Texas: a Mixed Bag

My goal with my husband is to visit all 50 states before we die. I guess you could say it is our bucket list. Since the girls have joined our family, they have decided that they want to visit all 50 states, too. So far we have taken the girls to nine different states -- which puts them at a total of 11 states on their map, including the state where we live and the state where their biological grandmother lives.

For our vacation this year we decided to go to Texas. My husband and I had already crossed the Lone Star state off our list, but decided to go back so the girls could cross it off their list, too. Plus, the girls had never seen the ocean or visited a beach before, and we thought that would be a great experience to have as a family.

I can tell I love my children because I would not have returned to Texas for any other reason. Texas is hot and humid. I remember going to a wedding in early June one year and every time I walked outside it was like stepping into a pre-heated oven. That sickeningly hot whoosh of hot air would hit me in the face each time I opened a door. I'm not a hot weather person. I love boots and cozy sweaters. My uber-fair skin (I like to describe my skin tone as florescent) doesn't do well in the sun, so it is best to keep my body covered up as much as possible to avoid blinding others.

Despite my ill feelings toward Texas heat, I agreed to take my children. I had a good plan and we hit a lot of different kinds of places.

Here are the things I liked about Texas on this vacation:

• San Antonio's River Walk -- This was gorgeous and definitely worth the whole trip. I am so glad to have experienced the River Walk. Our Holiday Inn Express on the River Walk was the perfect hotel stay and made for a great home base while in the city. We took the boat tour which was really interesting and allowed us to see the whole Walk.
• Restaurants -- Cheesy Jane's (great burgers and malts, super adorable atmosphere), Magic Time Machine (so wonderfully kitschy, with hilarious waiters/waitresses dressed up as different characters like Elsa, Zorro, and Nacho Libre), breakfast at Whattaburger (chicken biscuits with honey butter), so many Raising Cane's in Texas (yum!), and the brisket tacos at State Line BBQ on the River Walk.
• McKinney Falls in Austin -- our experience may have been unique since we were seeing the result of flood waters going over the falls. Very pretty state park and the falls were beautiful.
• The Alamo -- I have heard some people complain that it was anticlimactic, but I thought it was really pretty and I was surprised that it was so beautifully preserved in the midst of the city.
• Buc-ee's Gas Stations -- Yes, I just put a gas station chain in my list of favorite experiences. It is hard to explain why they are so great. You'll just have to visit one to see it for yourself.
• Rest areas -- Again, you probably are wondering why this is on the list. Seriously, Texas has some amazingly nice rest areas.

Things that were just "okay" in Texas:

• Whattaburger -- I thought the burgers were just "meh". I've heard people rave about Whattaburger, but I thought they were pretty bland and boring. Please don't send me hate mail. 
• The Beach in Corpus Christi -- we stayed on North Padre Island, not far from Mustang Island. The beach there was connected with our hotel property, so it was super convenient. But the sand was dirty and packed hard. The water was so gross and dirty, with lots of icky things floating in it. I felt really gross being in the water there. My daughters LOVED being in the ocean, but they have nothing to compare it to (like the pristine water in places like Caye Caulker in Belize).
• Holiday Inn Express in Corpus Christi -- Our room had a king-size bed and a bunk bed, each separated by a wall to make it feel more private. There was a TV in the bunk bed "room" and another TV that was visible to the king-size bed. But the hotel was older and felt a little dirty. The elevators were TINY (our family of four barely fit in there). The hotel was undergoing renovation, which made everything at the front desk feel chaotic and disorganized.
• Brooklyn Pie Co. in Corpus Christi -- It took FOREVER to get our food and it was good, but nothing to write home about.
• Witte Museum in San Antonio -- The first part of the museum we entered was "The Human Body Experience" and it was pretty neat. They also had a tree house area and one of those bicycles you can ride across a tightrope, which was neat. The museum sat along a branch of the San Antonio river (I think that's what it was), which was pretty. However, the rest of the museum was just okay and might not have been worth the ticket price. The Ice Age exhibit especially wasn't worth the extra money we paid for admission.
• Market Square -- This "authentic" Latino market was really neat looking, but the "street" food we got (gorditas and mini tacos) was EXPENSIVE. Plus, all the shops seemed to be selling variations of the exact same Mexican-style tourist items. The music was good and it was a good experience to expose the girls to, since it felt a little like being in another country. And other than food and parking, it was a free attraction.

Things I hated about Texas:

• The heat
• The humidity
• The way my hair looked for our entire vacation
• Dallas
• Traffic in Dallas

Things I wish we had done in Texas:

• San Antonio Zoo -- It looked like a really neat zoo, but was expensive enough that we decided to pass since we had already spent a lot of money on other attractions. I wish we had chosen the zoo over a couple of other experiences.
• The Do-seum in San Antonio -- This experience-oriented, hands-on Children's Museum in San Antonio wasn't officially open yet during our vacation, but it looked really amazing and fun.