San Antonio

A girls' getaway weekend. It was me, Kristin (a childhood friend), Kristin (a college roommate), and Jen (a friend from when I was in grad school). The destination was San Antonio, for no real reasons other than none of us had been there, it would be fairly warm, and we could all get fairly reasonable flights from our respective hometowns.

We stayed at the Omni, La Mansion del Rio.

Our hotel was right on the riverwalk. Downtown San Antonio is built along a small river, with small boat-taxis cruising up and down all day. One night, we even ate on one of those boats. Even though we spent the weekend walking and walking and walking the riverwalk, seeing the sights of San Antonio, I do not think any of us truly got our bearings.

Of course, we saw the Alamo. It happened to be Texas Independence Day when we were visiting, so there was a re-enactment. Lots of gun shots and cannons, and people dressed in frontier ware.

After the Alamo, we did all the touristy things -- including a trip to the "Ripley's Believe it Or Not" museum, where you learn how to make a shrunken head, and you see things like the man who can pop out his eyeballs, the world's largest tire, and the man who can swallow his nose. I am not sure if I ever need to go back to one of these museums, but the laughs were definitely worth the price of admision.

Thanks to Kristin's coupon finding skills, we were able to go to the Wax Museum next door for free. Look at who we hung out with: President Obama, Oprah, Lance Armstrong, Johnny Depp, Batman, Lady Gaga.

We finished our day of being tourists with a ghost hunting tour. Our guide told us some pretty gruesome stories about how people died around town, and gave us some cool gadgets to assist in finding ghosts, but alas, we did not see any ghosts.

One day, we went to the spa .... as should be done on all girls' weekends. It was bliss! Massages, facials, lunch, and desert with champagne on the rooftop.

Before we got our massages, we decided we should eat a quick, light breakfast. We sat down at a restaurant, which was only serviving a buffet. We asked if we could get a bowl of granola and berries for each of us. No problem! However, when we got our bill, we were charged $100 (essentially the same price had we all eaten the big buffet). So, yes, that will go down in history as the most expensive bowl of cereal ever. Other than that, San Antonio was incredibly affordable. Throughout the weekend, plenty of drinks were had, and lots of tex-mex food was consumed. We even met up with one of Kristin S's college friends, who wants to join us on our next weekend away.

So where shall our next trip be? And when?
Thanks girls for a great weekend away.

(and thanks to Kristin S for being our photographer)