Okay--so Austin was seriously fun. We had a blast! After the 6.5 hour drive with no A/C (it's our own fault, we know) we arrived in Austin, which is completely different than anything that you would expect. It is very hilly and reminded us both of Boulder, CO. We stayed with Mandy's sister, Laurie, who has a beautiful house there. She had fresh Mexican cuisine waiting for us, which we enjoyed in the backyard by the beautiful pool! We visited then promptly donned our suits and swam for awhile before going to bed--we were exhausted after a day with the kids, a six hour drive, and swimming!
The next day we went to Schlitterbahn (which the German lady we work with kindly informed us was in fact a German word...duh...but she told us schlitter means to sled and bahn is a rollercoaster--sounds about right!). It was a ginormous waterpark not far from their house. We spent the day riding the slides and floating in the whirlpools and lazy rivers, which was awesome, and since Stacey had just gotten a waterproof camera we were able to bring it through the whole park and even down the slides. We went with Phillip and his cousin, Iris, and her friend, Kate, which made it ten times as fun for us because we got to act like seventh graders at a water park! It was a fantastic day that only got better with a stop at Sonic for ice cream on the way home :)
The crew before we left in our sweet hats...we were gonna wear them into the park, but we would have lost them of course! Jonelle, Phillip, Kate, Iris, and Stacey.
The girls in the whirlpool!
That evening we went to "Music in the Park" in Laurie's neighborhood, which was an informal show by a local band next to the lake. It was an awesome setting--laying out a blanket by the water and listening to music was exactly what we wanted to do on a night like that!!
Sunday was our day to venture into the city of Austin, and we hit the capitol building first because we knew it'd be open early; turns out the Austin capitol is bigger than the nation's capitol building in D.C. As they all say there, everything in Texas is bigger and better!
After seeing the capitol and driving through the UT campus a little bit, we spent the rest of the day on South Congress, which is the big shopping street in Austin. There were some great boutiques there, and we made sure to stop into Allen's, the premier place for Cowboy boots...although they were not exactly in our price range, the college students that we are, we loved picking out the knee high leopard prints or the $700 utility boots to try on.
Possibly the best part of our day: REAL MEXICAN FOOD!! We both got a chicken fajita taco and an ahi tuna taco...so amazing. Best part about it was that it was sold out of a roadside stand--apparently, the new thing is to sell things out of airstream trailers. We saw everything from Mexican food to cupcakes, BBQ to puppy adoptions!
Overall we had an amazing time. Good food and family (or so it feels..)--what could be better!?
The crew before we left in our sweet hats...we were gonna wear them into the park, but we would have lost them of course! Jonelle, Phillip, Kate, Iris, and Stacey.
The girls in the whirlpool!
That evening we went to "Music in the Park" in Laurie's neighborhood, which was an informal show by a local band next to the lake. It was an awesome setting--laying out a blanket by the water and listening to music was exactly what we wanted to do on a night like that!!
Sunday was our day to venture into the city of Austin, and we hit the capitol building first because we knew it'd be open early; turns out the Austin capitol is bigger than the nation's capitol building in D.C. As they all say there, everything in Texas is bigger and better!
After seeing the capitol and driving through the UT campus a little bit, we spent the rest of the day on South Congress, which is the big shopping street in Austin. There were some great boutiques there, and we made sure to stop into Allen's, the premier place for Cowboy boots...although they were not exactly in our price range, the college students that we are, we loved picking out the knee high leopard prints or the $700 utility boots to try on.
Possibly the best part of our day: REAL MEXICAN FOOD!! We both got a chicken fajita taco and an ahi tuna taco...so amazing. Best part about it was that it was sold out of a roadside stand--apparently, the new thing is to sell things out of airstream trailers. We saw everything from Mexican food to cupcakes, BBQ to puppy adoptions!
Overall we had an amazing time. Good food and family (or so it feels..)--what could be better!?
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