If yesterday was the day of many things to do, today was the exact opposite. We slept in and said goodbye to Kansas City, and headed west. Hello Kansas, State #35!

We decided to go through Lawrence, Kansas to see the University of Kansas, but before we did that, it was time to stock up and resupply Mom’s Cafe! We headed to the nearest Walmart and then the stocking crew took over.

We loaded the car with our supplies and lastest addition to our cooler family, and off we went.

The University of Kansas was nice, definitely more hilly that we expected, but the buildings were beautiful.

We continued west – checking in at the capital building in Topeka, Kansas

Then we turned north and made our way toward Nebraska. The topography made some drastic changes as we made our way away from the cities and into more “prairie land”. Plenty of wide-open “vastness.”

We continued staying off the interstates as much as possible so we could see little towns like Home, Kansas. They may not be a large city but their 4th of July Spirit is ready to go! And their town slogan is the best: “There’s no place like Home (Kansas)” 👠👠

And of all places, we found a Mom’s Cafe just outside Home!

BUT WAIT – HANG ON… is that a plaque! YES, it is – although wooden… still counts. Since we stopped and made the boys read yet another random, roadside plaque, they now know that the state highway we are traveling on is part of the original California-Oregon trail. We didn’t find any original wagon ruts, but still cool.

And there it is, State #36 – Nebraska

Now I have to admit that sometimes my “avoid highway” criteria is a bit much for Apple Maps, who occasionally send us down cut-throughs that lead us down random dirt roads…

Finally, we made it to our destination The Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska. (*Remember it is Be-A-tris. They are very proud of they city name and its proper pronunciation.)

For a little background, the Homestead Act would give 160 acres of land to any man or woman, regardless of color or nationality, IF:

• they took possession of the land;
• cleared, maintained, and resided there for 5 years; and
• built a home and cultivate crops.

We stopped here because I am absolutely fascinated by Homesteaders. Imagine leaving everything you knew and every bit of family and support you had, and going to a whole new world – sometimes when you didn’t even know the language of the population. If this parking lot (from the 4 yellow circles) is an acre, imagine getting 160 of these and being solely responsible for turning it into a working farm!

And this wasn’t forever ago, the last homesteader was Ken Deardorff who acquired a 50-acre homestead claim in 1974. He submitted his paperwork in 1979, and in true government style, he received the title to his land in 1988… 9 years later 🤦🏼‍♀️

Outside the museum was a replica of a family homestead. Imagine living here with a whole family and traveling by wagon?

And again with these three ♥️

We left the Homestead and headed for Lincoln. Other than being the capital of Nebraska and home to the University of Nebraska, we really didn’t know what we were going to do in Lincoln. But it turns out that the downtown area is really cool. We checked into the hotel, and found a brazillian steakhouse, Rodizio Grill, with great reviews online. We also appreciated that we called to check and see if there was a dresscode, the guy asked if we were wearing socks and shoes? Um yes. Then you’re good enough for us 😆

Rodizio was fantastic. We paid per person – sort of an all you can eat buffet style – except that after you fix your plate of sides like salads, side dishes, fruit and soups, servers walk around with skewers of meat. You put this little knocker on Green if you want them to come cut meat at your table, red if your taking a break and laying on its side when ready for dessert.

With these two, we definitely came out ahead on this cost per person thing 🤣

After dinner, we explored downtown Lincoln a bit. It is definitely a college town city – a little artsy and eclectic, but with a conservative undertone? Like a “let’s get crazy, but I still gotta go to work tomorrow” mentality 😉

Pretty great day to have had very little planned. Tomorrow, we start the day at the Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum at the University of Nebraska! Can you guess who is the most excited of the Browns? 🚜♥️🚜♥️

Up and at ’em early this morning to get the first tour of Arrowwood/Arrowhead Stadium, and wow! It was so worth it! Michael Brown is a huge Chiefs fan, so this was his morning. Even Leo said maybe he would pull for the Chiefs now… as long as they aren’t playing the Saints 🏈😉

Tour guide Mike did not move fast but we saw it all in our 2 hour tour. We started outside with statue of Lamar Hunt who along with other investors paid $50,000 each to create the American Football League. They said they were really foolish to invest that kind of money, and the press dubbed them the Foolish Club, a name that stuck forever.

