First things first: THANK YOU to Miss Sarah: Our Hostess with the Mostest! She was the bomb and the itinerary was a perfect balance of fun, sun, and relaxation. . . and food as you'll see!
We had so much fun! We started with an amazing meal on Lake Travis (pictured with Sarah above left and with Mike below center). Saturday morning, we traveled to the Alamo in San Antonio and then the Riverwalk downtown (pictured below top left). There, got some great baked good with a Spanish name: champanchana pina. Mike got to pick our lunch spot so we ate at an Irish pub called Waxy O'Connor's! We stopped at an outlet mall on our way back and scored some clearance clothes for Baby G! Saturday evening, we went to a baseball game in Round Rock where the stadium was awesome, our seats were great, and the game went into extra innings (pictured below bottom left). The only bummer was that we waited to eat until afterward so by 10pm, we were ordering Rounders pizza to be picked up when we got back to Austin. Yum and done-passed out! :)
Sunday, we decided we'd take it easy so we were at Barton Springs by about 10am! (Sorry, no pictures in our suits!) Our leisurely morning went on into mid-afternoon giving us all the lovely medium rare look we were sporting the rest of the trip (clear from most pics in the post)! A random trip to a fast food chain called Jack-in-the-Box mid-afternoon left time for a nap before our road trip to Salt Lick in Driftwood (pictures below)!
The Salt Lick in Driftwood was featured on one of those "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" type shows as being a hidden gem in great BBQ! It took us outside of Austin yet again and gave quite the spectacle! Picture 1 shows the waiting area outside their General Store. They sell apparel specific to their restaurant including a shirt that read "You can smell our pits from a mile away!". Picture 2 is the restaurant, enclosed dining area 1 of 2. Picture 3 was a place to buy beer. That's right-it was BYOB and CASH only! Luckily, they had an ATM and a place to buy beer and wine (so sad I missed out on some Texas wine)! Picture 4 was an outdoor seating area where people had their pets and their coolers enjoying the food and ambiance. Picture 5 was their Fresh Squeezed Lemonade stand. Only $2 a glass and I could have drank it all night. I was so pleased they had a specialty drink I could indulge in! Picture 6 was the live music venue where the typical country acoustics were being played. And finally, Picture 7 shows just a portion of this parking lot which required a sheriff on hand to help orchestrate! Texas must have a large police force because we saw them at several of the venues we made it to! Oh yeah-the food at Salt Lick-It was good. They served family style so we could try a bit of everything. I won't say it blew me away but the experience itself really was worth the drive!
Then, the drive continued on to the Nutty Brown Cafe & Amphitheatre. Clearly, we were there for the Amphitheatre portion which was a huge outdoor concert venue. We spent so much time at dinner that there were few places left to sit as we went to see Bob Schneider. This preggo chick sat on the ground with the rest of 'em and then stood and jammed out for over about an hour of the show. When it came time that I could take the pain of my swelling sunburnt feet any longer, we went in pursuit of a place to sit for the last couple songs. Howdy Honda was a proud sponsor with a truck on display. We were very appreciative as we let the tailgate down and sat (okay, I laid) in the back for the remainder of the show. Again-home and passed out!
By now, it's Monday and our last full day in Austin. We went down to Sarah's pool (which I should have taken pictures of just like we would at a hotel) by mid-morning and stayed til lunch. Then, we lunched at Tacos and Tequila where the waiter looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for a virgin margarita. The bartender struggled to come up with th best way to fulfill my request but the end product was awesome! We spent the afternoon going through some of Sarah's scrapbooks filled with some people Mike remembered and some he didn't. Then, we went to Chuy's, a tex-mex restaurant in Austin where the Bush twins were cited for underage alcohol offenses in 2001! We discussed politics, religion, and family over dinner before heading to a birthday party for one of Sarah's friends, Emily!
Emily had rented a karaoke room at a bar/ bowling alley/ concert spot/ dance floor/ karaoke venue. :) We stayed until they finally started karaoke after 11 and then rocked the house with a group of about 20 people (in a room that smelled like urine thanks to their tactic of using straw as a sound barrier and decoration)! I sang whatever was requested: "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul, "Always Be My Baby!" by Mariah Carey, and then "Waterfalls" by TLC. Half-way through "Waterfalls", I remembered there was a rap and kinda panicked. Then, it all came rushing back to me and word-for-word, beat-for beat, I rapped three pages of lyrics as if I knew the thing by heart. I saw Sarah and Mike look at each other with mouths gaping open and heard Mike say "I didn't know she could do that!". Luckily, neither of them could figure out their video recording devices before it was over so there's only a pictorial shot of me with the birthday girl below!
That was our last night and it was a late one with us not crawling into bed until about 2 am with a flight leaving at about 11:30 the next day. We got up, got packed, and got ready in time for brunch at Magnolia Cafe where tortillas are offered instead of toast if you prefer! I had clearly pushed my limits during the trip (or at least the night before) because I didn't even make it through brunch without a bout of "morning sickness". I put that in quotes because I've luckily hardly suffered from that symptom and think it was simply brought on by lack of sleep and a whole bunch of Texas sun and fun!
We made our flight in plenty of time. The flight into our layover in Memphis had the worst landing ever which required three attempts at landing and a couple extra climbs in the altitude similar to additional take-offs. With a sensitive tummy already, it was no picnic. We then rushed with only 20 minutes til our connecting flight was scheduled to take off so it was boarding as we landed from the first delayed arrival. We got to the terminal for our flight back to Des Moines to find a delay of 2 1/2 hours. We spent the time catching lunch and then went back to read and rest while we waited. After eating a $25 airport lunch, we were told we'd get meal vouchers for our delay. . . A little late. . . Oh well! We used them when we got back to Des Moines at dinner time. The layover did bring about an exciting first! It was the first time Mike saw our kid cause my belly to literally move and my shirt to move out with it. His eyes widened with his big grin: our only memory of Memphis! Then, we were back to Des Moines where we paid our $60 parking fare and headed home to get back to reality the very next morning.
Home sweet home with our pups and our bed and our vacation laundry waiting for us! (All of our other laundry was already done thanks to my mother for house and dog-sitting!) We had a wonderful babymoon and I loved spending time with Sarah! I also loved being reminded of how much I enjoy Mike. It's easy to forget I married my best friend when we don't get as much time to hang out and have leisurely "fun" together. This trip was a great reminder and refresher. Now, I still need to schedule the birthday massage I saved until after this trip. Then, all will be well!
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