Day #11: Where to go, what to do, when the temp outside is 102!

Well today began the first day of the Rooster Teeth Conference, and the first day Pete and I would be on our own…or so I thought…

We all got up and had a quick breakfast, and then I sent Andy, Steve and Emily on their way to enjoy the conference.  I hung around here for a bit with Pete, and then we decided to take a walk over to the Congress Street bridge.  I wanted to go down to the lower walkway and see if we could see sleeping bats.  Alas, we could not as the bridge is constructed in such a way that bats sleep in protected areas that are very cave-like.  No wonder they like that bridge so much!

Meanwhile, I began getting texts from my husband who was NOT enjoying his experience at the convention.  It turns out that their opening address was in a room that could not fit all the attendees.  Steve and Emily could not get into the room at all, and he was quite disgusted about that.  To his point, they knew how many people had registered, and the convention center had the room…they just didn’t book a bigger room.  Meanwhile, Andy stood in line for over two hours so that he could play Halo 4, which comes out in the fall.  * sigh *  Boys…

By the time Pete and I got back to the room (we took a break in the lobby of the Radisson on our way back as it was quite hot out, and the Radisson had a fish tank), Steve and Emily were there!  He had come back to watch the panel on his laptop, and they were playing some video games.  Guess he didn’t really need to come to Austin after all.

Note the random baby in the tiny chair

While we were all back at the condo, Chris showed up to stay with us overnight!  Pete was ELATED.  He has missed his Aunt Chris ever since she moved to Dallas, and now he was going to get her for 24 whole hours here (and another 24 in Dallas when we go to see her in a few days!)  We all decided it was lunch time, so we walked past the convention center to a barbeque place called Iron Works.  I got the sampler platter, which was quite big, but I couldn’t decide between sausage, brisket or ribs!  I swear I’m gaining pounds with each passing day…

Now note random child in the big chair.  Hilarious!

Anyway, after lunch, Steve headed back to the convention center, and Chris, Emily, Pete and I went to check out the Children’s Museum in Austin.  It’s a cute place…not very large, but perfect for Pete!  We ended up spending the better part of two hours there.  I was just grateful to be in air conditioning!

After that, we stopped by a frozen yogurt place where you serve yourself to the yogurt and toppings, then you pay by weight.  I got the chocolate/peanutbutter swirl and added reeces pieces and lucky charm marshmallows on top.  Em got cake batter with graham crackers on top, and Pete’s concoction was frightening…Chocolate and mint chocolate yogurt, gummy bears, marshmallows and sprinkles.  Mmmm.  Chris treated us, and our tummies were very happy (did I mention weight gain?)

SNACK!

After that, we headed back to the condo, where Steve was back at his laptop watching panels.  It’s just so comfortable here and you get a front row seat on the computer every time!

We all seemed wiped, and I think all of us dozed on and off for about an hour (except Pete who was very busy working on his next book).  When I awoke, I couldn’t believe it was 7:30!  What a lazy afternoon/evening.  We checked the web for a tex-mex place and found a wonderful one called Manuel’s.  We all headed over for some flautas, enchiladas, salsa, guacamole and flan.  Yum!

By the time we were done, it was about 9:30, so we took a walk down 6^th street and showed Chris the Driskill Hotel.  There were a few parties going on, and the place was hopping!  Back on the street, all the places were hopping! (it was a Saturday night)  However, I noticed that they had not closed off 6^th street like they had previous nights.  I found that odd as I would think Saturday would be the night to do it.  Oh well, perhaps it wasn’t late enough yet.

But it was late enough for us.  We headed back to the condo to get ready for bed.  Steve and the kids have to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow if they want to participate in the filming of some web short the Rooster Teeth guys are doing.  Hopefully everyone will be able to get up! (Hopefully Andy will get home with enough time to sleep before he has to be up again…he’s been getting in sometime between 1 and 3am every day…ugh!)

Pete and his buddy

Day #10: Just Chillin’ & Sweatin’

Andy, on the right, participating in a podcast

Another leisurely start to our morning, we got the kids moving with the smell of bacon!  We were finally able to enjoy our cage free eggs and organic bacon this morning.  Because we made breakfast (and I got a bit of laundry done), we weren’t really ready to leave the condo until noon!

