Austin Texas Here we Come! Sun Heat BBQ and MUSIC

Winter has been LONG, WINDY (not to be confused with long winded) and COLD.......Joe and I reached a point where it really didn't matter where we went it just needed to be  SOON,  WARMER with the possibility of SUNSHINE AND GREENNESS and have some interesting sites to see while there. Last minute decisions such as these don't lend themselves to trips to Hawaii, Europe etc. etc.   It 's amazing I know BUT we both were keen on exploring Austin, Texas and so we did! 



My "not to be forgotten friend" joined us too!



I leave the booking of these types of trips to Joe and I know it is good for me to do this and yet I struggle with his ability to make such tight connections whereas I prefer to be somewhere early and if I have a 4 hour layover, oh well.........I have my Dammit Doll and a book! However, Joe's choice in flights allowed me to experience something new so we could be 99% sure of making our connection in Denver after going through customs!  CARRY ON LUGGAGE ONLY! for a 4 day trip. I know some of you wonder why this is a worry at all. Joe does it ALL the time but then he doesn't need the primping I do to look handsome and put together! Ha!  SO I spent an entire day before we flew out the end of February practicing my packing into a larger purse and a SOFT (Joe said it had to be a soft bag so it could be smushed into the overhead bins) YIKES!! My clothes smushed! He said I could iron them once I got there! Wasn't this to be a vacation???  And some might say Joe already HAD one "smushed bag" in tow! But you had better NOT say that!

I succeeded in this new travelling with carry on luggage. Uh OH....will this be an expectation every time? We shall have to wait and see.  I will admit right here that I didn't even to wear all the things I was able to smush into my soft carryon bag! What's with that? Perhaps I can downsize my smushy carry on bag next time.  Wouldn't that be something! Joe would think so!

We left in frigid temps but no blizzard on the way to the Regina Airport.  I'm not liking these connections that take us to Denver THEN to Houston....even to get to OKC! Really? We are even wondering if we just wanted to book a flight to Houston could we get there w/out being sent to Atlanta or OKC first? 

All was going very well. Dammit Doll was truly enjoying the relaxed way Joe and I were on this first part of the trip. She got a rest!  (For those of you wondering what Dammit Dolls are for.........they are used when stress appears. You are to grab her and just whack the side of a table, chair, airplane, perhaps another person if you feel you can survive it.........she is NOT A VOO DOO DOLL....which is what Joe was wanting to use her for a few times on the trip.  She and her siblings I'm sure save lots of difficult situations from becoming more difficult!

WE got on the plane from Denver to Houston and a lady next to me asks where I was going. I said "Austin". She begins to get very anxious and says "Well, someone is on the wrong plane then".  My tendency when someone gets anxious is I have to TOP their anxiousness.......I'm working on this BUT I then look at Joe and ask him if we are on the wrong plane.  HE was amused by both of us and said "we are fine Ginny". Then the lady and I realized we just communicated differently.  I was looking at my final destination as 'where I was going" and she was going to Houston which was HER final destination.........I watched a movie (Lost Vegas) which was entertaining and the poor woman next to me kept pushing the buttons on her screen the entire 2 hours trying to get something to show up on her screen to watch. Perhaps I should have loaned her my Dammit Doll.  Joe was in a middle seat across the aisle from me (did he do this on purpose....NO......we just didn't pay money to get seats when we booked the flight )

Got to Austin late afternoon and the fun began.  I had asked Joe prior to our leaving what he wanted to do in Austin.  His reply was "every day will be an adventure" My worst nightmare as a person who needs to know 'what's next".  BUT I was determined to try this HIS WAY as much as possible. Besides I had a plane ticket, a car rented with a great husband navigator and a great hotel downtown. What more did I need to know? We were meeting a cattle buyer friend and his wife for dinner at Eddy V's so I knew I would be fed the first night!  It was YUMMY and great conversation.  His wife is originally from Nicaragua and is a lobbyist for a law firm in Austin. Bet there are some interesting times in that home with a cattle buyer who like my husband is an excellent negotiator (Joe's the best though!) and a Lobbyist!!

