Trip three: San Antonio, TX

The week that Jay returned from work in June, it was time to try out a road trip in the new car!  And it definitely turned out to be an adventure.  I took off work on a Thursday and a Friday, so the fun began on Wednesday night when we drove to Meadville and dropped off the child...

Lilly had a great time and gained a few pounds eating Beggin' Strips for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We set out early Thursday morning for the great state of Texas.  Thursday night was spent in Humble, TX at the residence of Allan and Lori Ross with a fabulous dinner at the Melting Pot..(Jay and I were Melting Pot virgins and we thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of being our own chefs.

The host and hostess

On the other side of the FUN-do bowl

 Also, we went to my brother Allan's new job, (CONGRATS!!) and we learned that Jay is awesome at Mexican Train Dominoes...

Friday morning we headed for San Antonio.  When we arrived at our destination, I fell even more in love with livingsocial.com. :)  I had purchased an "Escape" from the website to stay at a bed and breakfast called The Oge' House.  Our room had a sitting room, a kingsize bed, a private patio, and a two-person bathtub complete with massaging jets on the bottom and sides...(clearly I was impressed with the bathtub...I wrote down the model number.) 

The Oge' House during the day (Jay on his BB)

The Oge' House at night

THE bathtub.  Oh, and our livingsocial.com package came with a bottle of chilled champagne, two glasses etched with the Inn's name, a box of Godiva chocolates, 6 battery operated tea light candles and one of the Inn's embroidered robes!

 After we arrived, we wanted lunch and we were directed to the Gunther House which is the home of Pioneer Flour etc.  The biscuits were fab.

That night, we had planned a wonderful dinner at The Little Rhein House (a steak place!!) Amazingly, our package deal came with a ride to our dinner, cheuffered by the Inn's owner in his antique Rolls Royce. 

Baked Alaska for dessert at The Fig Tree

The next day after a three-course breakfast at the Oge' House, we ventured off to the Stinson Airport to use a Groupon that I had bought.

Our helicopter ride!  Debbie, our pilot, flew us over downtown San Antonio...so much fun.

The rest of the day was spent touring.  It was SO HOT.   While perusing some events calendars at the airport, Jay and I came across an article on the San Jose' Mission.  I am so glad that Jay wanted to go as bad as I did.  The San Jose' Mission is the size of six football fields and is surrounded by a hand-built stone wall.  Everything there is original and still in tact.  You can walk around the grounds freely and take pictures or just enjoy the walk.  This is it from our helicopter ride:

At the entrance

The church inside of the mission

Propping this camera on a rock and using the timer, I took this picture twice by running back and forth!  Finally, some girl felt sorry for me and came and took our pic.

The rest of the day consisted of a visit to the Alamo, the Emily Morgan Hotel (haunted and great story), the Menger Hotel, the Riverwalk and a horse carriage ride, we started getting ready for dinner.

Prior to going to San Antonio, Jay was checking out restaurants that we might want to plan on for dinner.  We decided on a restaurant called Restaurant Gwendolyn (More info here).  At this restaurant, Chef Michael Sohocki and his staff prepare your meals using nothing that has a motor or that requires a plug.  They also only use ingredients brought in fresh daily from less than 150 miles away.  We were pumped to try it...but we didn't make a reservation!  When we called that night to try and reserve a table, we were told that they had been booked for two weeks.  We put our name on a waiting list, and then took turns calling every hour. :) At a quarter til seven, they called us and said if we could make it in thirty minutes that they had a table open!  It was luck.  We raced getting ready.  The restaurant was only one room.  The kitchen was enclosed by windows, so the customers could watch their food be prepared.  Jay and I got the 5-course tasting menu, of course, and we ordered one of each option.  We also opted for the wine pairings, which is something we have been doing at quite a few restaurants--and loving it. 

This was some kind of buttermilk and grass soup. :)

Jay got a little warm after the fourth course (and glass of wine), so I had to drink his. :)



From start to finish, this trip was a success.  Even the long drive back was a blast.  We stopped at Bucky's gas station/tourist attraction and picked up two bags of "Beaver Nuts" that kept us busy the whole way. 
*As a side note, I would like to mention that whenever Jay and I move to a new house, we will be installing this two person whirlpool tub.  I do believe I have never been cleaner than I was on this trip.  It was SO relaxing! Unforgettable.