A Deeper Life: Adventures in Austin

Finally, on to our Austin adventures!!! We've only been back for five days...so obviously, it took me five days to gear up for this post! Right? Not so much. Moving on.

We left from Tulsa to Austin on the 27th. And a long trip it was. We left in the morning, stopped at a Sonic for lunch (yum) and made it the rest of the way. It was a fabulous drive, because I watched one of my Christmas movies that I packed and read a ton of my Karen Kingsbury book, "Redemption". Ooo so good!

Once we got there around 6:00 ish, we checked into the hotel and then made a bee line for dinner. Anywhere would have been fine. We were hungro, so we ate at Pappasito's. Yummy as always.

I crashed hard and slept like a baby that night, preparing for a fun day ahead.

Wednesday morning, we woke up excited to explore the city!

We stayed at the Embassy Suites which was right across the river/lake/body of water, so it was just a short walk to get there.

Walking across the bridge to get downtown:

Apparently when the weather is warmer, there are thousands of bats that live under that bridge. You can even call the bat hotline to get information on them. Right now, they have traveled South to live in Mexico until it warms up in Austin. Bats freak me out. I'm kind of glad we missed them.

A view of the water from the bridge:

In the afternoon, there were usually people kayaking, sailing and riding on other boat things. I wish Jamie and I had planned better, because that would have been fun.

I was so proud Jamie was willing to walk all over the place with me:

He's a cutie pie with a hot bod, but he's not much of a walker.

We walked all the way down Congress street and went in a few over-priced shops, pretending to afford any of it, and made our way to the capitol.

That place was HUGE:

I think you could do tours, but there was a bus-load of teenage girls in line to go in with some tour group...no thank you.

It was really pretty, though:

Jamie allowed me 3 pictures a day:

So there was one of them. Precious, huh?

What's what you say? You noticed I have on a new accessory? Yes, those would be my new Ray Bans! Thank you, husband and brother-in-law for my new shades! I love them almost as much as I love you two goobers! Thank you so much!!

Not sure what this statue is all about, but it seemed important:

The other side of Congress street:

I'm telling you. We walked and walked and walked. I think that's the only reason I weighed the same after the holidays. Thankful for all the exercise in Austin!!

This little shack was kind of fun and cool. No idea what it is, but it's a good photo op:

Of course there's a Willie Nelson blvd:

Took that picture for Jamie. Like he cares.

There were guitars like this everywhere! So naturally, I had to get a picture with it:

Jamie had to make sure he got a couple pigeons in the shot as well. Thanks, babe.

Once we left the downtown area, I really wanted to see the University of Texas. That school is so gigantorm, so I just had to see their campus! I really enjoy and appreciate the uniqueness of college campuses, so this one was a must!

Buuuut...I'd have to say the biggest let-down of the trip was the lack of excitement of UT. I apologize to all of my friends to went to the University of Texas, but your campus was just kind of...well...blah. It didn't feel like a college university at all. I didn't know where the student union or library were. I didn't know if you had like a "commons" area or a big green lawn where hippies walk on tight rope or play frisbie. It just felt like another part of the city. Wah wah. BUT! The stadium is humongo! That was really fun to see :)

Chi Omegas, you'll be proud to know that I made Jamie take me by the Chi O house:

It was beautiful, duh.

For lunch, we drove and drove and drove around looking for parking at some of the places recommended to us. No luck. So we went to one of Jamie's favorites, Baby Acapulco. It was pretty delicious. Supposedly Austin has some yummy Mexican food!

After lunch, we took a much needed rest back at the hotel. Jamie slept, and I read my book. I was very into it!

That night, we went to the Alamo Drafthouse. Coolest movie theater ever!! It was a movie theater and restaurant in one!

We sat at the very top and enjoyed watching The Adventures of Tin Tin in 3D:

The food was terrific, the movie was excellent and the theater was way too much fun! Every city needs one of those kind of theaters!!

Thursday, December 29th started off like every other morning. I woke up, hit the gym, we had a yummy hotel breakfast--"complimentary" of course, and then we made our way out into the city.

