Café Con Monica

Travel Days: A Day in San Antonio

We recently decided to take an afternoon drive to San Antonio. Of course, Austinites are constantly telling me how awful I-35 is they were not mistaken. All the construction makes for slow moving just to get out of the city. Not to mention we live north so had to drive across the city first.We didn’t have a plan for the day other than food (of course) and exploring.

Brunch

So we started with brunch at Grayze on Grayson St. Where we had a delicious brunch with an all toooo easy to drink bloody mary. If we hadn’t driven there we probably would have had had 3+ each and then you know…stumbled out.  

Historic Market Square

After that we drove over to explore the area. I had read that there was a labor day fest going all weekend so were greeted with a VERY hot and busy place. We walked around the indoor market a bit which felt so much like being in Mexico since a lot of their stuff is from there. Then we walked around the outside area. As soon as I realized I could walk around with a drink in my hand I got a mango margarita in a fun cup and kept browsing!  

The Alamo

From there we leisurely walked over to check it out. Since it is free to get in we just hopped in line and got to walk around. I freaking hate people who take photos when it is clearly stated that you shouldn’t take photos so I only took photos of areas where it was clearly allowed. Sometimes I think places are better left seen in person anyway. I was told by quite a few people that The Alamo is “underwhelming” and while it wasn’t amazing (I’ve seen quite some cool places in my travels) I still thought it was a nice visit and I appreciated learning more about what took place there. Also the original area was way bigger than it is now. They had some lines painted into the roads to show you were parts of it actually ended and it was cool to see how much bigger it was, especially with all the buildings and roads around it now.  

San Antonio Riverwalk

 From there we decided to walk the riverwalk. There was an entrance to head down right across from the Alamo. There is so much going on down there it was great people watching. It is so hard to get over the fact that the water is right there and with the crowds one wrong move and your swimming. Luckily it looked pretty shallow. So many restaurants and touristy shops and vendors. It was fun. We were told it is about 4 miles long but we walked about 2.5 miles of it..maybe a bit more.  

Extras…

We were pretty much wiped out by the sun and all the walking so we headed back to the Market Square and decided we deserved some of the well known sweets from the Mi Tierra Bakery(Panaderia) and omg…we may have walked out of there with like 2 bags full. Who wouldn’t?

Then off back to Austin we went! It was a great afternoon of sweating, exploring and shopping! We will definitely go back again soon!

Have you been to San Antonio? Any recommendations for next time?

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Travel Days: Asian Travels

Since I am currently on Vacation in Austin I thought it could be fun to look back on some of my firsts while traveling Asia! 

We have my first weekend trip to Macau where I bungee jumped off the Macau Tower! 
The first long weekend in the Philippines w/my favorite Canadian Courtney 
I was terrified…I’m a big baby
Oor New Years Eve in Hong Kong 
Eating all the food!
 Where is a place you’ve been a few times?
 

 

Travel Days: The rest of Denver!

You can see my first post about Denver: A Concert at Red Rocks here! Now I can share the rest of the trip.

Day 1- Arrive at Union Station

We landed and then took the train into Union Station, then the bus to our Hotel (Hilton Garden Inn) which was perfectly located. We were super early so we just wanted to store our bags. Getting around from the hotel was great because we were a block off the main 16St Mall so we could hop on/off the bus and get around.

We had brunch at Snooze in Union Station and then checked in, walked around and checked out Tattered Cover Bookstore(because books!), had lunch and got ready for Deadmau5 at Red Rocks.

Tattered Cover Bookstore

Day 2 – Voodoo Donuts

We were a bit tired and bit hungover so we were slow moving. We decided to check out Voodoo Donuts

Denver Botanical Gardens

It was definitely chilly out so we went to the Denver Botanic Gardens, and walked around enjoying the sun and warmth inside!

Epic Brewing Co & C Squared Cider

After the gardens we were feeling like a drink would be fun so we checked out Epic Brewing Co and stumbled on C Squared Cider where we hung out and had drinks while playing some of the games they had.

Dinner at Linger

For dinner we went to Linger, which was fantastic! It used to be an old mortuary and I am fascinated by all things weird so we had to eat there.

Day 3: Downtown Denver Aquarium

Another chilly day so we  explored some more by checking out the Downtown Denver Aquarium (don’t do this unless you don’t have one in your city…coming from having access to the Shedd all the time I was pretty sad).

We ate more food, of course, stopped by a couple shops because I was in Denver and its legal.

Denver Biscuit Co

Had brunch at Denver Biscuit Co and again..amazing! I had seen posts from this one on instagram and knew I needed to try it!

We also pretty much took the bus, walked or took short uber rides everywhere we went so we got to really see the city.

We had a great time! It was short and sweet and we both hope to go back in warmer months because we know there are a lot more things going on. Have you been to Denver? Any recommendations for the next time?

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