Lost Maples State Park

This past weekend we took a drive to Lost Maples State Park to see some fall leaves since we don't really get to experience fall here in San Antonio. It was about an hour and a half drive, but was so pretty! The weather has been so nice! It's cool, but not cold enough to need gloves or even a jacket really. We had wanted to camp there, but the only tent camping they had you needed to backpack in, 1-3 miles, and our camping gear is not really backpack friendly. Hopefully someday soon we will have gear we need for that! We still had a fun time exploring the area and taking lots of pretty pictures. They said that this fall, the leaves weren't very vibrant, and it seemed that lots of them had blown off, but I will still pleased with the colors that were there.

And a happy birthday to this handsome Bear of mine! I'm so grateful for all of our adventures together. I'm so grateful for him and all he does for us! I'm so blessed and I can't wait to see what many adventures the future holds! 

Rio Vista Waterfall

We are LOVING TEXAS! Guys, there are so many amazing places to explore! It has so much history and so much diversity, I love it.

I read online about this free park with a little rock slide and rapids that looked really fun. It's about 50 minutes from our house. Pulling up we weren't sure what to expect. They hardly had any parking, and it was so close to the heart of town, I wondered if it was really as amazing as the photos online made it look to be.

Luckily, it really was AMAZING!

The park is along the lovely San Marco river. They have built a couple areas that are perfect for a fun time on the water. They have a little island you can walk out to, surrounded by beautiful crystal clear water. And downstream is a little waterfall you can slide down with some rapids. So beautiful and so much fun!

We have been twice now and love it every time. The water stays cool all year long, perfect for the terrible Texas heat! We are so in love with Texas and feel so blessed to get to be here and explore this beautiful state! Seriously, come visit, we will have the best time!

And we followed our day in the sun with some yummy burgers along the drive home.

Barton Springs

We have had so much fun exploring Texas. It's such a huge, beautiful state with so much variety.

One of the first adventures we went on was to Barton Springs in Austin.

After a near hour and a half drive, we stopped for some tacos first, we were too hungry! 

We stopped at a place called Cabo Bob's, which, from what I could find, is only in Austin, and served up some of the biggest tacos I have ever had! Very generous portions! 

I've also become pretty obsessed with checking the Snapchat filter for any city we visit. Austin had the cutest! (Snapchat username: adriacavanaugh)

And finally, to Barton Springs! (Again with the adorable Snapchat filter!)

We got there at about 1:30 on a weekday, and the parking lot was packed! Luckily we snagged a spot and had just a short little walk over to the pool. There was a HUGE line of people waiting for admittance. They only have one cashier, and take cash only, $8 a person. Luckily it moved along fairly quickly and we were in line maybe 15 minutes.

Despite the long line and the packed parking, the pool was huge and very spacious, so it didn't feel crowded at all. And it was so pretty! The water really is so blue, and it stays around 68 degrees, so it's perfect for the terrible Texas heat!

I loved the atmosphere there and can't wait to get back to Austin and explore more!

We also made a little vlog about the trip that you can watch below!

Texas Move ~ Arriving in Texas

This is part 4 in a 5 part series about our move to Texas. 

To read part one CLICK HERE. 

Enjoy! xoxo

The last day was by far the worst and the longest! Around lunchtime, as we were driving through Louisiana there was a horrible rainstorm! I have never been on the road in such a bad rainstorm. The wipers did nothing to clear the windshield! It was a little scary. But luckily we made it through in one piece. 

In the afternoon we crossed the line into Texas! Unfortunately, a big truck was blocking my shot of the sign at the state line. Boo! 

Maybe it's just me, but the last few hours of a road trip always seem the longest, don't they? It felt like we were on big open roads, going 80mph forever and not getting anywhere! But we did in fact, finally arrive!  

We still didn't have a place quite yet. We had considered signing on a lease online before hand, but we weren't brave enough to do that without seeing a place in person. So for the first couple nights in San Antonio we had to stay at a hotel.

I found a hotel close to the area we wanted to be, that happened to be right down the street from Sea World. A Hilton that was actually really cheap. I wondered what was wrong with the place that made it so cheap. Luckily nothing was wrong with the place at all! It was amazing! Word of advice, always check prices on Expedia! We got our room $50 cheaper than normal! It was a HUGE room, with a living room, a kitchenette, a bedroom, a massive bathroom with a huge jetted tub, and balcony with a lovely view! We could have just lived there! Hahaha! 