Then we headed up to the luxury suites… complete with private bathrooms and a fireplace. Because how could you bear to watch a game without a fireplace 🥴

From the suites, we headed down to the field. Arrowhead Stadium is covered with these plastic locking squares. These cover the turf/sand for off-season concerts and summer events. At the end of summer, the panels are removed and Bermuda Sod is rolled out for a season of Football.

The benefit of the plastic panels being there is that we got to go right onto the field!

From the field, we went to the Chiefs Hall of Fame where there are replicas of the players’ busts from Canton. We were especially impresssed with Derrick Thomas whose father died in Vietnam when he was baby and who worked to support Vietnam Vets and their families.

Pretty great Photo ops too

This kid was just in his element today… Especially when Tour Guide Mike let the boys try on his Super Bowl Ring!

But oh, the best was yet to come… The tunnel and locker room! We actually were right where Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes get ready on Sundays. So when we watch the games, we can say “We were RIGHT THERE!”

And then the Tunnel!

Leo found a reference to his Saints too

Arrowhead also had a section on the east side of stadium for the Missouri State High School Football Championships, and on the west side for the Kansas State High School Football Champions. How cool to be in high school and have your team picture up in Arrowhead stadium.

Great Day!

Tour Guide Mike suggested we go explore Union Station and the World War I Monument and Memorial. Kansas City Union Station was just as beautiful as St Louis’ Union Station. Must be a rule!

We took the sky bridge over to Center City and grabbed street tacos for lunch, and then explored a bit. They had several specialty stores – toys, ice cream, and cupcakes!

Then we headed over to the World War I Memorial and Museum. The Musuem was so well done, with several documentaries explained the world prior to, during and at the moment the United States joined the fight.

We especially liked this cottonwood tree’s sign that said “Please do not climb on me. I am old. That is why I have a crutch. If they see you climbing on me, they will cut off my arm. So please, no climbing but hugs are okay.” So we had to oblige. 🥰

I have especially loved catching these moments during this trip. When they are goofing around, and just happy together.

Mike even found the vehicle similar to what his Great Uncle would have driven in World War I.

Before we headed back to the hotel, we decided to look into the Lego store… of course when we saw the 20% markup versus WalMart and Amazon, we decided to wait and order.

We headed back to the hotel to rest for an hour or so before heading off to see the Kansas City Royals play. It was Dollar Dog Day and Free Halter Top Night (I’m totally Serious 🤣), so dinner definitely didn’t break the bank tonight, and you can’t go to a ballpark and not have a hotdog! ⚾️

The game was great – 0-0 until the bottom of the 8th, when the Royals scored! But then, in the top of the 9th, the Cleveland Guardians came back and end up winning 2-1. Oh well, not really our team, but a great end to a great day!

Tomorrow, we head into Kansas and then Nebraska so we’ve got a bit of driving, but I feel certain we will find a few interesting stops along the way.

No trip to St. Louis would be complete without a trip to The Arch.

We started our visit with the museum tour and then the documentary movie. The musuem covered the birth of St Louis from Indian land, Spanish occupancy, French occupancy and then the formation of America.

The Arch was built from 1962 to 1965 and is a testament to the American Spirit, and just downright fearlessness! Watching the builders lean on the edge without any harnesses or safety equipment! We were getting woozy just watching the movie. After the movie, Mike headed back into the museum and the boys and I headed up into the Arch.

We climbed in Tram Car #5 and up up up we went. Four minutes up in a rather small car, and we made it to the top!

We made it all the way to the top – 631 feet! We were closed in and it was unsettling… so to be that high and then to imagine those workers who built the Arch 😳😬

We made our way down, stopped in the gift shop, and headed out to get some outside pictures. It was a beautiful day and we had fun goofing with the camera.

We picked up the car from the hotel and started making our way to Jefferson City and then on to Kansas City. We decided to stay off the interstates so we could see some of the small towns along the way.

We grabbed lunch in Washington, Missouri at the 1869 Tavern. The food was delicious and we met a nice couple who spent some time in Greenville, NC before his retirement. They gave us some great ideas about places to visit on our trip.