There were some very fancy cars parked out front! They park the 'not so fancy cars' elsewhere so the fancy cars get your attention and one says to one's self: hey, rich important people eat here...we'd better check it out!  (or so we figured)

 NEXT DAY

 



 I had a few moments of indecision  like when we got up  and were headed towards Dripping Springs and area to see the terrain and I had NO idea if I should wear sandals or tennis shoes (runners for my Canadian friends). If I ask Joe what we have planned, he won't know because remember.......THIS IS AN ADVENTURE!.......and I'm easing into this space of unknowns slowly but surely (I think, but you might ask Joe)   Now couldn't I just bring the extra pair? Sure....but something I tend to do sometimes (Joe would say MOST of the time) is make things too difficult....and/or need someone to tell me 'what to bring' so I won't 'be wrong" (a topic for another blog) .... I had to let this leave my mind.........and good thing..........I could have discussed this in the car the entire day and trust me I would have been attacked by Dammit Doll. Ha!  SO sandals it was and it was never a problem. I was just SOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad I could wear sandals outside!!!

We drove right through Dripping Spring where a friend I've yet to meet but will meet one day lives. I said HELLO KELLEY!  I will see you next time!

 

 



I was so happy when I heard these words: Would you like to go into the Pedernales Falls as we drove by a sign saying it was the next right! YES YES I said. SO we enjoyed seeing these Falls that were almost bone dry but supposedly can turn into rushing, flooding waters. No swimming allowed.  Full of Marble Falls limestone.  This detour excited me so because growing up we rarely took detours.....or vacations for that matter. 

                                                                          

AHHH Dammit Doll finds a small piece of GREEN Grass. She tried to get Ginny to lay down with her BUT no luck YET!

 

We asked for tips on some out of the ordinary spots to see in Austin, especially BBQ! SO we headed to a place called Angels. Supposedly it's a biker bar hangout with good burgers. I was SO looking forward to seeing the Biker Crowd and their bikes. We arrived around 2 p.m. it was 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky (I should have laid in the grass!) and just what WE needed too!  Not a biker there. Must have been too early.  Darn!

 

Ready for food and beverage! Hit the spot.

Dolly HAD to try out the Longhorn chair. EVERYTHING Is LONGHORN in Texas!



She found a picnic table JUST her size! No more Longhorn chairs for Dolly!

We enjoyed our site seeing but were craving poolside relaxation and perhaps more beverages!  It was 80 and sunny.....so we we headed back to the hotel mid afternoon.

Dolly got settled quickly! She's already red so needed no suntan lotion for protection. Lucky Girl!

YES a selfie but had to document this rare 'by the pool moment'! It was the best!
 

the pool was a busy spot and we enjoyed seeing parents/grandparents with their little children...especially two little girls one I think was 16 months and the other 18 months who both knew to kick and move on top of the water for a few feet and would make it to the edge of the pool. I was impressed but told Joe I bet they can't drive a snowmobile at 15 months like I"m sure Pepper is learning to do right now with her daddy! (surely NOT).  80 degrees is perfect ....wouldn't care to relive the higher temps and higher humidity any more though!

Walked 6th Avenue at happy hour time and discovered this great spot with a local live band that was darn entertaining. 

