About a week ago, I went out to Austin to visit my brother, Jonathan, and his wife, Wendy. They were super nice and flew me out there and let me stay at their sweet place! I left Windsor on Thursday night and headed to the airport. My mother was kind enough to drive me down there. Check-In was fine, security was fine, but when I got to my gate, I found out my plane was delayed. No big deal, right? They then informed us that it was due to mechanical problems on the plane. WHAT? FREAK OUT! Ok, I'm fine now.
Since I had about 2.5 hours to wait and was hungry, I stopped by the McDonalds (believe me, it was the only choice I had besides Einstein Bagels...if you know me...then you will understand my hatred for anything associated with cream cheese). I ate a snack wrap, but that definitely didn't cut it. So I decided to get a smoothie at TCBY since that would fix the hunger and thirst problem. I went up to the counter to place my order. The cashier asked me where I was from. I told him that I was from the Fort Collins area. Then he said, "You're beautiful." Of course, being me, I said, "Huh?" He repeated it and I said, "Oh, thank you," in a very grateful yet mysterious voice....just kidding....but not really. :) I got my smoothie and went on my way. It only took me about 30 minutes to realize there was a sticky note on my cup with a number on it. His name is Dominque and his number is (303) 342-3402. You should call him. FOR REALS. (It's actually the number for the TCBY at DIA, so you could order a smoothie as well).
I headed off to Austin and got there about eleven o'clock that night. The next day Wendy and I went to The Domain to window shop and watched Charade in the afternoon while Jonathan was at work. It was a good movie. It seemed familiar. Both Wendy and I fell asleep during the movie. Surprised? Nope, that's what I do!
Later in the evening, Jonathan, Wendy and I went to a restaurant. I don't remember the name. It was a TexMex restaurant. I had enchiladas. Before we went to the restaurant, we stopped by a little park to feed the ducks. There are some weird looking ducks in Texas, I must say.
The picture just looks like a normal duck, but let me assure you, there is something in that Texas water. I am telling the truth. After feeding the ducks, fish, and the lone turtle for a few minutes, it started pouring. The second picture above is of the little park and all the rain. You can't really see the rain, but I was soaked!
The next day we went to the botanical gardens. It was very pretty and very lush. Having grown up in the West, mostly in the CO, where the weathermen tell you to beware of the humidity at 20%, I basically died. It was hot! It was humid! AND I am a wimp. Do you ever get used to the humidity? I am basically sure I never want to live anywhere that is humid...at all...for my entire life! That might be a slight exaggeration, but I'll let you figure out how much of an exaggeration it actually is :).
Here is a picture of the Japanese part of the Botanical Gardens. It's pretty, and it's currently the background on my desktop.
After the botanical gardens, we went to Whole Foods. Now, my friends, this is not just any Whole Foods. This was THE Whole Foods. Whole Foods is based out of Austin. This is where you see many different kinds of people and can eat organic fried chicken. This store is 80,000 square feet and was PACKED with people. We ate calzones there and had some gelato. (Actually I had sorbet, but I did sample the gelato. It was my first time!).
I hear you can go ice-skating there, but only during winter. Maybe next time?
We headed home after Whole Foods, drove past the capital (at least Jonathan told us we drove past it...or told us to look at it...I don't quite remember...and I didn't see it), and headed home. We took a nap, went swimming, and ate some delicious home-made Cafe Rio Burritos. It was delicious. Our burritos looked nothing like this, but they were still good.
Later in the evening, we headed out to go on a drive. We drove up into the hills of Austin to see the place where the founder of National Instruments lives (Jonathan works at National Instruments. I'm sure he feels he'll get to go inside someday, but until then he will just have to resort to creeping up on the house and shining his lights on it just to get a glimpse inside.) Then we headed to downtown Austin and onto the campus of UT. It's very impressive. The buildings are very cool. (Sorry BYU, but your buildings are ugly. There, I said it.)
Sunday, we went to church and lounged the rest of the day. Monday, I flew home. I had two stops: one in Dallas (definitely dumb. It took all of 15 minutes to fly there), and one in Amarillo. It was a good trip. I am definitely grateful to Jonathan and Wendy for flying me down there and letting me stay at their place. It was good to get away. Oh! Before I forget, I saw an armadillo. This was a first! Too bad it was dead. :(
