They mean it. It's big. It's slower pace than other places I've lived. The weather was nice for the time of year. Everything’s bigger in Texas, right? Well, my arrival at the
Austin airport suggested so:
I went to visit some friends and their baby. Such a good choice! We hit the ground running with awesomeness – I was greeted
by a gorgeous night that was not too hot or humid followed by a stop at a
gourmet doughnut truck (Austin has all sorts of food trucks everywhere…). It
was so delicious!
Apparently
Austin built their overpasses to be bat habitats. So we went to watch thousands of bats head out to hunt at dusk. It was the strangest thing to
go from hearing cicadas to hearing bats. And then to see them. First a few were
flying around, then suddenly it was like waves and waves upon waves that seemed
to never end. Dixie said this was the closest to seeing what the shape of wind
was that someone might have – seems like an accurate assessment to me!
The walking tour of Hyde Park (yes, it was based on Hyde
Park, London…) was one of the highlights of the trip. Dixie and I printed out a
self guided tour and wandered around looking at awesome houses, finding gems
like a window hanging in a tree and the Formosa – the studio of one of
Austin’s most famous sculptures – and the oldest continually operating grocery
store in Austin.
Food played a significant role in this trip. I failed to
take a picture of the gourmet doughnut truck (which is a shame, it was so
fun!). But I did get a picture at Tourchy’s where we had breakfast tacos:
And Chewy’s where we had Tex-Mex, including phenomenal
jalapeño ranch sauce.
And Amy’s where we got ice cream to cool down after our hot
walk around Hyde Park.
Okay, so it is a picture of a CRAZY sticker I saw in the bathroom, but still, from Amy's :) Seriously - a pug dog with Troll hair? Who thinks of these things...
Austin’s Capital building was also very interesting. Most
capitals that I’ve been to or seen are made of white stone. Not this one. The
stone is a cool pink toned stone. And the statues of Austin and Houston inside
were made by the sculpture who lived in the Formasca, INSERT NAME. They also
have an agricultural museum in one of the rooms showing locally grown items and
this history of agriculture in Texas, which was pretty neat.
I also really enjoyed some of the statues that were on the
grounds:
Good thing we explored the grounds first – it started
raining as we entered the Capital and didn’t let up for about 24 hours. The
rain kept me from getting an iconic picture next to a famous wall painting –
but couldn’t stop me from getting a picture through the window!
Luckily I had already gotten a picture with another awesome
wall painting:
We got some good time in outside before the rain came. This “hike” was really more a climb up some stairs, but the views
were beautiful:
We also just enjoyed hanging out. We spent a rainy night in
playing Ticket to Ride and some lazy mornings playing with baby Joanie. She was
so cute – quick to smile, slow to cry, very ticklish…how does it get better
than that?
I was sad when this trip came to an end. So much fun, over
too fast…Dixie and Matt did a great job of helping me fall in love
with Austin/ Texas. So much fun to slow life down a little bit - to enjoy the scenery. Go
play with a baby. To chat with old friends. To play games. To visit a
capital. To eat delicious Tex-Mex. To make pumpkin treats (inspired by a
random visit to a local bakery for pumpkin cake balls and pumpkin
truffles). To do a self-guided walking tour of a neighborhood modeled
after Hyde Park in England. To see a museum of a famous sculptor, Elisabet Ney. And so much more!
Maybe I’ll just have to go back soon...
