Poteet Strawberry Festival

On Saturday, John and I went to the Poteet Strawberry Festival. This festival has been around since 1948 and though I've been plenty of times when I was younger it's been a while since I've been as an adult. And John's never been at all. So we decided that we'd go and check it out, eat some strawberries, and hope it didn't rain on us.

I was pretty hungry when we got there so we bought a smorgasbord of festival food including: frito pie, steak on a stick, and a gordita.

After we stuffed our faces we walked around the grounds and ended up at The Ford Experience. It was basically a section so that you can check out of their Ford cars, trucks, and SUVs. Like most festival events they had a place for you to sign up to win a car but what was different about this whole Ford Experience was they also had different little stations for you to go to also. They give you a card and you go to each station and they have you perform some sort of activity. Then they punch your card. When you've finished you back to the beginning and you can get some free stuff. We did all of the stations and each station had their own little gift too. We ended up with a mini hand santizer, a T-shirt, a key chain, and a phone charger for the car...each! At the end we both ended up getting little insulated lunch boxes. It was actually a lot of fun!

We did the rides after and since we had so much stuff only John was able to get on the Cliff Hanger.

Also, I don't trust carnival rides.

We walked through all the vendor booths, saw some bulls and sheep, and contemplated buying an actual strawberry plant. After doing a loop we decided to head home. Since we still had tickets though we ended up buying a bottle of strawberry wine, a turkey leg, and a funnel cake to take home with us. The funnel cake had strawberries on it and was the only strawberry thing we ate at the festival. The wine wasn't even for us, my dad had asked for it.

So even though we didn't eat strawberry everything we had a fun time out there. Next up? Fiesta perhaps?

Enchanted Springs Ranch

This Sunday I had a day off of work so we (Mum, Da, Brother, John, and me) went to Boerne to check out Enchanted Springs Ranch.

Enchanted Springs Ranch is located about about 15 minutes outside of San Antonio in Boerne.

You've probably heard of this place on Oprah or on The History Channel. It's a cute little old western theme park. They shoot commercials, movies, and other shoots because of its old-timey feel and buildings.

We arrived at about 11:30 and got there just in time to see the puppet show.

The puppet show is probably meant mostly for kids but it was very interesting and very informative. They discuss how Enchanted Springs came about and what a day in the life of a cowboy looked like. The show was very punny with more of the adults laughing than the kids. We were one of the few families without any children in our group but we loved it none the less.

Twice a day they bring Woodrow, a longhorn, out for the kiddies to take a picture on and the families can gather around. He was a sweetie and up close you can see just how long those horns really are.

After we wandered around a bit, it was time for another show: Pistol Packin' Paula. Paula shows you all her pistol twirling, throwing, twisting, and overall badass-ing. Then when you think she can't get anymore awesome she brings out her bullwhips. She's pretty much my hero because she's won a few Gun Twirling competitions and she talks about how people didn't take her seriously at first.

After some more wandering we sat down for Professor Schmidlap's show.

After the show, we took a tractor ride around the ranch, getting to see some animals they have.

Lastly we got up close to some buffalo they had on the property and took some pictures.

It was a pretty good time. They have a gift shop with some snacks, Sarsaparilla root beer, some local craft beer, and souvenirs.


If you haven't been, it's definitely worth a look. They have more events during the summer and Christmas time and they also have a Chuck Wagon dinner and a Wild West Show offered on Wednesdays. Be sure to check out their website for more information!

San Diego - Day 3

On our third day in San Diego we decided to go back to Cabrillo and check out the tide pools. The view is amazing there. If you just pointed your camera and clicked without even looking through the viewfinder, you wouldn't get a bad picture.

Then afterward, we went to Balboa Park. Which is one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. It is a place of arts, culture, and beauty. They have 17 museums all around the area so that you can go from one to the next and get your smarts on. But even if you don't want to read plaques on walls you'll be able to see tons of native plants and flowers all along the beautiful architecture.

San Diego - Day 2

You can read about Day 1 here. 

Our second day in San Diego we hit up Cabrillo.


Cabrillo is named after Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who Columbused the West Coast.

Because without him, California wouldn't exist. 

Besides a huge statute in his likeness (and probably to scale) Cabrillo has tide pools, a lighthouse, a museum, and a gift shop.

You pay 5$ to park and have access to everything but if you keep your receipt your five dollars will last you seven days. So knowing that we had plans for the evening we decided to visit the tide pools another day and just see the lighthouse and museum on day two.

The view from Cabrillo is really breathtaking.

And the background makes for some great pictures.

We visited the museum

the monument and its lighthouse.

Then it was time to visit our first California beach. Now, I've been to Corpus Christi in Texas and the beaches it has but I've never loved it. The water is dirty and green. It's always hot out and the sun is blaring. I actually was really apprehensive about spending an entire evening at the beach in California. But as soon as we got there I knew it was going to be a totally different experience.

The water was super cold! But we all had a lot of fun anyway.

San Diego Day 1

You can read about our road trip to San Diego here.

