some kind of food. It turns out they did, but it was a two minute walk above the Riverwalk. We followed our waitress through a maze of hallways, elevators and streets, and arrived. Since the specific recommendation was for the guacamole, decision-making was easy. After a drink and 1 1/2 bowls of guacamole--they ran out of avocados, so they made a little to appease us until their stock was replinished--we were full! We cancelled the reservation to Boudro's. It was a great dinner, followed by a dessert of assorted treats from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Mmm...

On Sunday, we decided to visit a few of the San Antonio missions before Wicked. The Alamo is part of the Mission Trail in San Antonio, but I must say, it's not the most impressive of missions. (Do I still get to be a Texan for admitting that?)

The first mission we visited was Mission Concepcion. It's still an active church, and a service was being held that morning. It was so neat to hear voices lifted up in praise at such an historic place! I love, love, love the architecture of the missions. It's Spanish Baroque with Moorish influence. Here are a few pictures of Mission Concepion:

Our next stop was Mission San Jose, which is the largest of the missions, and also an active church. Again, it was beautiful; the congregation ended the service singing Holy, Holy, Holy. We were a little early for the Mariachi Mass, but a crowd had already gathered.

And this...aren't we thankful that cooking has progressed so that sharing an oven over an open fire isn't part of meal-planning? I'll bet the community between the women must have been strong. A few of these scattered around the inside of the mission wall for all families to share would require some hefty support. I think I should print this for my fridge. Maybe the next time I'm so "overwhelmed" by the thought of preparing a meal, I'll have a little different attitude.

Then we have consumerism at its finest. Seriously, how thirsty can one get that a cola machine is necessary in a centuries-old mission?! How difficult would it be for someone to walk three minutes to the Visitor's Center for a drink?!

After these two missions, we hit up Rosario's for lunch, another suggestion from our innkeeper. It isn't on the Riverwalk, and didn't feel touristy. It was super good food, prepared like food from interior Mexico. Once we finished, we headed to the theatre to see Wicked. It was perfect, wonderful and amazing. And I loved that Jeremy loved it!

Our drive back was nice. We had lot's of time to talk, read and/or sleep; Jeremy read when not driving, and I slept. We decided that milkshakes from Health Camp in Waco would be great for dinner, and they did not disappoint.

Overall, we had an excellent weekend. Our first trip away was fun, although rushed. We're excited for many more!