San Antonio Sightings: Roller Coasters. Botanical Gardens. Good times.

With only a few weeks left in San Antonio, and Ryan finally is in a school where he get's his weekends to enjoy -- we are taking advantage of living in a different city. I also know that I probably will never return to San Antonio again, unless I have to.

Pretty much, I will never come back unless we some day have a son or daughter who decided to join the Air Force. Then we will come to San Antonio to attend their graduation from Basic training (which is the city for Basic training in the Air Force)

Can you tell how much I love this area of Texas? 

I will post more on that later.

We had a delightful weekend! We each picked something we wanted to do. Saturday we went with Ryan's choice: Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

If you asked my family how I do at amusement parks, they would start laughing. One time our family went to Valley Fair in Minneapolis. There is a picture of me (age 6?) on the "kiddie coaster"(you know, the train that rides through a garden). I was sobbing, and squeezing my poor cousin so hard, he probably had internal bruising.

Being an adult, I know I had to hold it together this weekend. And I did. For the most part. But, I must say every time we got "strapped in", I would recite the exact same line. Word for word. By the end of the day, Ryan would recite it with me (laughing).

"Oh my god. I'm strapped in. I can't get out. I don't want to do this. I'm scared. I think I ought to get out. Please!! Oh God! It's starting! Oh God!" 

And then I would proceed to say Hail Mary's.

I'm sure the people around us thought I was completely nuts. But I don't care. It was my coping mechanism!

Anyways, I had a blast! Do you ever do something that feels mentally therapeutic? Roller coasters did it for me. It felt good to scream, laugh hysterically, feel my stomach in my throat, confuse the sky from the ground, squeeze my husbands so hard his fingers turned blue. Good times!

Being I didn't eat anything ALL DAY (except for my protein shake after our workout)-- (I was too scared to eat, in fear I'd loose it all on the rides). Afterwards, we went to a restaurant called Chuys and enjoyed margaritas and shared the Fajitas for Two (which could probably serve a family of four).

It was a good day!

Then Sunday we got to do "Abby's ideas". Drastically different, yet still very satisfying.8 mile run and church started out our day.....

Then we went to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. The only downside to this little outing was that it put my husband into a crazy allergic reaction where he couldn't stop sneezing. His eyes and nose got all swollen, too. I was honestly worried his lungs were going to close up....I felt like a helpless nurse and wife.

Note to self....don't take husband to Botanical Gardens when he's not allowed to take his allergy medications. (It's banned by the Air Force for pilots)

The display of the season was "Savage Plants" -- featuring venus fly traps and other Carnivorous plants. So cool! I'm going to let the pictures do the talking here. 

I highly recommend this if you're ever in the area! It's only $7/person, and it's really beautiful. Don't go in the summer though, way too hot. It's right in the middle of the city, and such a peaceful sanctuary!

This was the scenery when you walked into the "Conservatory Room". This is the room that displays their "Carnivorous Plants". This room is changed every 6 months! It felt like a tropical paradise. I love plants.....

Here is a close-up of my favorite "carnivorous plant" we saw that day. The Venus Fly Traps are, obviously, amazing. However, they were very small and difficult to get a good picture of. Well, with my i-Phone. If you looked inside these "vases", you could see little bugs swimming around in it's pollen. Pretty cool! (I can't remember the name of this plant...)

The next room was the "Spice of Life" room. It had black pepper plants, cinnamon trees, pineapple trees, and the list goes on! My favorite was this Chocolate Tree. I love chocolate, so had to share this!

This aquifer went through the entire garden (which is a HUGE plot of land!) - and naturally provides water to the vegetation! 

Our last stop at the gardens was an area called "Texas Hill Country". It featured landscape of the region. It was a sanctuary of pines trees, a pond with turtles and ducks, and it just put you at peace. As we walked around and "people watched", everyone else must have felt the same peace we did. Many people were sitting at the benches pondering life, taking in the sights, and enjoying the shade and quiet. 

This was the tree that we found our solace. 

Which was followed by my husband's allergic-attack. Which was followed by me saying, "I think we have had enough vegetation for the day!" (I felt so bad!)

Awesome weekend, all in all! Two weeks to go! Actually, less than two weeks. I'm so ready to have a kitchen again. And living quarters with separate "rooms" and "doors" and "windows".