Day 4 - San Antonio: Cave, Animals, Riverwalk

Seriously, our kids sleep a lot.  It was almost 10:00 am when they woke up so we didn't even look for a breakfast restaurant.  Instead we walked right over to Chick-Fil-A for a quick lunch.  

First, we headed back north about 35 mins drive to visit the Natural Bridge Caverns.  It was a 1:15 hr tour through the caves appx 180 ft below ground.  This was by far the best cave tour we've done!  The rooms were large and had so many stalactites, stalagmites, ribbons, curtains and draperies, etc.  Best part... no bats!  Down side though was the entire incline up and out was a series of very steep ramps in the form of switchbacks.  In the near 99% humidity, we were all huffing by the time we reached the top.

The caverns also offered a drive through zoo on the property next door, so we decided to check it out as well.  I balked at the prices for admission but within just a few minutes, I decided it was worth it.  We had a fun time identifying all the animals and even a run in with an ostrich that apparently did not care for Scott.  Lots of laughs by all throughout the tour. 

After that we headed back to the hotel to change our clothes for dinner.  I had made a reservation at a highly rated steak & seafood restaurant just up the road.  Once changed, we decided to kill a little time walking along the riverwalk.  Then it was back up to the road level for our dinner at Bohanan's.

Ok, really... this place is spectacular!  Loved everything we had.  Steaks were amazing... cooked over fire for amazing flavor.  Great cuts of meat and top notch sides.  

We all filled up and then headed back to the room.  Tyler arrived just in time for work.  Scott, Sammy and I took a short break and once the sun set, walked down the riverwalk to board a river cruise.

We all enjoyed the tour that took us on the loop of the river surrounding downtown.  Lots of restaurants and bars align the route along with statues and art installations.  It was great to see at night with all the lights!

We got back to the room around 9:30 pm.  I worked on some church stuff while Scott and Sammy watched some fail videos.  

Then it was off to bed!  We are all pretty tuckered out today!

Today's Weather in San Antonio:

High of 85*  Low of 61* Sunny

Day 3 - Fountains and Rodeo, and... Bats!?!

Another great night sleep!  We weren't in a rush to be anywhere so we let the kids sleep in a bit.  But given, we were sharing a room, it wasn't long before they started to stir.  We headed down to the breakfast buffet in the hotel at 9:00am.

Yesterday, I was able to get rodeo tickets for today at 1:30pm so we had some time to kill.  We took a nice walk through the historic district and enjoyed the warmth of the morning.  

Scott found a cool park in Fort Worth with water gardens so we decided to pack up our room and head over there.  

It is a beautiful park with incredible structures all with fountains, calming pools, and waterfalls.  We really enjoyed just exploring the space and posing for pictures.

When we left we noticed the parking lot we were in was the site of the major railroad hub.  I looked it up on ChatGPT to learn more and found the station is still in use and could be accessed through the condominiums that now took the majority of the space.  So we wandered it.  

It was incredible to see the architecture of the original train station (completed in 1931 - long before modern computers and equipment) and how carefully they repurposed the space for modern use while still protecting the history.  We went under ground following the white subway tile only to emerge on the open platform.  It was fun to imagine what this place would have looked like in its hay-day.

After we finished our exploration, we headed back to the stockyards and grabbed some lunch at Riscky's Barbecue.  They couldn't seat us in time so we got it to go and ate in the lobby of our hotel from last night.

After our meal, we walked over to Cowtown Colosseum for the Stockyards Championship Rodeo at 1:30pm.  We had great seats with a good view of all the events.  It was fun watching it with the kids who had never experienced rodeo before.  

We wrapped up around 3:15pm and grabbed the car to head south.  Today we are relocating to San Antonio, appx 4 hrs south.  

We had an obligatory stop at Buccee's in Hillsboro, TX.  I am always so fascinated by how they can pump so much fuel without bleeding those tanks dry.  We filled up on snacks, ziplock bags, even a dress... you know the typical things you buy at a gas station!

We ran into a decent backup near Waco which added almost 30 mins to our trip. I tried to convince Scott to cross a grassy median and onramp the highway from the shoulder like so many others were doing, but the kids outvoted me and we waited patiently for the traffic to clear.

We also used the opportunity to share with the kids about the Branch Davidians and all that occurred during the raid of their compound in 1993.  While some of the details were hazy even for Scott and I, we leaned it to ChatGPT to help!

Our next stop may surprise you.  But we were driving through Austin, TX at exactly the right time, so we went for it.  Here's the background.

