Love, Life, & Games of Chelsea & James: Early Christmas Present! San Antonio 2014

December 21

After sacrament meeting early Sunday morning, James said he had something for me out in the car. He opened the trunk and inside was a letter that said:

Dearest Chelsea,

This is an early Christmas Present. We are going to San Antonio. When? Right now! The next 2 days and nights will be spent with you having fun and doing new things. Hope you have a very Merry Christmas. Love you so much!

-James

p.s. We need to go home and pack fast so we can go :)

Then he had several plans listed for us recommended by our dear friend Brielle who is from San Antonio! Everything we did on our little trip came from the plans she and James cooked up over text message.

I was so surprised! I had no idea! I was so excited and surprised that I kept giggling like a little girl on Christmas!

After 5 hours driving and listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas station on Pandora, we arrived in San Antonio! I've been to San Antonio years ago with my family, but this was James' first time, so we were pretty excited! We ate lunch at a restaurant called The Cove. It was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and it's a local favorite. Dad would like it, it's organic!

James had the Chalango burger with sweet potato fries and I had the Texas burger with refried beans, tortilla chips, and guac on it with regular fries.

After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, we went out for dinner at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana. Also featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, this place was amazing! We loved the Pork Love pizza. We were seated so we could see how the pizzas were made. It was great entertainment for us to watch these pizzas be cooked in 90 seconds or less in the wood fired oven! They messed up the pizza the first time, so they gave us that one for free and then made a new pizza (in like 2 minutes right in front of our eyes), so we got 2 for the price of 1! We loved it!

Our view from our seats.

December 22

The next morning we went to the Japanese Tea Garden. This place was so cool and beautiful!

For lunch we went to Chris Madrid's. This is a local favorite, and at 11:15 am this place was already packed! We sat outside because there were no tables available inside, and it was a beautiful day anyway.

James and I both had the Porky's Delight Bacon with Cheddar Burger, but James added jalapenos to his. We also ordered a side of fries and the Macho Nachos. Everything was SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

After lunch we went to the San Fernando Cathedral where Davy Crockett and other important Alamo men are buried.

Then we explored The Alamo.

Then we took a river boat tour of the San Antonio River Walk!

Then we ate Ben & Jerry's ice cream: Candy Bar Pie is the best. We also tried Gilly's Catastrophic Crunch which was delicious!

Then we walked around the river walk and explored The Shops at the La Villita Historic Arts Village.

Photo with the famous river walk umbrellas!

The sun was setting and the sky was pink!

And so begins our endless selfies trying to capture the river walk Christmas lights!

Photo by the Christmas tree in The Westin hotel where a bride walked out to Marriage Island to be married!

For dinner we went to Rosario's Mexican restaurant. It's a local favorite, but this was our least favorite dining experience on this trip. No photos for this one, but the food was pretty good.

December 23

The next morning we had breakfast at another Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives restaurant: Magnolia Pancake Haus. James had the Authentic Munchener Apfel Pfannekuchen, an amazing German pancake! I had scrambled eggs, bacon, and gingerbread pancakes. Yum!

Then we took a drive to see the San Antonio Temple! I remember going through the temple open house back in 2005 and it was an awesome experience. Walking around with James it was cold and windy, but the view of the temple and the city was worth it!

Next we explored the small town of Gruene (pronounced "green"). We loved all the shops!

Our favorite shop was an antique shop that we spent an hour searching for antiques that Nana & Grandpa would approve of. We found a German snow baby, and we snapped a picture to email to Nans and Gramps to see if it was worth purchasing for $15. Nana said she'd have to see it in person, so we bought it! We were pretty proud of spotting this because it is so tiny! Our first antique purchase together!

Then we ate lunch at The Gristmill Restaurant. A MUST eat if you are ever in Gruene. This place used to be a cotton gin, and the place is huge with lit fire places in every room! It smelled amazing and the food was even better! James had the chicken fried steak and I had the pulled pork sandwich with ginormous onion rings!