As we left, I wanted to get one more picture. To which, Michael replied “we almost made it” LOL – and then they died laughing!🤣

Apparently once their bellies were full, excitement of vacation caught up with the boys.

We traveled to Jefferson City, and walked a bit around the capital which was beautiful, and inscribed with the state motto “Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto” which means let the welfare of the people be the supreme law.

We made it to Kansas City, checked in and enjoyed relaxing a bit and watching the final College World Series Game. We headed out to grab some Kansas City Barbeque at Q39. Again, awesome food! If we don’t do anything else, we always eat well. 🤣

Tomorrow we start the day off with some Football and end the day with Baseball… Pretty much a perfect Boy day!🏈⚾️

Five States…

Two Parents…

Two Teenagers…

And 14 days of good ol’ fashioned family fun!

We have prepped, planned, scheduled and booked. We are ready to start our next adventure! We’ve recorded oh so many videos for Charlotte Stewart who is watching the garden, chickens and pool for us. Sampson is at Abbott’s Groom and Board, and we are ready to go.

Day One started early… like up before 6am, out the door by 6:30am and at the airport by 7am early. But sandwiching vacation between Michael’s camp (last week) and Leo’s camp (the week we get back), means we have to maximize every single day – including today. We had to get going early to have a whole day first day to tour St Louis… and we did 😉

When you wake up before 6am, travel 500 miles to Philadelphia by 9:15am, and have a 2-hour layover your eating schedule does get slightly off kilter. Smashburgers at 10:15am – yep, makes sense.

Back in the air, a couple of hours and a rough landing later, we are in St Louis, Missouri – state number 34!

Rental car, check! and off we go. Initially our room wasn’t quite ready so after a change of clothes in the car, we were ready to explore St Louis. After a bit of a hiccup with an Uber, we were able to get in our room… seems like they were happy to have a moment to be still.

Since we were flying today, we were a little afraid to book anything definite, so we had a whole afternoon/evening to explore. We have tickets for the Arch tomorrow, and today decided to explore Union Station. St. Louis was known as the Gateway to the West, and that was evidenced by the first train to pull into Union Station in 1894. It was one of the largest and busiest terminal in the world for a while, seeing more than 100,000 passengers per day. Remember the photo of President Truman holding the paper that said “Dewey defeats Truman” – that was Union Station.

The last train departed in 1978, and within 7 years the Grand Hall and Midway were transformed into mixed use facilities. Union Station is now a hotel, and is absolutely breathtaking!

Where the trains came and went, there is now an aquarium, carousel, the Giant Wheel of St Louis, and mini golf, as well as food trucks, restaurants, ice cream parlor and lagoon with fire and water show. And we tried them all (except the aquarium… if I’m going to pay $35 per person to see fish, I need Shamu to be there.)

Dinner was Landry’s Seafood House – fantastic food and service. We loved our hostess who summed up the world’s problems: “90% of the population is stuck on stupid.” So far, Missourians seem like our kind of people.

Bellies very full and eyes very heavy, we decided to turn in early. Boys walked down to the pool but decided they were just too tired to swim. (For them to admit that means they are truly wiped out).

Tomorrow we visit The Arch and begin exploring Missouri

It’s been a great week but we are ready to head home and especially ready to pick up our fur baby tomorrow. Thanks to a late check out, we were able to sleep in, and then head down to breakfast. Michael has gotten pretty good at the waffle machine.

After breakfast, we had time to head back to the room, repack with our souvenirs along with the diet cokes/Gatorades that we had left from Galveston (that I refused to leave behind). Packed up and headed to the airport, we said goodbye to the HotWheels interchanges and funky bridges.

It is quite the journey to get to rental car return, on the bus to the airport, through the bag drop (thank goodness for online check-in), and through security at Terminal C… just in time for American Airlines to change your gate to Terminal D. So we got to add “tram ride” to our journey. Good thing we left the hotel at 12:15 for a 3pm flight!

We did like the weird walk-through art in the airport. They were so excited to take more photos 😉

One more flight…

And one more bus…

We have just a few more years with these two, and we have enjoyed every minute of this trip

33rd state visited covering 1,139 miles

Happy Birthday to Leo! Sometimes I worry that being gone on his birthday would bother him, but then I remembered that he has celebrated his birthday in some amazing places: underground in a cave in Tennessee; the Pro Football Hall of Fame and now the Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas!

We all slept in a little and Leo woke up to Happy Birthday signs and banners throughout the house (we had them hidden in my bag since we left home). We had a breakfast and packed up to say goodbye to our little beach house.

Before we could start the celebration, we needed to get the fish on its way home. We already cut everything into fillets and frozen in water into ziplocs. We saved our water bottles and half gallon milk jugs to act as our ice in shipping. Mike and Leo wrapped the fish bags and bottles in towels and then packed into the cooler. At the local shipping place, Galveston Pack and Ship, the Manager, Abe, was awesome! He helped us get the best rate and type of shipping – even threw in a little discount for us.

Tracking number received, off we went to celebrate our boy.

What could be better than amusement park rides over the ocean? A little background on the Pier: The Pleasure Pier was originally built back in 1906 and was known as the “Coney Island of the South” until 1961 when Hurricane Carla destroyed the pier. A hotel was built in its place and stood until 2008 when Hurricane Ike destroyed the hotel. The pier was finally rebuilt in its present state in 2012.

So to celebrate Leo, we are spending the morning (or enough time needed) to cover the pier. They started off getting completely soaked on the log ride…

They rode this crazy roller coast that went 90° straight up and then came down at almost the same angle.

They played midway games – yea! We won some $5 crap! (Good thing Sampson loves fair toys)

They even posed in the big red chair for a photo-op without many grumbles (it’s a vacation miracle)

And no amusement park on a pier or otherwise is complete without a swinging pirate ship

Pretty great way to start a birthday!

Mom’s Cafe apparently doesn’t have a Texas franchise so we’ve been either eating a big breakfast at hotel and then having appetizer for lunch, or just grabbing a quick bite while we’re moving. The lack of Mom’s Cafe on this trip has been primarily due to lack of eating space in the big cities… hard to find a picnic table in Dallas. Today, the birthday boy chose WhatABurger since we try to never eat things we could have at home when we travel. I have to say, this was one of the best burgers we’ve ever had, and the boys said the patty melts were just as good. So ✔️ WhatABurger!

As we ate, we started making our way back through Houston on our way back to Dallas. I knew we were close to Houston when a normal exit ramp wouldn’t due, and we started seeing the HotWheels style interchanges start appearing.

We couldn’t come through south central Texas without a stop on Brenham… Home of Blue Bell Ice Cream

Blue Bell has a great visitor’s center with props and exhibits telling the story of the Brenham Creamery which became Blue Bell Ice Cream. We even got to pose with one of the original Blue Bell delivery trucks.

Afterwards we headed into the store and ice cream parlor for some $1 scoops

We left Brenham and headed to College Station, Texas – the home of Texas A&M University. It was a beautiful campus, however, we didn’t realize that today was Ring Day (awarding of class rings to students). It is a BIG deal to the Aggie’s so this 5 minute detour took about 40 minutes.

As we continued on toward Dallas, I finally got to see a real-life oil derricks! ✔️ now my Texas trip is complete!

We decided to eat before we got to Dallas so once we were in the hotel we didn’t have to leave to go anywhere else. After a little research, we found Ruston Cattle Company in Ennis, Texas. Great reviews and great selection of steak (birthday boy’s choice).

What he didn’t know was that Ruston Cattle Company sold Wagyu beef. Leo has wanted to try wagyu beef since he watched some cooking video online… (Thanks internet!) In case you’re wondering, wagyu is beef that contains a higher percentage of Omega 3 and Omega 6, as well as more monounsaturated fats than any other beef. I’m not sure that that’s completely accurate, but the steaks were great! And the birthday banana pudding was a hit!

Leo refused to let me tell the waitress that we were celebrating his birthday, so had to settle for a picture on the porch. 🥳

After dinner, we were traveled the 30 miles to Dallas… we knew we were close when we say the Hotwheels interchanges again and the skyline.

Checked in and showered, we finished the night with some blackjack and old maid.

Tomorrow we head home from a Texas-sized week of memories ♥️

Today was a sleeping-in-slow-moving-beachy-kinda day. We didn’t manage to do anything other than eat until noon, and finally left the house and made it onto the beach around the crack-of-2pm. And while normally this would have been a complete waste of a vacation day, today it was just about perfect!

