For some reason, we had the idea to head down to San Antonio for the day. I think it started with Mariko mentioning that she wanted to go to Trader Joe’s. Then Koa chimed in that we should go to Ripley’s Believe It or Not and finally Bay said we should also go to the Tower of the Americas. I was pretty much along for the ride!

Our first stop was some breakfast/lunch and our route took us south to William Cannon. We were avoiding I-35 of course, especially with SxSW going on. A quick check on Yelp and Torchy’s Tacos was decided on as the destination. It was our first time at one of the actual restaurants (rather than a catered event) so it was cool to see all the different items on the menu. There were so many!!! I chose the deep fried avocado taco and the jerk chicken taco, Mariko had a salmon taco and a barbacoa taco, and the kids had breakfast tacos. All of them were huge, filling, and tasty. The fried avocado taco was the best, with a really good crunch on the outside! Delicious!

After filling our bellies, it was time to head to San Antonio. We parked at our regular lot, which is the Rivercenter Mall parking structure. Might try a cheaper place next time, as it cost us $14 for the day. We had actually found a nice $5 lot, but it was a self-serve lot where you had to put the bills in a slot. Of course we didn’t have a fiver! At any rate, we parked the car and headed to Ripley’s Believe It or Not, which is right across the street from the Alamo. Ripley’s is a lot of fun, with some bizarre exhibits. I especially liked the headless chicken! After that, we went to the 4D movie next door which was pretty good but probably only worth $5 or so though. I’d recommend buying tickets online since you can save a couple bucks per ticket, and also skip the line at the actual attractions.

After Ripley’s the kids got their Dippin’ Dots ice cream and we relaxed for a bit in front of the Alamo. There were lots of people there for a re-enactment and it was neat to see all the old uniforms, artillery, guns and Bowie knives. We didn’t go into the Alamo to look for Pee Wee’s bike this time but we’ve all visited the Alamo before, so no biggie.

Next we took a stroll on the Riverwalk over to the Tower of the Americas. We decided not to go up to the observation deck (too expensive) and just played around down below by the fountains and water in Hemisfair Park. It was a really nice sunny day and we all had fun. Last time we were there, we just went up to the restaurant and had a beer and sodas and enjoyed the view. I’d recommend doing that if you don’t want to spend the money for a ticket.

Finally, we drove over to Trader Joe’s and bought a bunch of goodies, then across the way to Starbucks where I picked up a coffee for the road. It was a fun day hanging out with the family in San Antonio and pretty cool that we could do it in a short day. We even had time to hit the gym afterwards!

Oh, lastly we saw some horsies down by the Alamo too!: