Alex and I are back in Austin!!! What??? Yeah, it's true! We just couldn't get enough of it, so we decided to go back. One great afternoon was too much of a tease and since the weather has cleared up we came back to enjoy the rest of the cake:) We have only been here a few hours and I'm loving it! We went to the Capital and learned a ton of cool facts about the state of Texas. Did you know that the battle that won Texas their independence only lasted 18 minutes?? It was the battle at San Jacinto and it was a genius surprise attack. The Texan's snook up on the Mexican army while they were taking their daily siesta (naptime). During the siesta the Mexican's put all their weapons away and for some reason the Mexican President didn't have anyone guarding the camp during the naptime. They camped right by the water and the Texan's destroyed the bridge that would allow the Mexicans to bring in re-enforcement if they so chose. So, the Texan's basically surrounded and trapped in the Mexican army forcing them to surrender. The Mexican President disguised himself as a lowly soldier, fled the battle, and then camped out in a nearby forest. The next day, some Texan soldiers accidentally found the president hiding in the forest, but they didn't know it was the president until they brought him back to the camp where he was then identified by someone who knew who the president was. And that's the story. I thought it was pretty cool. Also, did you know that the Texas State Capital building is the only capital in the U.S that didn't cost any money for them to build? It was a gift from a company up north somewhere; I can't remember where it was or the name of the company. Texas gave the company land in return for their gift. The Texas state capital is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It's pink because the building was built using pink granite.
I should probably tell you a little about our time San Antonio, famous for the Alamo. Most people think the battle at the Alamo was the first battle of Texas trying to gain their independence, which is only half true. It was a battle of Texas trying to gain their Mexican Constitutional rights back and since the battle went so badly, the Texan's decided to then fight for total independence from Mexico. It sounded like a pretty brutal fight; 189 Texans against 4,000 Mexican troops. The battle surprisingly lasted 13 days. Every Texan was killed except for two slaves and 9 women and children. Pretty brutal.
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| People who fought and died at the Alamo |
When we arrived in San Antonio it was crazy cold and that night it snowed. It rarely snows in San Antonio, so when it does, it's a pretty big deal. Before it snowed they had what is called "freezing drizzle." Underneath the 1/4 inch of snow the roads were completely frozen, which made driving almost impossible. The next morning all the freeways were closed until about 11am when the snow began to melt. We were in a hotel, and had to check out by 11am. We didn't want to drive too much because the roads were still pretty dangerous, but we wanted to hangout somewhere warm until the roads became a little more safe. We decided to drive to a Starbucks about a mile from where we were at and we saw about 5 accidents during our drive. Cars were sliding all over the place. All I can say is, it wasn't the most comfortable drive when all you are worried about is someone either crashing into you or you crashing into someone else. I think it was probably the most stressful one mile drive I've ever been on. The second most stressful was the drive from San Gregorio to Pescadero, which if you haven't already read about it you can go back to the blog post about Half Moon Bay and watch a video about it. We eventually made it to our destination safely, thank God.
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| Snow day! |
San Antonio has a beautiful Riverwalk, which Alex and I enjoyed. It was really cold, but it was also very nice. It is lined with tons of fancy restaurants, shops and hotels. It's actually very romantic. We also visited the Japanese Tea Gardens, which I really enjoyed. They were doing a little renovations on some of the Japanese buildings, but the place was still very beautiful and charming.
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| San Antonio Riverwalk |
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| Koi pond at the Japanese Tea Gardens |
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| Japanese Tea Gardens |
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| Japanese style building |
On Sunday we stayed with some friends of mine who live in San Antonio, Jonah and Brandy Maddox. Jonah is in the Military and is currently going to school for Physical Therapy at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. They have the most awesome little boy! He is 3 years old and is super smart, funny, playful, polite and friendly. I think the reason their son is so awesome is because Jonah and Brandy are such amazing parents. Watching how they interact with their son was an enlightening experience. I know parenting isn't easy and it can be stressful at times, but the way they talked to their son, the way they played with him, the way they responded to him, and the way they disciplined him all seemed to be the right way to do things. I hope when Alex and I have kids we can be as awesome as they are!
San Antonio was a nice place to visit, but I think it seemed a little too crowded. I didn't warm up to it as much as I have to Austin, but it is still a very nice town.
I should probably tell you a little about our time San Antonio, famous for the Alamo. Most people think the battle at the Alamo was the first battle of Texas trying to gain their independence, which is only half true. It was a battle of Texas trying to gain their Mexican Constitutional rights back and since the battle went so badly, the Texan's decided to then fight for total independence from Mexico. It sounded like a pretty brutal fight; 189 Texans against 4,000 Mexican troops. The battle surprisingly lasted 13 days. Every Texan was killed except for two slaves and 9 women and children. Pretty brutal.
When we arrived in San Antonio it was crazy cold and that night it snowed. It rarely snows in San Antonio, so when it does, it's a pretty big deal. Before it snowed they had what is called "freezing drizzle." Underneath the 1/4 inch of snow the roads were completely frozen, which made driving almost impossible. The next morning all the freeways were closed until about 11am when the snow began to melt. We were in a hotel, and had to check out by 11am. We didn't want to drive too much because the roads were still pretty dangerous, but we wanted to hangout somewhere warm until the roads became a little more safe. We decided to drive to a Starbucks about a mile from where we were at and we saw about 5 accidents during our drive. Cars were sliding all over the place. All I can say is, it wasn't the most comfortable drive when all you are worried about is someone either crashing into you or you crashing into someone else. I think it was probably the most stressful one mile drive I've ever been on. The second most stressful was the drive from San Gregorio to Pescadero, which if you haven't already read about it you can go back to the blog post about Half Moon Bay and watch a video about it. We eventually made it to our destination safely, thank God.
San Antonio has a beautiful Riverwalk, which Alex and I enjoyed. It was really cold, but it was also very nice. It is lined with tons of fancy restaurants, shops and hotels. It's actually very romantic. We also visited the Japanese Tea Gardens, which I really enjoyed. They were doing a little renovations on some of the Japanese buildings, but the place was still very beautiful and charming.
I'm so bummed I had to go home and didn't even see you guys! I hope you guys and Micah had a fun evening!
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