First stop, Cabelas:

It's basically a Bass Pro Shop.

Lots of heads everywhere:

And even a talking statue, talking about hunting and camping and such:

That place was pretty entertaining. I liked looking at the food and clothes. Typical.

For lunch, we actually went to Fudruckers. Jamie had heard that there was one of those pop/soda/coke machines where you can make up your own drink. For example: If you click on Diet Coke, it gave you a few options like: Vanilla DC, Cherry DC, Cherry Vanilla DC and so on.

I opted for a grape Diet Sprite:

Jamie said, "Welcome to kindergarten, babe!" Rude. It was yummy. I then had Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper. That was delicious as well. And then my tummy hurt. Whoops.

After that...we. went. shopping. Praise Jesus for gigantic outlet malls! Jamie actually stayed in the car and took a little snooze while I shopped for a little bit. But I walked quickly and only bought a few things. All under $60! Go me! After Christmas sale+outlet mall prices=a thrifty Abby!

Then we went back to the hotel to take real nap. Actually, I walked around downtown a little bit, because I had some much needed calories to burn before our dinner at Stubbs. Yum-o-licious!

6th street at night:

Man, I'm a good photographer!

Actually, I stink at photography. I got ZERO of the Ervin family photo-taking genes. I'm horrible.

Another picture of me with a fancy guitar:

Speaking of guitar, I'll never forget being in 1st grade in Mrs. Weatherholt's class and it was my turn to read. I came to the word "guitar" and didn't know exactly what it said. So I said, "gator". Mrs. W giggled and the class giggled. I probably tinkled my pants a little and broke out in a nervous/embarrassed sweat. All this to say, whenever I hear or think of the word "guitar", I automatically think "gator". What a dummy.

This was taking on 6th street just after we had delicious BBQ at Stubbs:

I think this might be some famous hotel or something:

It's called The Driskill Hotel and it was beautiful. There were horses with carriages outside and it was just romantic and sweet looking.

And then...bed time.

Friday, December 30th started off wonderfully! I got to have breakfast with my sweet friend, Brittney!!!

I worked at Kanakuk with Brittney back in 2005 I believe and we kept in touch for a while, then lost touch, then talked again, and then I just haven't talked to her in ages!!! I mean, I last saw the girl back in 2005 for goodness sakes! That was six years ago! Well, Muttney, as we all so lovingly called her, now lives in Austin and she saw that I was visiting. So she contacted me and we met up.

It was sooooo good seeing you, my dear friend:

Let's please talk sooner rather than later. Please and thank you. Love you, dear!

Lunch: Downtown. The Iron Cactus. I got the most amazing tuna tar tar ceviche. To die for.

Then, we headed to the Austin Zoo. We were warned by Brittney that it was a tiny bit...umm...ghetto. And. She was right.

It is a non profit zoo that has all rescue animals. Jamie and I went in a bit/very skeptical, but excited nonetheless. I absolutely LOVE zoos and love seeing animals! My dad, on the other hand, hates them and thinks they're really sad. I kind of agree with the sad part, because these wild animals are caged in a fake habitat...but they're still super fun!

So ventured to the zoo.

The cages...were really sad. They were like giant, glorified bird cages. I mean, it is non profit, but couldn't they splurge just a little bit for a nicer cage?!

Here are some of the highlights:

Giant turtles--my favorite, of course:

This was one a baby. And a sweet baby it was. I will own a giant tortuous before I die.

This guy paced back and forth back and forth over and over again:

It was really quick too! I was impressed!

Beautiful lioness:

No one could figure out what she was nomming on, but it kind of resembled a bone. The little 3 year old twin girls standing next to me said that "she's just chewing on her tail", and that it was "time to move on". They were hilarious.

Black panther, which I cleverly named "Bagheera":

She was beautimous.

Me. With a chicken:

These gals were everywhere!!! Just squawking all over the place!

Babe. The pig:

Yes, it's name was Babe.

A gorgeous jaguar:

This guy/girl was pretty active. I wanted to let it out let it lick my face and then cuddle up on the couch with me. Besides the carnivore thing, it seems like a rather cuddle feline.