Hamilton Pool

We started Saturday morning with a beautiful hike to Hamilton Pool, about 20 miles southwest of Austin.


Here they are hiking along the trail, Denise leading the way in her fit flops.

Ah, the beautiful Hamilton Pool, which is indeed swimmable and quite busy in warmer weather.

Strike a pose, model Denise!!

Who's going in first?

Chillin' in the shade of the cave.

After enjoying Hamilton Pool, we hiked in the opposite direction to Pedernales River.

A few kids were braving the cold water.

Tara had seen Yogurt Planet on facebook or somewhere and requested a stop, so we made sure to fit that in!

Later that night we met up with my Austin friends Jill and Michelle at Melting Pot for a 'last supper' on my last night in Austin.

We had our own private room for much of the evening and the 'love martinis' were a bit hit that night.

I got this fancy Yin & Yang martini which did not taste as good as my pomegranate mojito but we deemed it photo worthy.

We followed up dinner with Esther's Follies, a comedy/skit/magic combo show integrating various Austin greats, current events, and crowd participants.

We followed up some good laughs with more live music and dusted off some old dance moves. We went to see Sky Rocket, an 80's cover band at Momo's on West Sixth Street. The pianist who also sang lead on a few songs asked me to get him a drink so I was certain he loved me.

Again we scored spots right up front and danced the night away.

Austin City Limits

We started Friday morning with a tour of the Austin City Limits Studio, where they tape all the PBS live shows of various musicians - both legends and select up and comers. From L to R: Allison, me, Tara, Denise, Heather.


The hallway is lined with a select grouping of ACL artists. I realized how many of them were local or non-mainstream artists I'd come to appreciate through local music and festivals when Allison kept asking 'who is that?' and surprisingly I knew.

Our awesome band is rocking out on the ACL stage. How hot are we?!

Here we are singing in our amazing quintet. The rest of the tour was only moments away from begging us to stop.

And now for the finishing bow. Thank you, thank you!

And here we have Heather filming the whole thing. It was funny at the end of the tour when the guide asked if everyone got enough pictures, especially me. Who, me???

Later that afternoon, we drove out to The Oasis, a perfect spot to watch the sunset in Texas hill country.

We got there at a perfect time, before the sun began to set. We sat out on one of many decks (rebuilt after a massive fire burned many of the 40 wood decks in 2007) and had drinks and apps.

In the other direction, you can appreciate the hillside lined with mansions.

Here we go - it's the sunset over Lake Travis...

Going...

Going...

Gone.

Can't miss a 'hook 'em horns' photo opp with the longhorn in front of The Oasis.

Denise, me, Allison, and Heather are blasting off into space. What a bunch of spacey cadets!

After some more local flavor at Magnolia Cafe, we went to appreciate some local music at Saxon Pub. Seth Walker, one of my Austin favorites, was playing that night and gave me some special attention. Afterwards, he and I talked about his future tour to Melbourne!

We scored front row seats just before the place packed out.

Denise, Allison, and I kicked on after Seth Walker finished up. After a quick stop by the hotel, we went onto Submerged, a newly opened bar near the hotel.

We met up with a bunch of people from my hotel home. Anna and Jill work in Reception and Sales, and Mitchell was my favorite valet driver.

Texas Kicks Minnesota's Taste Buds

My final weekend stateside was a reunion with all my Minnesota girls! We've been meeting annually at a lake cabin in northern Minnesota since finishing up at UND. We all studied engineering and met through the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). They flew in Thursday evening, and after getting settled at the hotel, I introduced them to Texas flavor at Vivo's. The salsa was a rude awakening for them and was used quite sparingly.


Denise (Alexandria), Heather (Duluth), and Allison (Minneapolis)


Allison, me, and Tara (Minneapolis)

That night we returned to the hotel and chatted the night away in the not-so-hot hot tub. It was still nice to relax and get caught up until the security guard kicked us out an hour after closing time. Rules schmules.

Freaky Thai Massage School

Sunday morning we started with a trip to Red Bud for Jackalack. The boy needed some time to romp and lick off Katie's face, a very regular activity.


Jack is an equal opportunity kind of dog so he followed up with some Lisa loving. You have to appreciate winter weather in Texas - beautiful!


Next stop was a free Thai Massage class in South Austin. We walked into a room lined with mattresses and hippies, as the instructor was silently demonstrating what they'd learned in the last class. Lisa was skeeved out as she mouthed the word 'WEIRD' across the room to me. I don't know what she was expecting - this was South Austin after all. Katie and I over-ruled and decided it would be a good story or adventure and stuck out the 3 hour course. However, we did bail before the communal afternoon meal brought by one of the participants. Even I was not so sure about that. Lunch at Maudie's sounded like a much better option.


Later Lisa introduced us to Yogurt Planet, quite an innovative little place in the Triangle, where you can fill your own cup with different flavored yogurts and load up with as many different toppings as you'd like - you pay by weight. Pretty sweet.


We made a special trip down South Lamar to find this mural painted on the wall by the husband of Lisa's art shop boss in Waco. She knows all the artsy fartsies. She's one of them. We relaxed a bit at the hotel and ended the weekend watching Marly & Me at Alamo Drafhouse. We laughed hysterically when the dog was running alongside the car - half in and half out - and of course I cried. Jack got some extra loving that night.

Fogo de Chao

As my time dwindled in Texas, we made a point of having a sisters weekend in Austin. Katie drove up from San Antonio and Lisa drove down from Waco, and we made the most of a very short day and an evening. We started with dinner at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian Steakhouse just down the road from my hotel. I'd walked past it nearly every day with Jack and I was dying to check it out.


We started with a divine salad bar with gourmet everything - lots of cheeses and marinated specialty items - sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, etc. We sampled but did not make the mistake of filling up on the 'fillers'.


We were in it for the main course - meat, meat, and more meat. 'PROTEIN!' Servers swarmed our table with filet mignon, chicken, lamb, pork, and six other types of steak in every cut, temperature, and marinade imaginable. Yummo. The food was delicious and the service impeccable.


We followed dinner by sneaking into the sold-out Master Pancake Theater version of Pretty Woman at the downtown Alamo Drafthouse. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a twist of Mystery Science Theater in which three guys sit up at the front of the theater and make fun of the movie as it rolls, speaking over lines, and offering a comedic running commentary.


Mid-way through the show, they stop the film and do a skit. If this guy doesn't mimic the real Julia Roberts, who could?

Red Bud

Jack and I took a little tour of dog parks today. We started at Red Bud, a recent discovery for me. I first went there yesterday with Jill and Michelle and all our dogs. It's located off of Lake Austin Blvd a few miles west of our hotel. Red Bud Isle sits just south of Tom Miller Dam, where Lake Austin ends and Town Lake begins. There's a huge peninsula with lots of inlets for dogs to run and swim.

Just a few dogs running around on a Sunday afternoon.

Jack jetted out on the peninsula.

Second stop on the tour of dog parks was Auditorium Shores by Town Lake. We normally walk to Auditorium Shores at least once a day, so this is a very familiar place for Jack and me. There's a main track for walking and running and three tiers for dog romping, chasing, and playing.


The main track around Town Lake.

Think there are a few dogs milling around?

Jack's a happy boy and right at home at Auditorium Shores. All these dog parks make me really appreciate Austin and make me feel right at home in Austin too.

Jack's sniffin' out the little guys. I think he thinks he can boss 'em around but a lot of the little guys are bossy little buggers.