48 Hours in San Antonio || Where We Stayed, What We Did

I'm going to first start out by asking all of you San Antonians a very big question that plagued me the ENTIRE trip.....

How many people fall in the Riverwalk each year?

How many? It's gotta be in the thousands? More? Hundreds of thousands? Millions?!?!?! Do tell.

First of all, there were about a trillion people jam packed into the Riverwalk. I don't know if it's because Dallas is so spread out, but I feel like I never see THAT many people (I'm assuming mostly tourists) in one part of the city. Sure, the Grassy Knoll attracts a lot of visitors, but not nearly as many as I had to dodge on the Riverwalk this past weekend. 

Second, there are no railings or guardrails. That blew my mind. Tourists, myself totally not included, are pushy and oblivious to anyone other than themselves. CB and I walked one by one, to be polite and make way for the families of 24 that all insisted on walking side by side, blocking the entire walk for anyone else. It got really dicey about 12 different times, and is nothing short of miraculous that I wasn't pushed into that water. 

I TOTALLY understand now why it's probably very rare to see a local at the Riverwalk. At least at the busy parts of the Riverwalk. That's a total shame because DAMN is it beautiful. This Dallasite was totally jealous that you guys have such a beautiful stretch of water to stroll whenever your heart desires. 

So, if anyone has the answer to my question, I'd love to know. Siri wasn't much help. 

Aside from my constant terror that a drunk idiot was going to push me into the water, and aside from the fact that CB got pooped on by a bird in the middle of a gorgeous, sunny afternoon on Friday we had the most fun during our trip. 

I'll start by saying... we failed on the food selection. I won't even tell you where we ate because you'll be so embarrassed to be reading this blog that you'll probably click away. 

Ok fine, you got me, we ate multiple meals on the Riverwalk. 

SORRY. 

I'm SORRY to have let you down.

Chips and salsa are like the world's most powerful magnet to me. When I see it available, I'm physically unable to turn it down. Furthermore, I'm even more embarrassed to tell you that I thought everywhere we ate on the Riverwalk was freaking delicious.

I'M SORRY. I'm so boring. This is why I can't have nice trips.

Ok ok ok. How about I just shut up and start our trip recap?

Where We Stayed?

Hotel Indigo at the Alamo

Anytime we travel for work, we always stay in IHG properties. This is fantastic when it comes time to travel and I have points built up. We stayed at the Hotel Indigo for free, and even got upgraded to a corner suite which had a fantastic view of the Tower of the Americas and the Alamo!

Loved this historic hotel, would for sure recommend for the great location and charm!

What We Did

Alamo, Tower of the Americas, Riverwalk, Market Square, Explored, Ate

CB was born and bred a Texan, but I've only been here a few years now, so I embraced my new Texas side by paying my respects at the Alamo. We weren't allowed any photography inside the Alamo, so here are some snaps from the outside!

We walked to the Tower of the Americas. CB and I can be slightly impatient at times (see also: always) so we didn't wait in the crazy long line to go up the Tower. We're lame, I know.

As I've already discussed, yes we did the Riverwalk. Again, not wanting to spend 3 hours of our very short time standing in line, we didn't get to take a Riverboat cruise. We instead walked a good majority of the entire thing! Probably better for us anyway. (And enjoyed some cold beer while doing so!)

Sunday morning we got up bright and early and walked to Market Square. This was quite the interesting walk, seeing as we had a homeless man trailing us the whole time yelling cuss words and telling us he was going to beat the BLEEP out of us. Looking back, I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking to us, more just to his invisible friend, but it creeped me out either way. YAY Happy Easter to you too, SIR! 

I was very relieved to finally arrive at the most colorful little square of shops and eateries I ever did see! 

Here are a few more snaps I took around downtown San Antonio! 

^^^ we had cocktails at this bar. Went for the history, but ended up leaving before even finishing our drink. I would recommend peeking through this hotel, but would not recommend sitting down for a drink. 

In a totally opposite scenario, we had a blast at this perfect little bar on the Riverwalk. 

 
On our way home, we left early enough to stop at what I was told was a Texas institution, Salt Lick BBQ. We got there around 11:15am, and they were already on a thirty minute wait. TOTALLY WORTH IT THOUGH. 

There is a chance I might be brought to tears just sitting here thinking about this place's BBQ. Dear lord. 

Now I'll be putting my luggage away for a while and never eating again. 

If you've made it this far in this VERY long post, I'm impressed by you. 

Tomorrow morning I'm going on a quick, but fun little adventure. 

Follow along with me on Snapchat to see where in Dallas I'm headed! 

Continue Reading...

Summer To Do List: Watch All of the Sunsets

This year for the 4th, CB and I headed out to his parent's house on Lake Granbury. What started as just a few of us heading to the lake to celebrate, somehow turned into a group of about 15! I've got to say, I did feel a little guilty being there seeing as we had about a trillion other things we should have been doing. If you follow me on Instagram, you will know what I'm talking about. I sure am glad we went though, it was an absolute blast. Literally, (I think I'm going to use that word correctly in 3...2...1...) a blast complete with fireworks galore. 
Lake Granbury, about an hour and a half from Dallas, had been in a multi-year draught. Each time I had visited, the water was so low that it didn't even come within 100 yards of the retaining wall that lines the property. After the Texas flooding in the month of May though, Lake Granbury was full and glistening with beauty! 