I don't know why this keeps being placed in the middle of my Friend's Bar message. I can't figure out how to move it and it also goes with my learning to work through things that don't turn out like I planned. and realizing it causes some of YOU to have to work on this as well!     We took a risk going into this place THE DRISKILL HOTEL because there was NO ONE ELSE inside eating in the restaurant BUT what a great choice we made!  Excellent service, excellent main course and best price going for the quality and quantity of food we received.  We will be back!  Joe even went straight to the chef's to compliment them on their excellent preparation of our meal. 
 AND NO .............we didn't go on a carriage ride. It took me 30 years I think to get Joe to agree to go on one AND it happened in DC and happened so randomly as we'd not seen any carriages that evening and LIke in Cinderella........ONE appeared!!   It was a lovely cool fall evening. This carriage appeared out of nowhere......I'm sure it was "heaven sent" and we enjoyed over an hour touring the sites/downtown DC ...SO I doubt I will ever want to try and top that experience and Joe is SO relieved.............now..............see I ramble.........NOW we shall take a direct flight from DC back to Austin! Sorry for the diversion!

Here's the photo that needs to be after the FRIENDS photo.........This Band is local and  called Southside.  Lots of blues tunes from the 30's forward!  We returned to FRIENDS and heard an excellent more rock style band. Great fun just to hear live, loud, decent music.  Sorry no photo. It was too wild and crazy by that time but very fun! We were entertained by a young fellow who after what seemed like 30 minutes talked his way into the bar. He had a guitar over his shoulder and I think they didn't want him inside for fear he would head up on stage and perform. After watching him chat it up with anyone and everyone at the bar (even people we didn't know behind us were amused by this young man's personality and animation as he spoke) we really did want him to go up on stage and play. However, he left w/out causing a problem and he was there to be in the SXSW show that was soon to be happening in Austin. What is SXSW? I have NO clue but he was in it......according to him!  Of course we got this information second hand so it couldn't be used in a court of law!  If one was to be in a court of law.




 

 
We decided about 10 we wanted to walk a bit more, maybe find a different venue to listen to music.  As we got to a corner closer to our hotel we hear this GREAT and HAPPY sound........They call themselves The Greasy Skillet Stompers!  Truly looked 'greasy' and as if from the hills of somewhere BUT man what a joy it was to hear them and their joy of playing just some good simple mountain tunes. Down at the Crawdad Whole........and a few others.  The gal played the Washboard .  There was a standup base; accordion and guitar.  The regular street folks that were hanging around singing and enjoying this performance were amazed that we stayed so long AND marveled that we knew the songs they were singing. I think we made some new friends! Everyone was so pleasant and friendly and I only felt sorry for those who looked more like we did on the outside who just kept walking by and missing this great experience!  There were a few who stopped but it was interesting to see SO many just not even glance over in the direction of where the music was coming from.  Their loss!

The band had 3 dogs.  Do you see this one??? They have 'security'  inside the accordion case where people thru money and let me tell you....he slept (or so it appeared) the entire time but I'm thinking had anyone attempted to grab the money he would have awakened and pounced!  There was also a pit bull in the back with the gal which might have been strategically placed AND an Australian blue healer type dog by the guitar player. I made the mistake of asking the names of the dogs.  The only one I recall is the Blue Healer who is named "Do Do Head" Really? 


We began to feel/see a change in the 'look' of those walking up and down 6th Street. By now it was close to 11 p.m.  Guess the song "After Midnight" needs revised to "Before Midnight"! 

 

We both noticed this "Captain America" as I named him across the street. I had to capture this which took a bit of work as I prepped my Iphone and had my hand on the button to snap the shot BUT I was facing another direction so he had no clue I was trying to take his photo...something tells me he would not have cared anyway........He seemed very happy as he strolled down 6th Street and as you see on his left thigh...he must have stopped to play at times and received a tip! We didn't get to experience his music prowess but I do have this visual etched in my mind.   There is a part of me that just SO wishes I could be THIS OKAY with myself.  I'm not saying I'd dress this way (I hear everyone's sigh of relief) I just believe on many levels this guy is probably like the band we were listening to on the street corner and FAR happier in their own skin than a lot of us who only 'think we are'.





More to come! Stay Tuned....and If you are wondering what Joe thought of my Dammit Doll being in plain sight and part of this trip? Well, He made a few comments but nothing sarcastic and knowing Joe, he probably just didn't care! Especially if her company had a positive influence on my attitude! Ha!