Andy left before us as he was participating in a podcast with his Rooster Speak friends at a nearby restaurant.  Soon we were on our way there, too so that we could watch.  I’m not really sure what they talked about, but we were there to show our support and eat quesadillas!

Once it was over, Andy left with his friends, and Em, Pete, Steve and I hit Austin to do a bit of shopping.  We stumbled upon a great store called Wild About Music.  They had everything from guitars that were works of art, to purses with built-in boom boxes, and everything else in between!  Emily found some headphones she liked, but they couldn’t take them out of the box.  They told her that she could try them on in their other store over on 2^nd, and we felt like for the price she was going to pay, she should make sure she liked them.  So we held off purchasing them.  She did get an iPhone cover made from an old record which was pretty cool.

Driskill Hotel Lobby

We then walked over to a beautiful old hotel called the Driskill Hotel.  Built in 1886, It’s been the scene of many political parties, dignitary gatherings and such. It served as the campaign headquarters for president Lyndon B. Johnson,   I took a few photos of the inside.  It was like walking back in time. 

After that, we headed over to the other music store so that Emily could test their headphones.  It was about a 4 or 5 block walk, and the heat was stifling!  She ended up trying them on, liking them, but wanted the blue ones (which, of course, were only available back at the first store!)

So, we headed back towards the first store.  At that point, Pete and I peeled away from Steve and Em (almost quite literally) and headed back to the condo.  Pete was done, and so was I.  Steve and Em ended up going over to the convention center to register for the convention tomorrow, stopping in and getting the headphones and meeting us back at the condo.

After about an hour of recovery, we were cooled and ready for our next adventure.  Who knew we’d make such a BAD decision next!  It was hot.  We knew it was hot.  We had been in the hot.  We wanted to go see Brave at a really cool theater called The Alamo.  They not only show you the movie, they bring food to you, so you can have dinner and a show!  Unfortunately, the Alamo down the street in downtown Austin wasn’t showing it, but the one on South Lamar was.  We looked on a map.  That didn’t look too far.  “Let’s walk!”

So, the next time someone thinks it’s a good idea to walk about 16 blocks in 95 degree heat and humidity, tell them No.  Just TELL THEM NO!  About half way there we started discussing cabs.  Of course, there weren’t any, so we persevered on.  Stopped at a few 7-11-type stores for water.  We were PATHETIC!

The theater as seen from our bus stop

We got there in plenty of time though.  I tried to take a sponge bath in the sink at the theater.  It was gross.

Anyway, we settled in, saw a fabulous movie, had pizza, nachos, popcorn, and drinks, drinks, drinks!  I must say, Brave is one of Pixar’s best movies, I think.  I hope you go see it.  Just don’t walk there.

Once the movie was over, we discussed how we were going to get home.  Steve called a cab company, but they said it’d be over 20 minutes to get to us.  I’d seen a bus on Lamar, so I said “Let’s check out how these busses work!”  BOOYAH!  We found a bus line that picked us up, and dropped us off, practically in front of the condo!  And all for $3 for all of us.  Now why didn’t I figure out the bus earlier?  Oh well, don’t ask.  It made us stronger people, right?

Everyone waiting for the bats that didn't come

After the bus dropped us off, we walked a block back towards the Congress St. bridge to see the bats that leave from under the bridge “en masse” each evening.  We ended up waiting for about an hour as the sun set…nothing.  Saw a few bats flying around, but nothing close to a ‘mass.’  There were people lining the bridge to see it, people lining the shoreline, and even boats filled with people in the water!  When the boats left, I decided it was safe to give up.  What a bummer.  Perhaps we’ll try again Sunday.  Tomorrow night we can’t because I think we’re going to be at a Barn Dance!  Woo hoo!

