Hello! Welcome back to my third round of adventures. Today, I’ll be guiding y’all for a free hidden gem within San Antonio, as well as a popular shopping center near downtown. The Japanese Tea Garden is located near the San Antonio zoo, and it’s one of the more popular among the San Antonio Parks. It’s north of the Pearl, a popular shopping area in North San Antonio. If you want to see more parks, Brackenridge and the San Antonio Botanical garden are right around the corner.
Going into the Japanese Tea Garden was a bit difficult because the connecting street was under construction, so my mother, sister and I had to park down the road and walked. Walking towards it, the park was a bit smaller than we had realized. But overall, it was cute and simple. Several koi ponds and Japanese inspired architecture in the walkways. They have a little cafe called Jingu House that has oriental snacks, sake, and bubble tea. We spent an equivalent of an hour and a half walking around and taking our time browsing the scenary.
After walking the garden, we still had the afternoon sun out. Driving eight miles north, we decided to shop at the Alamo Quarry Market and grab some lunch. This location has history of being a cement factory and left abandoned, but luckily, was remodeled into the market area we all enjoy! They mainly had common franchised stores, from Michael’s, to Nordstrom’s, to Whole Foods. Quite the selection!
Overall, these two locations are lovely. The garden was free and if you have extra spare change hanging around, you can go check out the clearance racks among the plentiful stores. The areas are family-friendly and are inexpensive unless your shopping taste is expensive. You can check out the website for the garden here, and pre-plan your damage to which stores here.
Remember, stay cute and have a grand day!
Ashley's Wanderlust 
those pictures are stunning!
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