But we busied ourselves with finding a place to live. We had one in mind that we had done lots of research on and felt good about, so we decided to start there. It was just as nice as we had hoped. Very affordable for a 2 bed, 2 bath, tons of closet space, a nice pool and gym, very close to plenty of shopping, restaurants, and Dave's work, and available for immediate move in! Once we were approved and had all the necessary paperwork, we were able to move in the very next day! We were very grateful for how smoothly it went for us. We couldn't have planned it more perfectly! 

Since we had an extra day before Dave had to report to work, we explored our new hometown. We got some yummy food,

And then took a drive up to the temple, just 25 minutes from our new home! The temple is quite small, but so lovely! with a wonderful view of the city! And we found a Kneaders just across the street! I had no idea they had Kneaders here, one of my favorite places! 

Continue to part 5

Texas Move ~ NC to AL

This is part 3 in a 5 part series about our move to Texas. 

To read part one CLICK HERE. 

Enjoy! xoxo

We hated to part with Dave's family after just such a short time with them, but we had to continue on.

We stopped in Atlanta at a yummy BBQ place called Smokebelly. Just a few days before we hit the road, I was watching the Food Network with my parents and this place was featured, particularly their Porky Pig Mac and Cheese. Luckily they were only 10 minutes off our route, and it was so worth stopping by! 

On the road again, we still had a ways to go. But we made it safely to our stop for the night in Mobile, Alabama. 

Continue to part 4

A Weekend in Philly

Dave bought tickets to a Scottish festival in Maryland. We haven't been to one since we lived in Utah, and a band from Scotland that he is a fan of was going to be there. I didn't realize till pretty much the day before, but the festival was quite a ways away, on the far east border of Maryland.

The morning of, as we were getting ready to head out, the thought struck me, how far away will we be to Philadelphia? We have wanted to take a trip to Philly for a long time now, but have never gotten around to actually going. It was only another 45 minutes to Philly, so I looked up hotels in the city, and we decided to book one. I don't think we have ever gone on such a spur of the moment trip, it was so fun!

The festival was muddy, rainy, but fun. The band from Scotland, Albannach, are a primal pipe and drum band. Kinda cool. And of course, we got to enjoy some haggis, which really isn't that bad.

After that we hit the road to our hotel.

After taking a quick shower to warm up a bit and clean the mud off our feet and legs, we decided to hire a driver to take us into the city for dinner. We wanted to try a cheesesteak that the city is famous for. We were debating between Geno's or Pat's, and asked our driver what he recommended. He said tourists just go to those places, and that locals don't actually like their cheesesteaks. We took his recommendation to go to Jim's. 

Despite it being quite rainy, there was a line out the door. Lucily it moved along fairly quickly and soon enough we were chowing down on some amazing Philly cheesesteaks. 

I got one with onions, peppers and whiz. All the Yelp reviews said to ask for extra whiz. I should have asked for extra whiz! But despite this, it was still really yummy.

We wanted to walk around a bit, but it was still raining quite a lot and we had forgotten to bring an umbrella. We decided to walk across the street to get some tea from Starbucks and hope the rain would die down. Sadly, it did not, and feeling like I was coming down with a cold, we decided to hire a driver to take us back to the hotel.

A video posted by Adria Cavanaugh (@adriacavanaugh) on May 21, 2016 at 4:01pm PDT

The next morning we got to check something off my wishlist; Reading Terminal Market.

This place is AMAZING! 

The place was first opened in 1892, housing more than 75 merchants! It's huge! So many amazing shops to explore! I really wish we hadn't put off coming, so that we could have made multiple return trips, there is only so much you can eat in one trip! 

I wanted to eat a little bit of everything! 

One of the merchants also include America's old ice cream company, open since 1861! My stomach was SO FULL! But I wish I had tried some.

We ended up sharing one cheesesteak, with cheese whiz, of course.

And an incredible grilled cheese, grilled in duck fat! Sounds crazy, but was so decadent!

And we got a couple of cannolis to go, and we reluctantly hit the road.

Although before leaving the city we drove buy the new temple that is being built at the the heart of the city. It was so cool to see this lovely house of the Lord in the middle of the crazy bustling city. 

And Dave got this shot as we drove away from the city. 

Wished it had been a little longer of a trip, but I am glad we managed to visit before moving much farther away!