For our honeymoon my husband and I ventured to south Texas. My husband has never ventured outside our little corner of the Panhandle so we made the trip a bit about exploring. I am going to be sharing with you our literary for a South Texas Getaway.
San Antonio was the highlight of this trip because I had only been once when I was younger. I enjoyed it so much that we decided to make that our official destination.
We started with a trip to Fredricksburg, Texas. If you have never been to Fredricksburg, it is a beautiful German town that is full of high end shopping. We stopped there and spent a few hours strolling through the stores on Main Street.
Fredricksburg, Texas
Some of our Fredricksburg favorites included the awesome hat shop pictured below, the dog boutique, and the coffee shop.
The coffee shop we stopped served an amazing latte and pastries. We just needed a quick boost and Java Ranch was the perfect place to go. The latte was extremely well made and the coffee was strong, just like my husband likes it. I had a kolache and we split a berry pastry. It was the perfect snack for shopping.
Dogologie was such a fun little store. We have two fur babies that we adore so we decided to grab them a special souvenir from our trip. They have an amazing selection of high end dog treats and chews. We choose to get them each a new buffalo horn to chew. The staff is so knowledgeable on all things puppy love. They helped us find the right size chews for Titus and Melody. Needless to say, they were both very happy with their new treats.
Finally we stopped at Headquarters Hats. This placed is stuffed to the brim (pun intended) with hats. They also carry a few lines of high end cowboy boots as well. My husband talked to one of the employees about boot polish and they were extremely helpful in color matching to his new boots he got before our wedding. We both fell in love with some high quality hats but didn’t make the investment during this trip.
There were so many other awesome stores we went into but these were some of our favorites. All in all we sent about 2 1/2 hours in Fredricksburg before moving to our next stop.
Gurene, Texas
Next stop we headed to Gurene, Texas for dinner and dancing. I was absolutely thrilled to add this stop when I did some research and found a concert playing there that night at the legendary Gruene Hall.
We stopped at Gristmill for dinner and drinks. This resurant is one of my absolute favorite places in Gruene because the food is great and the view is spectacular. I always ask to sit close to the water in the with the trees. I ordered a cheeseburger and hubby got a steak with french fries and mashed potatoes. There is definitely a reason food is one of our favorite ways to hang out.
We looked around the shops at Gurene while waiting for our concert and took a lot of pictures among the gorgeous scenery.
We enjoyed a fabulous concert by Shane Smith and the Saints which we had never even heard of before. Listening to this great band in the historic hall was such a great experience that we shared.
San Antonio, Texas
The Stay- DUBLIN ROOM AT O’CASEY’S BOUTIQUE INN
Hubby and I stayed at an Airbnb in San Antonio linked here. It was absolutely perfect for us. I highly recommend Airbnb, it is an awesome place to find reasonably priced accommodations. In towns like San Antonio you can find some really neat places to stay. Interested in trying it out? You can get a discount by using this link!
Day 1: We started our exploration with a trip to Downtown. We knew we wanted visit several different places so we actually bought bus passes for the day. We could save on paying multiple parking fees and explore more of the city this way. Our first stop was Pearl Brewery. They were having a farmers market on Sunday morning so we explored this adorable city center.
We grab a snack and listened to a local band before shopping the local stores and taking some pictures in front of some historical buildings. Lots of great photo opportunities here!
Next we took the bus downtown. I will add a disclaimer to say we ended up having to walk a lot in order to get to the bus stop that would actually take us downtown. It ended up being a total disaster but him and I are adventurous and just considered it all apart of the experience. If you are more into convenience and order I would suggest just driving downtown and paying $12-$20 to park.
We explored the Alamo, Rivercenter Mall, went on a river boat tour, and ate at the Iron Cactus! It was such a blast to explore and just take in this part of the town. We planned on going back so we didn’t worry about trying to fit every bit of the river walk in one trip.
Day 2: The San Antonio Zoo is by far one of the best zoos I have ever been to. It was clean, well organized and the animals were well cared for and active. We managed to grab our tickets for a smoking deal on Groupon! I definitely recommend them for discounted tickets and even coupons for places in San Antonio. There were a lot of options.
We spent the entire morning at the Zoo. It isn’t extremely big but it is a good size and we took our time. Since we went in September it was pretty warm. The zoo had a lot places to stop and rest and get out of the sun. They even had a children’s splash pad. This place is a must visit for little ones in your group.
Day 3: We spent the morning relaxing at our Bed and Breakfast before heading back to the Riverwalk. I used Yelp.com to find a fancy restaurant that I wanted to try. We explored the river some more and walked around one of the little shopping centers while we waited for our reservation. We had an amazing meal at Nonna Osteria and then enjoyed the lights of the Riverwalk as we walked back to our car. Do not miss the Riverwalk at night.
This trip was so incredibly special to us. We enjoyed it so much and as a newly wed couple it was important for it to be affordable. The area provides so much to do while still being cost effective. Lots of history and great food. I could not recommend it more.
The Madison Olivia 