I was lucky enough to have a day off work on my actual birthday. I asked Hubby to skip work that morning and hang out with me after we got the kids off to school. I felt so spoiled to get him all to myself and above is a photo of one of the outcomes of our morning: a delicious gluten free/dairy free 4 layer chocolate cake with raspberry filling. We all agreed it was so yummy!
Since the timing was so close I kind of felt like joining sister-in-laws on a girls trip was a part of my birthday. They were going to Austin, Texas for a PopCast live show. I didn’t know anything about that podcast but I had enough airline points for a plane ticket so I decided to go along for the ride. The final group ended up being three of Hubby’s four sisters and two of their daughters for a total of six of us. AmyLynn found an apartment to stay in with a great location and we would scooter or Uber our way around if it was too far to walk. And since it made it to about 101° out every day we tried not to walk a lot.
Going on a Segway tour our first morning was a great way to get to know the city a little bit and give us ideas of where we wanted to be. This was everyone’s first time on a Segway which was an adventure in and of itself. Let’s just say I do better with electric bikes and scooters. By the end a couple of us had numb feet due to all the pressure of controlling the machine and never sitting down during the tour. Totally worth it and I learned how 6 Flags amusement park got its name. If you look closely you will see 6 circles on the capitol building representing the 6 flags Texas has flown under: Spain, France, Mexico, Texas, The Confederate States of America and the United States of America.
I also found it interesting that when they expanded the capitol they went underground. This is looking down below street level from where we were riding around.
I had heard about the river in Austin years ago and I could see how amazing it was for people to have a waterway to paddle around on in the middle of the city. You wouldn’t need a car if you lived downtown, that’s for sure.
Austin does seem to put a lot into its public spaces. The Austin Public Library was impressive to say the least. It was multiple stories high, had a music making area the teen section, a gift shop, and even a gallery. On display was work from a Ukrainian artist about the war. Below my photo of the library's stairs is a photo of my favorite art piece.
The PopCast live show was the reason for choosing Austin on Labor Day weekend. I did manage to listen to a few podcast episodes before we went... and the show was basically an hour long podcast with a 15 minutes intermission followed by another hour long podcast. But it did have us all laughing out loud and the people I was with were amazing.
While in Austin we made sure to eat delicious food at places like Torchy’s, Terry Black’s Barbecue, Matt's El Rancho, Amy's Ice Cream, and Paperboy. All these places had great ambiance in their own ways and were so yummy! We also went shopping quite a bit and found some great deals but didn't take photos of that part of our trip. We did pass many amazing murals that I failed to get any pictures of as well. I guess I assumed with all the crowds around you could find better examples of the Austin murals online anyway.
When I saw the weather forecast I Googled "Things to do in Austin, Texas when it's hot" and Barton Springs was mentioned over and over again. It is made up of four springs and the water is from 68-70 degrees all year long. This place is actually quite interesting (and huge). It's like a lake and a swimming pool got married and had this for a baby. So it's rocky and slimy but shaped like a rectangle with stairs, markers for how deep the water is, and even a diving board. I was brave enough to swim but I wasn't brave enough to put my head under the water. Ha!
Probably the most unique thing we did in this city was to watch bats fly out from their nests in Congress Bridge at sundown to go eat the mosquitos. There were thousands and thousands of them all flying out to rid the city of pesky bugs. Bat Conservation International estimated that there are between 750,000 and 1.5 million bats each year! Yes, I didn't get a single mosquito bite all weekend and did not pack bug spray. It really was neat to watch and I found that being the one thing I talked about when one of the teachers at the school said he had never been to Austin and asked me if it was neat. I would highly recommend a weekend in Austin to anyone but maybe make sure it's a time of year when it's not triple digit weather but you can still see the bats before they migrate to Mexico for the winter. (When I looked it up, you can see the bats best in August and September and they fly back in October so maybe late September would be the best time to visit?) Regardless, I'm glad I joined family to see a new place and experience new things!
Comments