This was my first official trip to Texas, and I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I had driven through it before on a cross country trip with my family, but we didn’t stop anywhere except a rest area somewhere along the highway. I don’t even remember which highway, or which towns/cities we went through. So I was kind of excited yet kind of nervous – most peoples’ reactions when we told them we were going to Texas was, “Why?”
Why indeed. For the food, duh. I wanted to taste Tex Mex cuisine, Texas barbecue, and pretty much anything else I could get my hands on that I wouldn’t be able to have back home. Texas seemed like a good place to be able to consume massive quantities of food and not be judged for it.
We did some sightseeing as well, of course. We had to kill some time in between all the eating so that we could make space in our stomachs for more food. There wasn’t much to see in Houston proper, our first stop, but we did spend a great day exploring the Johnson Space Center. We even got to touch moon rock!
The historic Mission Control (should look familiar if you watched the Apollo 13 movie)
The building where they do training for International Space Center missions
The ginormous Saturn V rocket display
The thrusters on the Saturn V rocket
Shuttlecraft Galileo from Star Trek
We spent an epic afternoon eating in Lockhart, the barbecue capital of Texas.
Caldwell County Courthouse
We remembered the Alamo in San Antonio, plus a few other less well-known missions that were pretty beautiful.
The Alamo
Mission Concepcion
Mission San Jose
Mission San Juan
Mission Espada
We also strolled along the famed River Walk, underneath a twinkly canopy of Christmas lights. We were there during the day as well, but it’s much more magical at night.
A boat on the River Walk
Endless strands of Christmas lights
And we saw the Texas State Capitol in Austin and the statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Oh, and a graffiti park. Yeah, there wasn’t a whole lot to see in Austin. But at least the food was good!
State Capitol
Stevie Ray Vaughan statue
Walls of graffiti
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised – we had a great time, ate way more food than we should have, and I would happily go back to eat some more; there was still lots that we didn’t get to. All in all, our mini road trip from Louisiana to Texas was a huge success, and we look forward to our next adventure with J.
Tags: Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Texas