There was an unusually large crowd of older folks and folks with telephoto lens camera set up on the seawall when we arrived. As we got closer, we saw why. Huge wooden sailing ships dotted the ocean. After a little internet sleuthing, we discovered that today is the start of the “Tall Ships Challenge.” It’s a sailing regatta-style festival for antique ships. We tried to imagine crossing the ocean in these ships on a calm day, much less during storms 😬

These two again played their wrestle/catch style game in the ocean, and then convinced Mike to play (with the condition that they play near the edge of the water). I didn’t quite understand the rules, but they had a blast playing.

We ventured out on the jetty so boys could see what the fuss was about… apparently it was very Zen 🤣

Mike and I didn’t go to the end but we still snapped a few good pictures

We headed back and the ball-toss game restarted for a while, then switched to boogie boards, by then the boys were hungry (again) so we walked back to our little house.

We made a quick trip to Walmart for a couple of things for dinner tonight, but more importantly, we went for a new cooler to ship all of our fish from yesterday back home. The plan is to ship it overnight by Fed Ex, so it should arrive home about the time we do tomorrow. We thawed enough to fry for dinner tonight with rice pilaf and sautéed veggies, and it was outstanding! We had zero leftovers. Apparently, we were all hungry for home-cooking.

It was Leo’s night to pick the board game and he choose Apples to Apples. Clearly there were some disagreements about the judges’ ruling but we had so much fun and laughed at each other until our stomachs hurt. It is so fun seeing just how funny the boys are becoming. This has been my favorite part of vacation ♥️

Tonight was our last night with a 13 year old in the house, because tomorrow Leo turns 14! 🥳🥳🥳 We’ve got the birthday signs hung and a couple of fun things planned for his big day and our last full day of this trip.

Today started EARLY! Like wake up at 6am on vacation early, but it was well worth it to spend the morning in the Gulf of Mexico catching fish.

We met Captain Matt at 7am and hit the water. Since Leo and Mike get a little motion sick, we decided to do the inland jetty fishing trip. The jetties were hand-built rock walls built in 1905 after the 1900 Hurricane that hit Galveston. It was a way to try and keep the channels open following the storms. The jetties are 6 miles long, and we were about 5 miles out along the jetty where the fish like to hang out. Even though we weren’t in really open seas, the ocean was still pretty choppy today.

It was beautiful but a little windy. Someone did not listen to their mother about a sweatshirt and was freezing, although he would never admit it. (oh to be 15 again).

It was a great day for fishing! All the boys caught HUGE red drums, after a bit of a battle to get them in the boat

Mike actually caught his whooper on 25-pound line (smaller rod than boys) and had to battle him about half an hour before he was finally close enough to the boat to catch in the net. He was a 32-pound monster!

We also caught a few saltwater catfish, which I didn’t know until yesterday existed. You don’t eat these because they have an enzyme on their skin that can cause a terrible infection.

We have found that every time we go fishing one person in our group catches zero. Zero, like not even a nibble. This trip that was me. NOTHING came near my line, which was fine so I could take care of a couple in our group who felt pretty yucky.

Within a couple of hours, we caught our limit of the big red drums – even had to through Michael’s second one back because it was over the limit. And then look, a maritime miracle: we caught these two being friends not brothers ♥️

As we made our way back to Capt Matt’s slip, we had a couple of observers… who quickly multiplied when we started unloading the fish.

That’s a whole lotta fish!

We learned a few new random bits of trivia to share: fish gills look like giant teeth, pelicans will try to swallow stuff even if they can’t, and if you don’t stab a fish in the eye before throwing the head in the water, they will float back up after a day or so due to gases.

Eight gallon ziplocs bags full of fish, we headed back to our little VRBO. After our adventure getting into this place, everything has been perfect! Everyone has their own room and we’ve gotten all of our clothes washed and ready for the rest of the trip.

The boys and I decided to check out the beach after lunch, but I’m not sure how they swam in this cold water!

After a dip in the hot tub (to thaw out), we had a home cooked dinner with veggies, and then Michael challenged us to a game of Monopoly (because he never loses).

Until tonight!