We came back to the condo, we showered (Emily soaked in the tub for about 1.5 hours), I got Pete to bed, and Steve and I decided to hit the road and see 6^th Street in all it’s glory.  6^th Street is the party street at night…so much so that the street is closed off to traffic every night because there are so many people, they don’t all fit on the sidewalk!  There were so many people!!  It was a Friday night, but Steve says it’s like that almost every night.  I saw a man dressed as death standing like a statue on a stand, I saw a guy dressed in a red, white and blue cape and codpiece playing the guitar with long hair and a longer beard…I guess he’s keeping the “Keep Austin Weird” motto alive! There were heels higher than anything I’ve ever seen, long hair, tiny skirts…it was quite a scene.

After that, Steve and I walked back to the condo and passed out.  What a day!  Tomorrow I’m going to stay a bit cooler if I can…

Day #9: Swimmin’ Hole!

One of the items on my kids’ bucket list (yes, they do have one) is to some day swim in a real swimming hole.  Well, Austin is RIFE with them, and so I had decided today would be the day they could check that one off!

We started the day rather leisurely.  It took awhile for all of us (and by all of us, I mean Steve, Pete, Emily and me) to get up and moving.  We realized that we have this wonderful kitchen with nothing in it.  So, our first stop was to Whole Foods (their flagship store).  We have always been a big fan of Whole Foods, and this store was MIND NUMBING in it’s size and offerings!  I really can’t believe just how big this store is.  I know we would have purchased more if we were planning on cooking dinner here, but there are so many wonderful places in Austin to eat, I just didn’t think we would.

So, we ended up buying breakfast items (coffee, eggs, muffins), snacks (olives, chips and salsa, cherries) and some other fun items (a Bento Box lunchbox for Emily for next year, and AMAZING smelling bulk soaps for all of us!) 

After an hour in the store, we checked out, were way to easily amazed at the down walkway which locked our cart on without letting it roll down the ramp, and were back home quickly.   As it was already going on 11am, we decided on cereal today, saving the egg meal for tomorrow.  We got Andy moving, had cereal, got into swimsuits and were on our way by noon.

Our first stop was Barton Springs.  It’s located right downtown, off of Lady Bird Lake.  We parked, got our stuff and were headed to the entrance when someone pulled up alongside us and told us that the Springs had been closed for cleaning…that it would open again at 7pm (a natural spring closed for cleaning...that was a new one!)  Well, that would never do.  I immediately turned to my phone to research another option.

I found a place called Krause Springs, located about 45 minutes outside Austin.  While it was quite a drive, it was worth it!  We found a place that had a natural spring running into a man-made pool.  From there, the pool created a waterfall that fell into a lower area that was a natural swimming hole.   There were a lot of people there, but they were a lot of fun.  Many people had rafts or floats, and a lot of them were standing in the water with beers.  There was a cooler with built-in speakers blasting music, but everyone seemed really nice.

There was a rope swing, and when Andy got up there, the group with the music and beers started cheering for him.  When it was Emily’s turn, she was really scared to go, so they started chanting to encourage her to go in.  She finally did.  See below to view the photo.  Her entry into the water wasn’t pretty. 

Peter ended up borrowing a swim noodle from someone, and was able to swim around a bit with us.  Andy, Emily and Pete ended up near a water cave behind the waterfall.  It was really pretty.  As I was swimming over to join them, I noticed another couple pointing something out to Emily.  All of a sudden, that girl was almost running on top of the water.  She couldn’t get out fast enough!  Peter was right behind her.  When I finally caught up to them, she told me that Andy had gone into the cave and noticed a huge spider nest.  Just at that moment, the couple had pointed out a spider in the water, and Em said it stretched out its legs and was about the size of a softball.  I think I would have run across the top of the water too!

After that, they were pretty much done.  Pete wanted to stay longer, but there was no getting Em back in that water.  It was 3, and we had only had breakfast, so we decided we’d better get going.  We made our way back to the upper level where the man-made pool was, and they had drained it for cleaning.  There was still a spring feeding it, and it had a sloped bottom, so the kids took the opportunity to use it as a water slide.  After a few slides, we were finally done and ready to head out.

Steve realized we weren’t too far from a great barbeque place he had heard about called the Salt Lick, and we decided to go!  We stopped for money (it was a cash-only place), and soon found ourselves at an amazing all-you-can-eat barbeque restaurant.  We were served sausage, brisket, pork ribs, beans, cole slaw, potato salad, bread, jalapenos, pickles and onions.  Seeing as how we’d only had breakfast, and it was now 5pm, we really ate our money’s worth!  I think we had seconds, thirds and fourths.