In the city of Austin, there is one of the largest urban colonies of bats in the world, with over 1.5 million bats living under the Congress Avenue Bridge.  Each night around dusk, the bats wake up and fly out in a tight spiral formation (like a swirling tornado) for almost an hour straight.  It is a massive, coordinated migration for feeding.  And they eat appx 10-30,000 lbs of bugs EACH night.  Anyway, I heard of this bat colony years ago and have always been intrigued. And as it happened, we were passing Austin, right around 7:30 pm when they would be close to starting.  So we made a quick stop - and it was incredible! (The photos definitely don't do it justice - I promise)

We hadn't had supper yet, so we stopped for a quick meal at Freddys and then grabbed a coffee before getting back on the road.  We had 1:15 hrs remaining and pulled in to our hotel in San Antonio right around 10:15 pm.  We'll be here two nights so it'll be good to settle in.

We were all pretty shot after a big day... so it was pretty much straight to bed.

Day 2 - Fort Worth: Cars & Cattle

We had a great night's sleep. Honestly, we never would have known it was an airport. Our room was well-appointed, the airplane sounds minimal, and the lobby felt completely separate from the hustle and bustle of the airport.

We packed up our room and headed to the lobby restaurant for breakfast. It was a great meal! Scott and I shared croque madam and avocado toast... Yum! Tyler went for a bowl of frosted flakes and Sammy enjoyed the pancakes.

We collected our luggage and jumped a shuttle buss to the car rental lot.  We have a great vehicle - a Jeep Grand Wagoneer - so much space makes it very comfortable for the week and lots of leg room for the guys.

We are spending the first day in Fort Worth so its only around 30 mins to our first stop. The DFW Car and Toy Museum is a three level collection of Ron Sturgeon.  There were so many fun varieties of cars with sections for minicars, race cars, European, Asian, and celebrities.

We even found a section of "Cars That Shouldn't Exist" and the very first car was a 1985 Fiero which happens to be Scott's first car.  We had a good laugh.

Once we wrapped up, it was only a 10 min drive to the Historical Stockyards and our hotel for the night.  We were really excited that our room was available even before the early checkin time of 2:00pm. 

We decided to quick run over to the Stockyard Experience and learn more about the Long Horns that made this town famous.  

Then we walk around to explore.  First a raised walkway over the pens and then looked for a treat.  The area is full of stores and restaurants with so much to see and do. Sam grabbed a little cup of specialty ice cream and Tyler was thrilled to find Dr Pepper made with Cane Sugar.  

Today's temps hit 93* which is unseasonably warm for this time of year and definitely above Sammy's typical threshhold.  She had done great so far but we decided it was worth unloading our luggage and taking a short break in our room. I worked on some planning for tomorrow since we finished much of what I had planned already today. At 4:00 pm, we headed out to Exchange St to see the long horn parade.  

Since we didn't have lunch, we decided on an early dinner at Riscky's Steakhouse.  This place was opened in 1927 and has stayed in the Riscky family ever since, a whole four generations!  On our walk back we checked out a handmade leather shop with beautiful handcrafted bags and then the kids grabbed a shake from Shake Shack.  

We headed back to the hotel for a relaxing evening. Tyler and I worked on homework and then Sammy and I hit the pool to go swimming.  

Sammy got ready for bed. Tyler played some video game and Scott caught up on the news.  I decided to head outside and enjoy the last few moments of sunlight so I found a rocking chair on a porch and enjoyed people watching and reflecting on our day.  Once I had finished, I took a walk down the street, past the rodeo, and up Mule Alley.  There's so much going on and much to take in.

Today's Weather: Sunny: High of 93*; Low of 61*

Day 1 - Travel to Texas

Today was busy! Tyler had classes at GVSU, I was wrapping up an intensive class with LU and Scott had work this morning.  So rather than rushing to the airport to catch a 3:00 flight only to wait 4 hours for our connecting flight, we decided to rent a car and catch the second flight from Detroit. We left our house around 2:30 and enjoyed a more relaxed itinerary.

Dropped off the rental, checked in at the airport and found a pub to have dinner.  The waitress seemed super grumpy until we ordered our drinks and then she started dropping off trivia questions to the table for us.  We had a couple good laughs and enjoyed our meal.

Then we headed to our gate and waited for our 9:30 pm flight.

We landed in Dallas around 11:00 pm after a really smooth trip.  We grabbed our luggage and then took a bus to the Grand Hyatt.  We stayed on site at the airport because our flight arrived after the rental car offices had closed.  But we are all super tired so I'm grateful for a quick and convenient option!