Tomorrow, we have absolutely nothing to d0, and after getting up so early today we are all ready for an early bedtime tonight.

Day 5 of Vacation and I had to ask Mike “Where did we start today?” LOL

We started this morning earlier than we’ve been used to because we had timed entry tickets to the Alamo. Walking along the Riverwalk in the morning was gorgeous.

The Battle of the Alamo in 1836 was a turning point in Texas Revolution, especially because of the brutality of Santa Anna. He only left women, children and a former slave alive after the 13 day seige, with instructions to tell of what he had done. The only remaining original structures are free to visit but the audio tour is well worth the extra cost.

Inside the audio tour walks you through each part of the Battle. The boys were surprisingly into this story. Of course, it helped to have the individual audio devices so they could listen at their own speed/style.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather or crowd. They loved the outside portion of the tour and now are ready to visit Puerto Rico 🤷🏻‍♀️ because that’s what this reminded them of? It was gorgeous, but I’m just not sure where the Puerto Rico reference developed?

But they were happy together and not wrestling so I’ll definitely “Remember the Alamo!”

Couldn’t resist the chance to photo bomb Michael’s pictures!

The live re-enactments were interesting. The soliders didn’t use regular playing cards – no one wanted the good cards to be anything about a king or queen, so the best card was George Washington. It would be disrespectful to have a card with a real woman on it so they created one with greek goddess. The cards from the decks played another role beyond entertainment. Supporters of Texas were told to put a card in their hat so soldiers would know who NOT to shoot.

Our own Daniel Boone ♥️

This came up as my memory today… and when noticed the photo from today… They’ve changed a bit since taking this picture one year ago in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

We came, we toured, we’ll remember the Alamo!

We left our car at the hotel while we explored San Antonio. The city reminds us of Charleston, with some delicious conveniences, like a Voodoo Donuts – Yum! The VooDoo dozen has some crazy combinations (one of them had Capt Crunch cereal on it). But after snacking on a few, we thought they would travel well to Galveston for a few breakfasts when we dont have a buffet waiting 😉

We left San Antonio and meandered our way to Galveston… Meander means I’m absolutely going to find some random stuff to see… how about the World’s Oldest Largest Pecan in Seguin, Texas? What does Oldest Largest mean… well, this WAS the World’s Largest Pecan from 1962 to 1982 when a larger pecan was made in Brunswick Missouri. So, since 2nd largest pecan doesn’t sound nearly as good, this is the Oldest Largest Pecan. And now you know 🤣

As we traveled on, we needed gas and decided we’d stop at another Buc-ee’s.

This one isn’t as large (still size of small grocery store) BUT according to the sign out front and construction going on, this will be the world’s largest Buc-ee’s in 2024. We may have to come back to check. But seriously, look at the jerky counter… over 15 varieties… OF JERKY! Is there this much of a market for jerky?

We traveled on munching on our brisket sandwiches and beaver nuggets, and came across more Texas interchanges… we’ve become slightly obsessed with these. We’re going to be so depressed taking regular ‘ol exits off the interstate 😐

Finally, we made it to Houston – we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to travel.

We decided to see the Alamo story through to the end and visit the Memorial to the Battle of San Jacinto where the Texan army, still angered by the brutality of Santa Ana, defeated the Mexican Army in April of 1836 – the first victory for the Republic of Texas. The Monument is 567 feet tall (for comparison the Washington Monument is 554 feet tall)… there is also a rectangular pool to the right of the monument, which really makes it appear to be mimicking the Washington Monument reflecting pool BUT that wasn’t on a plaque so it’s truthfulness is questionable 😂

We rented a VRBO in Galveston for the next three nights, and were greeted with quite the surprise when we arrived. The Kitchen was dirty, the beds had piles of sheets on them, trash still in can, washer and dryer are running… Michael asked if we were in the right house?! I kept thinking “man, we’ve had the best luck with VRBO, and now where are we going to go?” So I called Mark, the owner, and politely asked for help. He was fantastic. He called the cleaning company. Turns out there was just a mix-up. The cleaning company thought we were coming Wednesday, so there weren’t in a rush to finish cleaning here. Mark venmo’d us $150 for dinner and gave some great suggestions. He told us to come back at 8pm unless we heard from him earlier. Again, we pointed out to boys how asking politely for help versus screaming about issues had actually worked everything out even better than we planned.

