My parents invited me to come out to Texas and visit some temples with them. Yes, please! It was so much fun to have them to myself for a few days. We made it to three temples: Houston, McAllen, and San Antonio.
It was my first time flying standby with B's flight benefits.
It's so fun!
I can't believe it works!
First temple: Houston
Each of the temples we visited was so beautiful.
I don't get to be in the temple with my
parents very often, so it was such a treat.
Actually, the last time we were together in the
temple may have been 1997, when I got married! Wow!
Ate lots of yummy food
My parents are on a quest to find a geocache in
every county in Texas--all 254 of them!
We found a few new ones on this trip.
The grasshoppers in TX are HUGE!
I remember them as a kid, but I wasn't
sure if I was mis-remembering them,
because I haven't seen one in a long time.
Nope, they're still there and still HUGE.
Buc-ee's!
I can't buy everything that I see when I'm flying,
so I had to use restraint.
Another cache!
A teeny tiny one!
And another!
And more yummy food--we ate lots of Mexican
Fun waffles at the hotel
We spent some time in Goliad.
They have a couple of cool, old missions.
This one is at Goliad State Park.
We did some birding in that area and I got
a couple of new lifers:
Golden-fronted Woodpecker and
Green Jay!
So gorgeous!
Had fun looking around at the artifacts.
Love these pretty old doors.
Thought this was interesting decor
on the side of the mission.
Beautiful inside.
And more pretty doors.
We have relatives that were buried there in Goliad.
My third great Grandmother,
Refugia Ramos Garcia
Her son, my great-uncle
Merced Ramos Garcia
the Presidio la Bahia.
Oh, I love it!
There's the historic Six Flags that have flown over Texas,
but there are actually NINE flags that have flown over Goliad!
Interesting to read about that history.
Another beautiful chapel.
This flag was kinda gruesome,
with blood drops falling from the arm...
can't see it clearly in my pic.
After our historical tour,
we headed to downtown Goliad.
They had some cute shops.
And a cool courthouse.
We went to Dairy Queen.
In TX, they always hold them upside down
before they hand them to you to show you how
thick they are. I love that! It reminds me of Grandma Cuca.
Got to see a few scissor-tailed flycatchers.
I love them!
They're common in this part of TX,
but it's the only place I've seen them.
Also got to see a new lifer--
the crested cara cara,
those two on the left of this picture.
Yay!
Aguas frescas!
Yum!
Ummm...
I need this restaurant in NC.
Why aren't there more healthy options for eating out???
Next stop: the McAllen Temple
Isn't the architecture beautiful?
We got to do an endowment session here in Spanish.
It was the best!
They put closed-captioning at the bottom and with
that, I understood almost all of it!
So exciting! It made me want to serve a Spanish-speaking
mission RIGHT NOW.
A close-up of some of the details on the exterior.
Another yummy Mexican place for dinner.
The next morning, we were off to San Antonio!
Our third and final temple of this trip.
What a spiritual feast!
Lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings where we could
watch the first half of the BYU football game.
Perfect!
Then off to our hotel to watch the second half.
My mom's cousin, Andy, works for Marriott and
was able to get us a nice room right in
downtown San Antonio.
He had these beautiful charcuterie boards
waiting for us in our room. So thoughtful!
That evening we went down to the
River Walk. Andrew had been there for
work years ago, but I had never been.
It's such a great downtown!
There happened to be a Mexican dancing performance
at the amphitheater while we were walking around.
There are lots of souvenir shops in the area.
Happy to see Andrew and Andrea together. :)
Also fun to see Sweetheart and Hottie together.
On Sunday we went to church in a ward
there in San Antonio.
Had dinner at a BBQ place.
Took dinner to our cousin who's in a nursing home, Danny.
It was good to visit with him.
He's young (50's?), but had a stroke and left him
unable to walk or work.
Found a few more caches throughout the trip.
A pic from our room balcony with the hotel pool in the background.
And in the morning, we took a quick walk to the Alamo before
heading to the airport for me to start heading home.
The flights home were all full, so I ended up having
to buy my ticket instead of flying standby.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
We're still learning the ropes.
So grateful for these few days to have my parents to myself, to visit with a couple extended family members, and to spend lots of time worshipping in the temple. Loved it.
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