When he asked if we wanted dessert, there was no way…I wanted it…but there was just no way.  We rolled out of the restaurant and headed back to the condo.  There we were able to shower off the day.  After we were clean and dressed, we headed out:  Andy to hang with his Rooster Teeth friends, and Steve, Em, Pete and I to go visit my friend Susan (whom I have known since 1990).  It was great catching up with her, and her sweet dogs Cody and Gromit (poor Gromit was in the cone of shame, which was sad and hilarious all at the same time)

We visited and before we knew it, it was almost 11!  So, we headed back to the condo and to bed.  Another leisurely morning awaits us tomorrow.  I’m excited for my cage-free eggs and organic maple bacon in the morning!

Day #8: Austin!

Well, it took awhile, but we finally made it to Austin.  The kids had trouble getting up this morning, so we didn’t get on the road as quickly as I had hoped.  We had heard horror stories of the patrol cars along I-10, so we stayed at least 1 to 2 miles UNDER the speed limit the entire way!

At one point, a blue car sped by us, and sure enough, about 10 minutes later we passed him as he was pulled over by police.  SO glad we stayed within the legal limit and didn’t get pulled over!

Once again, our lunch stop was not very noteworthy.  In the desert, when you have to use the restroom or eat, you pretty much get what you get.  The options are far and few between.  By the time we were hungry and ready for a pit-stop, our only options were McDonalds (ugh), Taco Company (saw it was located within a gas station and decided to pass) or a Sonic Hamburger place.  We chose Sonic.  I got a Chicago Dog for something different, and Emily thought I was COMPLETELY out of line!  Oh well, it definitely wasn’t as good as the real thing.

We stopped in Fredricksburg for gas and a stop at the bank…I’ve got to remember this town for future reference.  It was so quaint and nice.  Definitely worth more than the drive-through we gave it.

We finally got into Austin around 5pm, found our condo, figured out how to get into the gated parking lot, and started moving our stuff up three flights of stairs.  You don’t realize how hot it is until you have to do something like that!  We were dripping wet.  UGH.  As my girlfriend Susan who lives here noted:  Once you've been here for awhile, you don't worry about personal hygiene anymore...that ship has definitely sailed!

After recovering a bit, we headed out to dinner at Threadgills Restaurant on the other side of Lady Bird Lake.  They are known for their “award winning chicken fried steak” so, I dutifully ordered mine…and I am so glad I did!  WOW was it yummy!  The pecan pie afterwards was wonderful as well.

After that, we headed on over to the park where the masses were beginning to form for the fireworks.  We did a bit of shopping along the sides where tents were set up, and I ended up getting a pretty bracelet, Em and I got a hairclip that we agreed we’d share, and Pete got a balloon animal.  Everyone wins!!

We enjoyed hearing the orchestra accompany the fireworks.  The best part was being able to walk back home after it was all done!  It was a great end to our first ½ day here.

Tomorrow, SWIMMIN' HOLE!!

Day #7: Drive, drive, drive

Today was quite uneventful, and we like it that way on driving days!

We got packed up and out of the hotel by 8am, which was pretty good!  I had originally planned to make it all the way to Sonora, TX tonight, but Steve did the math and decided I must have been high when I planned that leg of the trip, because we wouldn’t get in until 3am!  So, once in the car, I dutifully cancelled our hotel in Sonora.

I'm thinking they're done in the car...

Steve also had his own personal agenda as he really wanted to see Marfa Texas and the Marfa Lights (ghostly lights that appear at dusk and continue until the morning which no one can explain)  So, we decided to head to Marfa and have a bit more of a drive tomorrow to make it the rest of the way to Austin…which wouldn’t be too bad.

Storms...in the desert??

Well, we hit some pretty nasty storms in El Paso.  That combined with construction really slowed us down.  It became obvious as the evening wore on that even Marfa wasn’t going to be attainable tonight.  We ended up stopping at a Ramada Inn in tiny Van Horn around 10pm.

