Keep Austin Weird

Our last little fall break "hurrah" was an overnight trip to Austin. We decided to bring the dog with us which was a little crazy, but turned out ok. She did surprisingly well in the car. She and Jonathan are great little travel buddies!

The first thing we did when we got into town was walk around Barton Creek Park and then around Ladybird Lake. It was so fun to be in the middle of the city and out in nature at the same time. We decided that Austin felt like a Utah/California hybrid. It was just so strange to see hills again--Houston is completely flat.

Our next stop was lunch at Salt Lick BBQ. Living in Texas, we have become quite the barbeque connoisseurs. This was a good one. As you can see, Jonathan was pretty pleased with it too. Or maybe he was just excited to get out of his carseat. (We are such barbeque lovers that we went to another place for lunch the next day -- La Barbeque. It's a little food truck downtown. If you are ever in Austin, GO. It was incredible.)

We dropped the dog off at our hotel and ventured out to explore UT campus and grab some Tex Mex at Trudy's. It is such a beautiful campus with all of the old architecture and buildings. But let me tell you, it made us feel OLD. College wasn't so long ago, but there's something about being surrounded by backpack-wearing 19 year olds with a baby strapped to your chest that can make you feel a little out of touch. (And what's with every single girl wearing teeny Nike exercise shorts and oversized T-shirts? Seriously. Every single one.)

The next morning we hit the Texas History Museum right when they opened, which was perfect because we had the place to ourselves! The state of Texas does nothing halfway, I tell you. The exhibits in the museum were impressive and check out the size of that star in front.

Driving home took a little longer than we thought. Doggies and babies need a few more stops along the way. We found a nice city park, Scout slid down the slide . . .

And stopped at this not-so-little Mexican pottery stand off the highway. So many colors! I got the most beautiful flower pot and tile.

And now it's back to reality. Matt has started his surgery rotation and is spending his first month working in the burn unit. He says it's pretty gross, but he likes his attending doctor and he gets normal hours and weekends. Yahoo!