I could be found enjoying the sunset in the hammock. Because, Summer.

The award for cutest ever goes to Will, CB's nephew, who helped deliver all of the essentials from the car to the dock. Now that's what I call service with a smile! 

Oh, and this happened. 

BRB, we'll talk more on that tomorrow. 

Continue Reading...

Just Livin' The Life of a Dallas Sports Blogger

Some people start a blog to keep up with family and friends who live hundreds of miles away. Some people start blogging to get a bunch of free stuff. Some people start a blog to get clothes and shoes. Some people start because they are fantastic writers, and know they will be successful. I started blogging in hopes of bringing females, a female perspective on the sports world. I wanted to be a Dallas sports blogger, with the hopes of ticket offers miraculously wafting through my email inbox. Although I only blog about sports 1-2 times per week now, my goals and dreams of the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Vols approaching me to be their official blogger still remain the same. Sigh. 
In the (sorta) words of Juicy J, "Ticketz a make her dance."
If you love tickets, like I do, DFW was the place to be this weekend with the Texas Rangers' Opening Day and the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. I was one happy little girl to have tickets to both. Now my Rangers' tickets were standing room only, but the full day tailgate was half the fun! And for a minute, it felt like football season all over again.

  Shirt from HERE   Right as we started tailgating for the game, I had to say BRB to everyone because I had to run to a wedding. If you're a blogger and someone gets married in public right in front of you, and you don't go immediately and take pictures, I'm fairly certain your blogging card gets revoked. I didn't want to take that chance, so I bolted over to the tent next door. I'm a big fan of the tailgate wedding, for the record. 

Soon after, all of the wedding guests the Rangers fans headed into the game to root our team on! 

  I also managed to find my favorite MAVS Maniacs. These guys don't usually come to Rangers' games, so this was a treat to stumble on them. They seemed pretty tickled that someone recognized them as the Mavs Maniacs. Don't tell them I told you this, but they're kinda hard to miss... 

  Baseball is back, can't you see the happiness written all over my face?! Since I didn't have an actual seat for the game, CB (who gave up his seat with his friends to hang out with me... awwwwe) and I ducked into a bar on the second level. We benefited greatly from these seats as these kind people purchased us a Jägerbomb. Now, I haven't had one of these in a very long time, so CB and I split it. Good decision. 
I told them I was going to put their picture on the blog and help sell all of the Jägerbombs. See?Nonsense comments like that, yet another reason it was a good idea we split that shot... 

The Rangers lost, but they are still number one in our hearts. 
On Saturday, I had to get up, ignore my exhaustion level, and put my game face on all over again because it was time for the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. I actually had great tickets for this event through a website I had signed up for a couple of years ago called Klout. I'd never received a Klout perk before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. When I arrived at the track though, I found out I'd won a "Super Perk", and would get to go to Victory Lane with 3 of my friends after the race. How cool is that?? 
I had been to an IndyCar, and a Nationwide Series race, but never an actual NASCAR race. I might have to just retire from attending any more races, because I'm certain anything going forward will pale in comparison. 

I promptly picked a driver to root for, #6 Trevor Bayne, because I had to represent a  KNOXVILLE boy! He didn't win. He finished in 18th place out of 43 drivers, but that's ok because I was still proud to be one of the few in the crowd that was reppin' #6.

And yes, the tag is still on my hat in this photo below. I promise I remembered to remove it for the race... 

I also had "The World's Best" Bloody Mary.

I'm not sure about, "The World's Best"... they must not have been to Anvil Pub in Deep Ellum. 

Pro Tip: If you go to the race, either bring Ear Plugs or rent a Scanner. Otherwise, you will be deaf when you leave. Loud doesn't even begin to describe the sound of the cars screaming through your ear drums for 334 laps.

The flyover right after the National Anthem...

After the race, the madness happened. We got to watch the winner, Jimmie Johnson, arrive and celebrate in Victory Lane. No big deal, just spent my Saturday night hanging out with Jimmie Johnson and the Duck Dynasty guys.

Texas shaped confetti. That is all.

I was too chicken to ask Willie for a picture. Whomp whomp. It was all press, so I didn't want to be that girl.

I did get to meet Jimmie though (first name basis now, duh), and take a picture with the trophy! It was about midnight and we had been there for 8 hours at this point, so excuse me looking like a goober!

Whew! This was a long post, but everything was equally important, too important to skip.

If you're up for a challenge, I know for a fact that CB and I are shown in a handful of the Victory Lane videos/photos from some of the different media outlets. But be warned, before you start digging, it was me and 3 of my guy friends that ventured down to Victory Lane... CB being one of the three....

See, there I am....... CB can't be far!
Muahahhaaa

Continue Reading...