Storms notwithstanding, the drive was pretty nice.  We drove through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and a bit into Texas.  El Paso was pretty cool.  In between the rainstorms, we could see a row of lights in the distance (it was night by then) which we think was the Mexico border.  It was as close to Mexico as we were going to get!

As for food, our stops were not very memorable today as we stopped at a Subway for lunch and McDonalds for dinner.  It’s very typical road-tripping food.  I’m looking forward to much better fare once in Austin!

Day #6: A Day of Rest

As you can imagine, today started very slow.  I was able to go get some breakfast for the family (cereal and milk from the 7-11, plus plastic cups and spoons to eat it), do a load of laundry, have a nice leisurely conversation with my mother-in-law, and just enjoy the beautiful morning.  We finally had everyone up and going by 11am. 

As we were headed to the beach (I mean, come on…we’re so close!), we had everyone dress in swimsuits.  On our way to the beach we stopped at our favorite hamburger place for lunch: In & Out Burger!  We really wish they’d open a store in Chicago.

Anyway, our tummies full of burger, we headed to Huntington Beach, home of the US Surfing Championships.  While it was sunny without a ‘cloud in the sky’ in Anaheim, just 15 miles down the road along the beach, it was nothing BUT clouds!  We decided that there are cloud making factories out in the Pacific Ocean, because every time we make it to the beach, whether it be Oregon, Washington or California, it’s CLOUDY!

But I’m not complaining.  After three days broiling out in the sun, a bit of shade was nice.  The kids tumbled in the surf (teens further out than Pete, but I was still nervous), they dug for creatures in the sand, and, true to form, Andy threw seaweed on Peter which made him scream.  Ah, brothers.

We were there for about 30 minutes, and then decided we were done.  No, we are not beach people, but we do like it in small doses.  We headed back to the hotel, where it was beautifully sunny, and played for about an hour in the pool.

After everyone cleaned up and dressed up, we stopped by Downtown Disney for a T-shirt for Pete (couldn’t find one that I liked yesterday), and then headed back to Huntington Beach for a real seafood dinner.  We ended up at Duke’s, which has one location in Malibu and three in Hawaii!  The food is definitely seafood with a Hawaiian flair.  I loved my California Sea Bass in a sweet/tangy sauce.  Their signature dessert was a ridiculously huge concoction of ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge and macadamia nuts!

After a brief walk around the downtown shopping area, we headed back to the hotel for a quick night’s sleep.  We’ve got to get all the way to Texas tomorrow!

Austin, here we come!!

Day #5: Disneyland With Everyone!

The day started with me being a drill sergeant “Okay!  Everyone out of BED!  Time to get to DISNEYLAND!”  I ran down the street to the 7-11 and grabbed unhealthy breakfasts for everyone, then pushed everyone out the door so we were to Disney by 8.  We started, again, at California Adventures, and, being Sunday, it was already way more crowded than it had been on Friday.  

Our first stop was Cars Land (again)! The lines for Radiator Springs were even longer than they had been Friday, and we decided that it wasn’t in the cards to try the ride.  Pete was disappointed, but we told him we’d try again later.

We walked through Cars Land again, showing the teens everything we had seen on Friday, and then we headed over to Hollywood Land and the Tower of Terror!  Pete had had no interest in doing the Tower on Friday, so I went with the older kids, and Steve took Pete to play at the little kids Bugs Life rides.

We then met up for the Monsters, Inc. ride, which was really cute.  Emily noted that since everyone was at Cars Land, we were able to walk right up to these rides and get right on!  While that was nice, it wasn’t going to be the case for the rest of the day.

We crossed the park to do California Screamin’ with the big kids.  We waited in line, rode the ride, agreed it was awesome, and then got a fast pass to do it again.  While we waited, we rode the Toy Story Mania ride again.  I was also able to buy some Churros to hold everyone over until lunchtime.  (You really have to kiss your healthy habits goodbye when you choose to spend a day at a theme park)

After a second ride on California Screamin’, we headed back out of the park and over to Disneyland.  It was getting to be lunchtime, so we ended up at a place for salads and sandwiches (Wahoo!  Something healthy!)  Of course, Andy eyed the JUMBO Cinnamon Roll, but we put him off saying “later!”

