Joyfully Loud: Vacation all I ever wanted....

It seems like it's been forever since I've posted, and it really has been over a month. I need to do better.

At the end of June/beginning of July, we took a much needed vacation, and it was WONDERFUL!

Here's a glimpse of our itinerary:
Tuesday, June 28 - San Antonio/New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys Concert
Wednesday, June 29 - Galveston
Thursday, June 30-Monday July, 4 - 4-day cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy to Cozumel

We had a great time!! Today I will post about San Antonio and Galveston, and tomorrow, I will post about the cruise.

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Tuesday, June 28
This morning was a little rushed, because, well, I didn't start packing until about 10:00 Monday night. I think I did manage to have all of my laundry already done, though, which was good. After dropping Sugar off at PetSmart, we had breakfast at the Monument Cafe in Georgetown (love that place!!) even though it was going the wrong way on IH-35 from San Antonio (yes, we ARE crazy, and we do detour for food. Bad, I know).
From there, we ran to Target for a few last minute items, and then home to throw our stuff in the car, and we were on our way! For some reason, we did not take 130 down to Buda, and for the life of me, I cannot remember why. Luckily, though, we did not run into any traffic on 35, since it was mid-morning, and we were getting into San Antonio in just a little over an hour. This was when we took detour #2 for food (last one, I promise!) We wanted to eat lunch at Earl of Sandwich, one of our favorite counter service restaurants at Disney World. Well, come to find out, they are a chain, and they have a few locations in San Antonio. Woo hoo! It was only about 15 miles out of our way, though, so not too bad.

After lunch, we headed straight to the hotel. We stayed at La Mansion Del Rio, and it was very lovely. I don't know that we will stay here again, because it's very pricey, but we had a great time! Here are some pictures:

Our room from the entrance

The view from our balcony

Lobby


Pool

Before the concert, we decided to take a little walk around the Riverwalk, and have dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We've eaten at several Landry's-owned restaurants, and have never been too impressed with the food, but we were pleasantly surprised with this location. It was delicious! After that, it was time to head to the concert. Here are a couple of pictures, for anyone who may be interested. It was a great concert!

Jordin Sparks opened

NKOTB

BSB

After the concert, we hit the sack. We had to wake up and drive to Galveston the next day.

Wednesday, June 29
This morning, we had breakfast at Las Canarias, which is the hotel's restaurant, and then we headed east on I-10. Traffic was backed up in a couple of spots, due to construction, but not too bad. We got into Galveston around 2 or 3, checked in at our hotel, the Hotel Galvez, and headed straight for the beach. We walked around and picked up some shells, and then we were starting to get hungry. We had dinner at Benno's, which had really good seafood. Then we drove around a little bit, and walked to Murdoch's to see all the fun souvenirs. By then, we were ready to head back to the hotel, and go to bed. Tomorrow would be a big day! Here are a few pictures of the Hotel Galvez:

Our room (it was not very large at all, but it was nice)

We only had a shower, but it was an awesome one! It had a rainfall shower head and a hand held shower head, which was handy for getting sand off your feet.