Oct. 28: I just got back home from a wonderful weekend in Austin with some of my good friends from graduate school. Kathy, Jennifer, Lara, Grace, and I met in Austin (approximately equidistant from our homes in Washington DC, California, and Wisconsin) on Friday. We ate lots of good food, enjoyed exploring some of the great places that Austin has to offer, and generally relaxed and enjoyed spending time with good friends. Pictures of our weekend are in the gallery. Many thanks to Bryan for encouraging me to go and for taking such good care of Andrew while I was off having fun!
We started our weekend on Friday. The five of us met at the airport and headed for a late lunch at Cheuy’s on Barton Springs Road. From there, we drove around Zilker Park and had a really nice walk around the Zilker Botanical Gardens. I especially liked the oriental garden section with all the beautiful water features. We headed up to our hotel up at the arboretum where we found ourselves all changed (mostly unintentionally) into black shirts and jeans before heading out to dinner. Our plan was to eat at Guero’s Taco Bar on South Congress, but there was a two-hour wait (it was the weekend of the Nebraska/Texas football game). After realizing that none of us were really all that hungry, we decided to have ice cream instead of dinner. MMMmmm Amy’s ice cream! We all went to the flagship Whole Foods Market in downtown Austin where we were amazed and overwhelmed by the array of products and food they had to offer. Fortified with water and snacks, we drove up to Highland Mall where we waited for a long time to scare ourselves silly at the House of Torment. Kathy was the bravest amongst us. She went first, then me, then Jennifer, Grace, and Lara. I was scared silly most of the way. In fact, there’s no way I would have made it through had I not had Kathy and Jennifer to hang on to. It was the first haunted house I’ve been through in a loooong time, and it was a lot of fun. My throat hurt from screaming:)
On Saturday, we started the day by going out to breakfast at Magnolia Cafe on Lake Austin Blvd. Then we spent several hours shopping near the Whole Foods store, exploring a book store, some artsy boutiques, and found some good tunes to buy at Waterloo Records. Needing a break from shopping, we drove back down to Zilker Park and got in our swim suits for a dip in Barton Springs Pool, a spring-fed, natural-bottom, chilly pool. Kathy, Jennifer, and Lara swam the whole length, and afterwards, we warmed up in the sunny afternoon and had a picnic under the trees.
We spent the late afternoon exploring 6th Street including the historic Driskill Hotel. We all found some earrings to buy at one of the cool shops downtown. While we had plans to watch the bats emerge from beneath the Congress Street Bridge, we heard that they had mostly already migrated down to Mexico. So instead we headed out of town to the Salt Lick BBQ. Our drive through hill country with the sun setting (and then on the way back with a nearly-full moon) was just lovely. And the dinner was amazing!
After getting a bit lost, we found our way to Mount Barnell, where we could see the river and some of the lights of Austin. Back at the hotel, we stayed up late talking and looking at Bride’s magazines for Jennifer.
Lara and Jennifer had to leave early on Sunday, so we took them to the airport at 8, then went to breakfast (pumpkin pancakes…mmm) and window shopped before heading back to the airport ourselves. So that’s our weekend in a nutshell. It was so fun to fly to a fun city and see good friends. I really had a great time. And then it was so lovely to come home to my two boys. Andrew told me that “I’m a little bit sad. And a little bit happy.” And now, I’m off to bed!