After lunch, I got a fast pass for the Indiana Jones, ride, and while we waited, went on the classic Jungle Cruise.  It was a lot of fun, and we spent the right amount of time before it was Indiana Jones time.  I don’t remember doing that ride at Disney World, and it was fun!  Like being in a runaway explorer jeep going through familiar places from the movie.

After Indiana Jones, it was a walk through the old Swiss Family Robinson treehouse (now renamed the Tarzan treehouse) and then over to Tom Sawyer Island!  We knew it would be perfect for Pete.  It’s a bit different from the one at Disney World.  You take a raft to get there, and there is an “Injun Joe” exploring cave, but the fort isn’t accessible inside, and the island seems to be bigger at Disney World.

We only lost Pete once, so I felt we did pretty well…

After we were back on ‘land’, we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion Rides.  Not long waits, and I was grateful.  Everyone was starting to really slow down.

We wanted to go to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain, but we were exhausted and it was starting to get really hot.  So, (after letting Andy get that horrible Cinnamon Roll), we took the train around the park to the other side. Sadly, when we got to Space Mountain, it said the ride was closed!  We were disappointed, but decided it was time for a restroom break anyway.  When we were finished with the restrooms, the ride was open!  We hopped in line, and the wait wasn’t long at all (others hadn’t figured out it had reopened yet!)

Everyone loved the ride.  Because it was still hot out, we headed over to Innoventions for some wonderfully air conditioned down time.  We got to play some video games, see a home of the future, and just generally refuel.

After we left Innoventions, Andy decided it was time for a nap (that cinnamon roll had put him in a food coma), so he headed back to the hotel, and we headed first to the raceway cars and then into Fantasyland.  We rode some of the smaller rides we hadn’t ridden with Peter on Friday including the Alice in Wonderland Ride, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and the Peter Pan ride.  Emily found a cute hat in the Snow White shop, and we took a tour of the castle at Disneyland (it is much smaller than the castle at Disney World…you are able to walk through and see dioramas telling the story of Sleeping Beauty)

We then did a bit of shopping, then wandered over towards Cars Land to our dinner destination.  We had booked reservations at the Wine Country Trattoria for 8:10pm back when we were riding the train around the park, so our timing was just about right.  By that time, all we wanted to do was sit.  The sun had gone down and it had gotten cold (there is no middle ground here!).  Unfortunately, our table was outside, so it was a pretty chilly dining experience (we were not fortunate enough to get one of the tables under the heat lamps)  Andy met up with us, and we had the “World of Color’ meal, which meant it was a fixed price (think expensive), but we got VIP seats for the World of Color show at 10:15.

After dinner, we headed over and saw a show that was wonderfully Disney-esque.  It used a lot of color and water jets in the lagoon, and we ended up getting a bit “rained on.”

Once it was over, it was getting pretty late (10:45pm), but we decided we would try one more time and see if the wait on the Radiator Springs ride was long or not.  While the park closed at 11, they said anyone in line before 11 would be allowed on the ride, but the wait was still 80 minutes!  I told Peter it just wasn’t a good idea…that he wouldn’t get on the ride until 12:30am, and by that time, he’d be asleep!  I was so proud of him.  He was on my back at that point and said quietly into my ear “I’m just grateful I got to go on it once, right?”  What a sweet boy.

We knew that Disneyland didn’t close until midnight, and we knew we hadn’t done Thunder Mountain Railroad, so we decided to cross to the other park and do that as our last ride.

I have never been a big fan of Thunder Mountain Railroad, but in the dark, with an almost full moon, and a lot of fun kids on the ride singing “Living On A Prayer”…it was REALLY FUN!  And there was no wait, so…we rode it TWICE!

Needless to say, we did not get back to the room until midnight.  Everyone was so exhausted, and tired, and hurting, that I think we were conscious in the room for about five minutes until we all fell asleep…well, all except Andy who was the smart one and took a NAP during the day!

Tomorrow…a day of rest.  whew!