Because we arrived so early on Saturday we basically had the full day to explore. P has some family and family-friends who live in San Diego. They were gracious enough to let us stay with them for the week. They had also taken some days off of work to give us the grand tour and boy, did they deliver.

The first thing we did when we arrived was head over to Seaport Village.

Via traceybjenkins flickr

Actually, let me preface everything by saying that in San Antonio the heat is pretty much unbearable. We don't "do" things in the summer. I mean, you get your few crazies who want skin cancer and heat stroke and will run at noon but the most of us only run from one air-conditioned place to the next. It's stupid hot here. And humid. It's like being in a sauna and opening the oven door when you're baking cookies. Seriously. It's gross. No amount of deodorant or number of showers will keep you fresh and clean for more than a few minutes. So if you want people to go to your outdoor activities they better be in the morning, in the night, or in the fall.

We don't hike here. We don't walk to the grocery store. We don't picnic outside for lunch. These things can be done, but they usually only happen in March and November.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way you can fully appreciate our love for the weather in San Diego. It was absolutely perfect. I don't think it ever got above 85 when we were there. And there is this always constant breeze cooling you off and leaving you refreshed. It was amazing. We understood why people were out walking their dogs at one in the afternoon or why hiking is such a big amusement there.

Walking around Seaport Village and taking in all the attractions was just the icing on the cake that was the weather. I mean, they would ask us if we were OK or if we needed a break and both John and I were like "Are you crazy? We can do this all day! We love hiking/walking/running/being sporty."


We found a man who was part wizard/part rock balancer.

And the cutest cow couch.

They also have a bunch of ships that you can tour.

It may sound crazy but we actually got sea sick just from being on them for about an hour. Even though they're docked you can feel them swaying with the water and when you go out onto the top deck you can see the buildings on land swaying too. One of the ships, Surprise, was actually a real ship that was redone for movies. You may recognize it from Master and Commander.

Via 20th Century Fox 

After Seaport we went to La Jolla to see the tide-pools.

And my favorite! The seals!!!

Then we stayed to watch the sunset...only the clouds weren't cooperating. But it was still beautiful.

Roadtrippin' - San Antonio to San Diego

One of the best things about being with someone are the times you both get to experience something together that neither one of you had done before. Last week, John and I got to experience San Diego together for the first time and it was awesome.

One of John's friends, P, was moving to California so he needed friends to help make the drive out there with him. The three of us would take turns driving whenever one was getting too tired or sleepy so that we could drive nonstop and arrive within the next day.

We left on Friday at around 5:00pm (CST) and drove straight through, stopping only for gas and restroom breaks. John and I ended up driving the overnight shifts where we would take turns switching every three to four hours or so. I'm sure you've heard that Everything is Bigger in Texas but Texas itself is HUGE! It took us about 8 hours to reach El Paso! Which is just the tip of Texas.

Via Google Maps 

By the time we entered New Mexico it was dark and cool. We stopped at a rest stop to stretch our legs for a bit and were shocked to find it so windy out there! And because we were in the middle of nowhere you were able to see thousands of stars and the faint outline of the Milky Way.

Because it was dark out we weren't able to see much of the scenery but that was OK with us because New Mexico and Arizona looks a lot like this (at least the parts we drove through).

Which is to say - dry, desolate, boring. 

But then morning came and we reached the tip of Arizona where we were happy and coffee-ed up enough to take pictures with dinosaurs.

And a giant reptile of some kind.

Photo credit to P

We eventually reached California and stopped on the side of the road like the tourists we are to take a picture.

Photo credit to P 

All in all, we made it in a bit under 18 hours! We arrived in San Diego on Saturday at about 10am (PST). Even without going over the speed limit. Cruise control and Red Bull were life savers.

Total miles traveled: 1,275
Number of Red Bulls drunk: 2
Number of cups of coffee drunk: 2
Restroom breaks: 8?
Number of tumbleweeds seen: 0
Number of Border Patrol stops: 2
Things I can cross off my 2014 bucket list: 1
Happiness of finally arriving at our destination: infinite

Farmers Markets & Zoos & Rollercoasters...Oh my.

This past weekend John, my dad, my mom, my brother and I went on a vacation to Dallas/Fort Worth. My family and I go every year to visit Six Flags Over Texas. This year John came with us.

The first day we went to the Dallas Farmer's Market.

We went to Six Flags but I didn't take any pictures since I was too busy riding rollercoasters!

On Day 2 we went to the Fort Worth Zoo. It's supposed to be the number five zoo in the nation. It was really awesome. So much better than our zoo.

The happiest turtle I've ever seen. 

Blue parrot. 

Roadrunner sunbathing.

John caught a fish! 

He wrestles alligators.

And keeps kangaroos in his pouch.

The second day we went to Six Flags again but because there was lightning in the area all of the adult rides were closed so we got on all the little kiddie ones. It was actually a lot of fun. We hardly ever get on those because...hello bigger, better rides but spinning in the tea cups and feeling our stomachs dip on El Sombrero was fun.

Via

We also made a pit stop in Waco and the Dr. Pepper museum.

All in all, it was a very fun three-day weekend.