Just like that we were on the road again leaving Lake Charles and on our way home. While it would be a bummer to leave my Dad's house, I think the kids were ready to get home, and I know my severe sleep loss was catching up with me and I needed to get home. I know the kids had a great time, but both Cristina and I were tired and knew there was a lot of driving in front of us.
We tried a page out of our old playbook, leaving around 5 in the morning, but of course this didn't work out for us, the kids stayed awake the entire time (this is a constant theme). Considering that, it came as a huge surprise how well we were able to drive essentially non-stop (potty break at a rest stop) to San Antonio. The Triple D trip was far from complete San Antonio was chalk full of locations for us to visit, but I just had to have Texas BBQ in Texas so I found a place just outside of San Antonio, and on our way in to town.
Since we left so early, and never stopped, we were driving into town at 10:45 in the morning. While I had been up for nearly 7 hours, and ready for lunch, our location was not (they open at 11). Texas Pride BBQ was my ideal restaurant, off the beaten path, a local AND out of towner destination and dripping with character. The place was an old service station that had been converted into a restaurant. Heck there was even a playground for us all to play on while we waited for it to open.
So cool, a tire swing horse
I liked'em too
Good things they missed my kids fighting, I can't afford the fine
When in Texas you have to partake in the local specialty, and when it comes to BBQ and Texas I think of low and slow brisket. This place served up brisket by the pound that is cooked for 18 hours in a smoker and was as tender as can be. Their home made sausages were smoked as well and phenomenal. Without out a doubt the surprise of the stop was the tasty cheesy potatoes. The food was awesome, the personality was dripping, and the location was perfect, but easily the neatest part was the plates you were served on.
Yup Butcher's Paper
We left this last of our Triple D stops satisfied, full and ready to start our diet. We stayed with friends in San Antonio which was nice. They lived near a local park which we ran around till the kids could barely run anymore, or maybe it was until I could barely run anymore.
Dinner was homemade spaghetti and meat sauce, and it was fantastic. While the sleep troubles continued for the trip the stop was so nice.
My wife lovingly decided to let me sleep in, I had begun to run a fever and was not feeling too hot. Once we had started our day we took things slow aiming to get out around 12:30 and hit the down town area.
Downtown San Antonio is great, the river is right through the center of town and adds so much pizazz to the city it is really a neat place to be. Our first sop was a Children's Museum. This place was a blast, very similar to our last Children's Museum, but definitely worth the stop. We loved it and spent a couple hours running around and playing; playing in an airplane, with a ball factory, heck, they had it all.
We stayed for a long while, and then proceeded to walk to the Alamo. Visiting such a wonderful historical site is right up my alley. While my kids enjoyed it, and I am glad they saw the Alamo; I do wish they were a bit older here so I could have really gotten into the nuts and bolts of the history and spent a good amount of time there.
Our last stop of the day was the river walk. Let me start by saying this, if you have never been to the Riverwalk, or heard of the Riverwalk, you do owe it to yourself to visit this incredible place. This is a must for anyone in San Antonio. I knew instantly why this location made it in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die. I am going to put a picture or two up here, but it doesn't do it justice. The river tour we took was great, and full of information. This was a great location to visit and next time I am here I will likely get a hotel room on the river to just sit and enjoy the ambiance.
Tomorrow we would be driving home, but for our last stop on the trip before the big drive I was thrilled it went so well. Even walking around with a raging fever and runny nose I loved this city. I couldn't have asked for a better last real "stop" on our great adventure. Now if I could only get our kids to sleep.
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