By Southern Chick, Marika Flatt

If you don’t already have a regular girls’ trip that you take EVERY YEAR, I highly recommend it. I organized my college girlfriends four years ago and now we take a trip every spring. We all met as freshman at Texas A&M back in 1993, graduated in 1997, and have kept in touch ever since. There’s about 8-10 of us, depending on the year.

2011 being our fourth year, we decided on San Antonio (all of us but one still lives in Texas). But, not just San Antonio, the Riverwalk to be exact. It’s a fabulous place for a ChickVacation because it’s got a lot of what women want: culture, great food, a happening scene, and plenty of reasons to relax.

After much research, we decided upon Hotel Contessa for our weekend trip. As always, there was a lot of laughing, talking about our kids, and a little gossip about the husbands, too. We were extremely pleased with our accommodations. Here’s a little advice to get you started planning your next ChickVacation to San Antonio’s Riverwalk.

There’s a hidden jewel between Houston and College Station, Texas, nestled on Lake Conroe, which is the recently remodeled and renovated La Toretta Lake Resort & Spa. In early 2009, La Toretta (which means “the tower”) reopened its lakeside doors with an extreme makeover that would impress Ty Pennington. This upscale, yet down-to-earth resort is the ideal road trip destination for your next girls’ weekend (August 1st is National Girlfriends Day!).

Dallas, Texas is much more than big hair, Junior League divas and country/western dancing. The “BIG D” is a great getaway destination for your next girls weekend. As with many large cities, the uptown area is a hot location and is a prime spot in Dallas. Uptown Dallas features a host of delicious restaurants, a slew of beer pubs and live music, too.

The last time I had darkened the doors of 301 East Sixth Street in Austin (TX), it was New Year’s Eve of 1998. The eatery, then a steakhouse, saw me ring in the New Year by finding a coat button (yes, a button) floating in my cup of cold soup. The joint in question, as it happened, was a questionable joint.