We explored Austin over Labor Day weekend-- it was about a 3.5 hour drive to get there. Our first stop was a small (well-reviewed) cafe for lunch, and it was actually one of our most delicious meals, including bagels, wraps, and waffles.
Friday afternoon we spent at the LBJ Presidential Library--which is actually on the UT Austin campus--right as they were gearing up for a home football game. We hurried through there before things got crazy.
We learned more about President Johnson than I ever thought I'd know. It was a good time period to be learning about, because Tiago loves outer space so he was reading about the space race with great interest. It was also interesting to watch their video and see just how little Pres. Johnson believed in personal space. That would have made me crazy to have someone speak to me so closely.
Next stop was the children's museum, Thinkery. Siena's nickname is "marrana" so of course they had to sit on these pigs outside. Inside was a pretty typical kids museum. Fun for the kids, slightly too crowded and overwhelming for my taste. But they were troopers through our "boring, adult museum" so they earned a little wild play time. By the time that was done, everyone was starved, so we stopped for quick chinese food near our hotel, then the kids swam with Hyrum before going to bed.
For sure Hyrum's favorite part of hotel stays is the buffet breakfast. I also love it with kids for totally different reasons-- they can all pick what they want and then I don't feel bad about what they do/don't eat because I didn't have to prepare it.
Sunday we went to church--and ran into a friend from our ward in Germany-- then explored downtown Austin. A lady at the Tourist Office recommended a few areas to walk around, so it was mostly taking in the city (sweating under the super hot sun.) There is one popular street full of bars and restaurants (also a lot of homeless people.) And another street with more upscale shopping. We found a very unique toy store with everything under the sun, and an ice cream/candy shop next door.
Anyone who has traveled with me knows I'm always in favor of stopping for treats along the way. During our walk, we set up a bit of a scavenger hunt--everyone got to pick one thing to look for (like construction, dogs, ice cream, etc.) In a few hours of walking around this was the ONLY ice cream we saw. It made me think slightly less of Austin! At Tiago's request we got chocolate (which also happened to vegan) and it was surprisingly some of the best ice cream I've ever had. It tasted like a cold, creamy, melting brownie!
We obviously hadn't gotten enough sugar on our walk, so we drove to our next stop, Gourdoughs. Another odd thing about Austin is a lot of the eating was outdoors, and it was extremely hot (like the rest of Texas.) Who's idea was that? And while I'm complaining, there was no parking anywhere which meant we skipped several of the places I wanted to see. But back to the donuts, they were amaaazing. The three we got were topped with fried chicken and honey butter; nutella, cinnamon and fresh strawberries; and peaches, whipped cream, honey butter and cinnamon/sugar.
For the first half of eating them, we were declaring it to be the best meal we'd ever eaten. And then we felt really sick for the rest of it and regretted getting 3. But I'd totally do it again. Even in the heat.
We attempted going to the big park downtown to explore (Ziker) but after driving around for 30 minutes looking for parking along with everyone else in Austin, we gave up and went back to the hotel to swim.
Pizza for dinner, before our big bat adventure. It all started because Tiago was reading the magazine in the hotel room, and there was an article about the bats in Texas. Siena asked if bats 'were for real.' Tiago kept telling us facts he learned about them and how cool it was, so we decided we'd better take the kids to see the bats. From March to October, 1.5 million bats fly out from under a bridge downtown around dusk. It's the largest urban bat population in the world. And who knows when the kids will have a chance to see bats again (and learn that they are indeed real!).
With Monday being a holiday, it was packed! We arrived early, but ended up sitting on the ground for about 40 minutes before the bats came out. Once they emerged, there were a million cell phones up in the air, and bats flying out continuously for about 15 minutes. The kids were pretty fascinated. You can't see well from my pictures, but the bats are all the fuzzy dots under the bridge. It would have been cooler to see if they'd flown up into the sky but they stayed fairly low.
Then we faced the daunting task of exiting a parking lot behind hundreds of other cars onto a busy road downtown. After 20 minutes of not moving anywhere (and having the baby scream because he was extremely tired) we saw a few cars exit out of a back street (which didn't appear on google maps) and we followed them out saving ourselves probably 45 minutes. It was a late night, but hopefully memorable.
On Monday we stopped at the State Capitol before driving back to Dallas. We thought it would be fairly quick but we spent a few hours exploring. We started with a tour, then ditched it half-way through. We saw where legislators come for a few weeks each year to legislate. Learned who has speaking time limits and who doesn't. I'm sure there was a lot more, but with kids its hard to listen!
Below, that's Hyrum and the kids on the top balcony, and then below standing in the star. The floor under the dome shows the six nations that have governed Texas: Spain, Mexico, France, United States of America, Confederate States of America and the Republic of Texas. Quite a history!
Right when I was ready to be done, Tiago wanted to explore the grounds and take pictures of every statue in every corner. So that took a while...
And then we were back on the road. The kids did great on the road trip-- food and movies are right up their alley. The baby was asleep for a lot of it. We stopped part way through for gas and bought Czech Kolaches, which are apparently a big deal in Texas (and we learned on Wikipedia that Texas has a huge Czech population.) The drive took over 4 hours due to traffic, accidents, and construction, but soon enough we were greeted with the Dallas sky line and eventually made it home.
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