The last leg of our trip was a short time in San Antonio before we headed back toward Austin and eventually, Buffalo. Our hotel in San Antonio was wonderful, and I’m sad that we didn’t get to spend more time there! The Hotel Contessa was such a beautiful place to stay. I especially loved the exposed brick wall in the room, which gave it an eclectic feel! Everything was very comfortable; we paid to valet the car, and also ordered room service breakfast the next morning. While on vacation, sometimes you’ve just got to treat yourself.

We didn’t get to do a whole lot in San Antonio, but we did get to see the Riverwalk, which we ventured around for a bit. If we’d had more time, I would’ve loved to do one of the boat tours – but it was already a super hot day, and I couldn’t imagine spending more time out there. That being said, the Riverwalk was so beautiful! I appreciated how shaded most of it was, thanks to the many trees surrounding the river. I could definitely see returning to have a nice lunch along the river, or perhaps a cold drink.

We also walked over to the Alamo, which was interesting. The best way I can describe it: you’re in the middle of this bustling city of San Antonio, filled with modern buildings, and then, all of a sudden, you’re in the Alamo. I’d like to learn a bit more about the history behind it all. We did get to go inside (the line was long, but moved quite fast!) Understandably, no photos are allowed inside. It is a historic structure (and church), after all, so respect is paramount!

And yes, I paid for the cheesy tourist photo. (Behind-the-scenes moment: it was so hot and humid outside! I honestly don’t think I could’ve been outside much longer. As we waited in line at the Alamo, I could literally feel the sweat dripping down my back. When we took this photo, I thought ‘Hah! Definitely not paying for that, because I’m sure I look horrible and as gross as I feel!’ As it turns out, not too bad).

After picking up a few souvenirs, we headed back to our car and then hit the road back toward Austin. I know our time in Texas was limited, but I really do feel like I got to see a lot of wonderful things and cover a lot of ground. From Austin to Dallas to Houston to San Antonio, we hit a lot of major points and it only helped further my case of the travel bug!

After lunch at Raising Cane’s (please, send me some of that Texas toast), we headed back to Ryan’s grandma’s house and relaxed for our final evening in the state. It was nice to spend some time with Ryan’s family, especially his grandma, and I know everyone appreciated our visit as well. Hopefully we’ll be back sooner rather than later!

On Saturday, we spent most of the morning enjoying more family time before heading from Coupland back to Austin proper. A quick stop at the Travis County Expo Center allowed my husband to revisit the former home of the Austin Ice Bats hockey team; we then dropped our rental car off back at Silvercar and got to the airport!

We grabbed lunch – pizza – at Second Bar + Kitchen in the Austin airport, which was a very good call. Yum. From there, it was back on Southwest flights from Austin to Chicago (Midway), then Chicago to Buffalo. Everything, once again, went very smoothly. As it turned out, we were on the same plane and flying from the same gate that we landed in at Chicago – so all we had to do was get off the plane, walk into the airport and sit down right at that gate! Super easy, though I know it won’t always be quite that simple. Everything was pretty much on time, everything was comfortable and not a lot of turbulence.

I really did have such an amazing time on this trip, and I’m so, so glad we were able to make it happen. Who knows where we’ll go next?