Now let me just say what a stroke of luck this turned out to be…because Mark suggested we have dinner at Katie’s Seafood House. We have eaten some great meals all across the country and this meal was easily in the top 5! And then the giant banana pudding! Only thing that could make it better was a great waiter, oh wait… we had the best waiter named Jimmy Ray!

As always, God just worked things out much better than we could have planned.

Tomorrow we are up bright and early for fishing so hopefully we’ll have a freezer full of fish this time tomorrow night. 🎣

After sleeping in, and of course a big ol breakfast, we spent today exploring Austin. We started our day with a tour of the Texas State Capital.

The tour was free and pretty interesting. (My only complaint would be that the tour guides aren’t allowed to use microphones, and we were in a group of 50 people. If we weren’t close to the guide, you couldn’t tell what he was saying.). The rotunda was stunning! It is over 200 feet from the Star at the top to the Star on the ground.

We saw the House floor, and the members’ voting desks, as well as the underground areas added in the 1990s due to overcrowding. These allowed for more office space, but they still wanted to have a view of the Rotunda… insert skylights.

Boys wanted to go all the way to the top level so we climbed all all all the stairs to the stop.

We grabbed a drink and snack in the Capital Grill and then headed to the Texas State History Museum. Mike and I visited the Museum when we were here about 8 years ago, and it was great. However, we soon learned, that the museum is open every day… except Monday… And today is… Monday 🤦🏻‍♀️

So, we pivoted and decided to take a drive through the University of Texas Austin campus.

The campus itself was nice but the surrounding area could use a little attention. We decided to start making our way toward San Antonio with a few stops along the way thanks to http://www.roadsideamerica.com. How about the Guiness Book of World Record’s World’s Largest Shovel?

Another quick side trip was to the first picture in the Mermaid March. Apparently long ago, there was an attraction called “Aquarena Springs” in San Marcos. One of the featured acts was Ralph, the diving pig from San Marcos. Well they had us at Pig ♥️

And then we headed to the world’s largest convenience store – Buckee’s in New Braunfels, Texas. This place was GIGANTIC! They had everything: clothes, food, grill items, every slushee flavor known to man, a deli specializing in homemade jerky, and quite possibly the greatest brisket sandwich we have ever had.

Next stop, Gruene, Texas: home of the Gruene Dance Hall. Gruene was settled by German cotton farmers in 1872. The story goes that the town eventually became like a ghost town until someone floating down the river saw the old dance hall and decided to revitalize it. Now it is the oldest dance hall in Texas! It also boasts a downtown area that looks straight of out a Hallmark movie

We finally made it to San Antonio around 5. When we checked in, we asked for a rollaway bed (the man-size children have a hard time sharing a bed), San Antonio Fire Marshall doesn’t allow rollaway beds in rooms with 2 beds. We’ve had this come up before in the larger cities so we politely so okay. I guess sweet Amanda at the front desk wasn’t used to a kind response to bad news, because she said let me see what we can. She upgraded us to a 2-room suite with king size bed and pullout sofa, and now we can get a rollaway bed. People nowadays are so rude that people are shocked when they receive kindness. It was great lesson for boys to witness. We dropped our bags and checked out the balcony, and then headed out to explore the River Walk.

The Riverwalk in San Antonio is a 15-mile waterway running through San Antonio. It was created in response to deadly flooding in 1921. It has been expanded several times since, usually to accomodate a new hotel’s request for a slice of “riverfront” property. While the water isn’t the cleanest, the Riverwalk is safe and provides beautiful views for a walk along the river.

After some time strolling the Riverwalk, we stopped for dinner at Iron Cactus. Mike and I found this place when we were in Austin a few years ago with a work trip, and we were so thankful it was still open. I was a little afraid we had built this place up to the boys too much, but it was just as good as we remembered. The tableside guacamole is the best we have ever had then and now!

Bellies full to capacity we strolled a bit more

and then came back to the hotel to rest a hot minute before squeezing in a last minute swim… I don’t think these 2 ever wear out

Tomorrow we remember the Alamo and head to the coast.