As with Day 1’s blog, this day started the night before, as we were driving through the evening. I took first wheel, as Ashley was a little more tired then I was after a few beers. One of the beautiful things of our little Corolla, was the way we organized the interior, especially for Ashley, as she could lay almost fully flat in the back seat since she is small. This allowed her to be comfortable during long drives.
Our final destination of this day was San Antonio but we drove through the night to reach Austin by sun up. We understood this was the capital but we also wanted to see the nightlife and the hippie culture of the city, unfortunately to stay on schedule, we were only able to see the city in the morning.
We started with breakfast at a famous local food truck called The Paperboy. This was locally rated as the best breakfast for the money in Austin, and they were right! For just a few dollars you got a large handful of eggs, potatoes, onions, bacon, vegetables, and a blend of spices, cooked perfectly! This was my first time at a food truck for breakfast, and I was very happy with the result. This was a great way to start a half day excursion in Austin.
From there we went to downtown near the capital building area to explore. There is a river walk there that features a bridge that has bats under the area. As we were walking along the river, we walked under the bridge, and could hear them throughout the day. This was a different sight then most people from Florida are used to hearing. Either way, it was a very pleasant walk along the river. We did not see any bats however, even though we heard them. We headed to the capital building after stopping at a camping store (REI) for some extra supplies. This store was amazing and I recommend anyone with serious camping check them out. They have some very high quality items. We then continued to the park area where the capital building is located.
After we explored the outside of the capital building of Austin, we headed to lunch. We grabbed Quiznos across from the capital, because we knew we were going to go to a local state park in the afternoon just south of Austin called Pedernales State Park. This was one of the true gems that we found this trip, since we did not expect it to be so beautiful. Reason being, is we were supposed to go to the Instagram famous Hamilton Pool Preserve, and it wasn’t until we got to the area did we see that you needed a reservation for the day which could take weeks to book and secure. Nonetheless, I feel as though we enjoyed this just as much still, and it made it better being unexpected and spectacular.
The park itself features a large river and various waterfalls running through the park area. This river has carved out many rock structures and pot holes created from running water. These provided a unique geologic structure and miniature waterfalls. This is a small portion of the park and there were many secret routes to hidden lakes and pools that are absolutely beautiful that created many different colors with the right type of light in the day.
Many area were are blocked off so you couldn’t get around such as signs to go down to the ponds, but as long as no one is in the area I thought we could go. They tell you not to do it however, so please follow their instructions. Reason being was I was called out on Facebook about it when I tagged the lower spring area in a picture. There is a portion of the park that allows you to swim in the canyon river, and this was a great place to wash ourselves for the first time this trip! This was obviously much needed, and was a great refreshing experience, and unique since we were bathing in what was essentially a public river. I knew we would do the trip on budget, but doing this made it even more fun!
Either way, let’s continue onward! We headed to San Antonio (about an hour away) during the midday after our visit to the state park, and upon arrival spent the day walking the world famous Riverwalk, enjoying the drinks and dinner of all the restaurants.
As a college golfer, we traveled quite a bit, and in one of the past trips I was fortunate to travel on included a visit to the river walk in San Antonio. Ashley had never been there however, and I knew for a quick visit to San Antonio, this is the perfect place to see, along with the Alamo!
The Alamo, is a crucial part of American history, and an iconic representation of patriotism, and taking a stand against tyranny. This is a place every American should visit, to see the scope and the huge odds the Texans were up against defending their land from Mexico at this church. It is free to visit, unless you do an Audio tour. We decided to do this part first (before the Riverwalk), due to fading sunlight. I was blown away that I was standing in such an iconic part of American history. This was pure nostalgia for someone like myself and what I found to be interesting.
By this portion of the day we were starting to get very hungry, and headed back to the Riverwalk, and we ate at Acenar Mexican Restaurant on the west side of the river, and it was the perfect location for happy hour and food we were looking for. Of course our focus was Mexican food and good drinks, as we figured it would be a specialty in this region. We split fish tacos and a few different beers. The restaurant overlooks the outside areas and provides the perfect setting to soak in the Riverwalk. By the time we were done, it was time for another drink, before we did yet again…… ANOTHER night drive!
The Esquire Tavern is literally the longest bar (sit down area) in Texas and features many craft beers and I highly recommend trying it. This location was recommended to us by friends as a place we HAD to visit while in the city. Once it was about 8:30pm we enjoyed the nightlife and the lights on the riverwalk, however once we felt like leaving, we decided to drive all the way to Big Bend National Park and start next day where we wanted to be.
Before we started the long haul, it was time to utilize our cooler first, and prepare for wilderness exploration, as this was our first national park of the trip. We stopped at Walmart, and bought fresh vegetables, and food for the trip, such as chicken and dried goods. Once we filled up on gas we headed out. We actually were pulled over for slightly speeding just past this Walmart unfortunately but I believe the cop sympathized with us and let us go with a warning, as I told him of what we were doing driving around the country for the next 3 months.
This drive was one of the scariest portions of our trip as Google Maps took us south on Highway 90, which runs along the border of Mexico.. The scary portion was not just the thunderstorms that were eminent at 1am but the fact that we had not seen a car for over 95 miles! Last thing I want to do is be stuck in the middle of Texas along the Mexican border, as this portion was known for high crime, and drug trafficking. This is also one of the scariest portions due to the fact that we did not know what to expect on the road and we were already very tired. We were driving in the middle of nowhere in the dangerous weather, high winds and allot of lightning. The drive was no doubt intimidating, but we made it through the night and arrived at Big Bend National Park around 5am. I will say we did stop for an hour to take a nap on the side of the road halfway there, and we also stopped for an hour and a half to take another nap before we got into the park in Big Bend, heading south towards the park. This led us to the morning and beginning of the next day!
EXPENSES – June 1
18.78 gas
3 coffee
15 paperboy breakfast
8 quiznos sub
5 parking fee SAn antonio
3 Austin
15 bar san antonio
20 san antonio river dinner
8.50 candy san antonio
6 beer at esquire tavern
6 ice cream