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| Austin State Capitol I like how it looks |
We left Melody and Stephen's and got to Austin. We went straight to Zilker park and made some lunch. This is a big park on the edge of downtown. The weather was terrific and we met some very nice people that gave us some suggestions on where to go. The park had tons of people there recreating and just felt great. We grabbed our Mexican blanket and laid out on the grass and watched the people play with their dogs or throw the frisbee. Shockingly, I started read Walden. I will discuss that later.
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| Austin Cityscape from Zilker Park |
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| Me gettin my chill on and my Walden on |
Once we were done relaxing, we did a walk along the river. There is a hot spring that apparently is what the indians and white folk fought over in this area to then establish the town. we walked around there and we saw some awesome wildlife. I didn't expect to see turtles in this stream but we saw multiple and they were pretty good sized. We saw 4 chillin' on a log and had to get a pic. Anna took a pic from a distance and I wanted one pretty close up. I went down this steep incline and then I go to have Anna hand me the camera. Fumbled!! the camera bounces out of my hand and rolls right into the river where the turtles freak out and jump in the water. I rush down and get the camera. We were a bit panicked and in the process Anna tried turning the camera on while it was soaking. Well who knows whether it would have been ok without it being turned on but we were unable to revive the camera after days of trying ways of fixing it. Big bummer and now we are out another 100+ bucks getting a new camera, which is waterproof :). Those of you who were very sad that we would be gone for a year don't worry, we ain't making it that long.
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| Edge of park looking to Austin |
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| What we took a pic of moments before the camera went into the drink |
We always keep an eye on our weather which is very important to us. According to all the weather news sources it said that the night we got into Austin the temp would drop really rapidly and there would be 20-30mph winds. Kinda savage weather even though at the moment the weather was ideal. We camped out in a Walmart and were woken up at 3am with the wind just going nuts. It was pushing Maander from side to side and we started thinking we may have to reposition or something to try and make it through. I get to a window and see that Maander is actually already in the ideal position to reduce the effects of the wind. We just had to deal with the whipping back and forth. I thought it felt crazier than it actually was and though it took us awhile to fall back asleep because of nerves, we made it through the night. From there on out the temp was stupid cold. We went to a Barnes & Nobles in the morning getting out of the cold and chilled there for a really long time. The next two days had us just trying to stay out of the temperature. We got a night in a Best Western using the last of my points I accrued and in the morning the hot water didn't work. We were able to parle the non working hot water into a reduced price for the next night and they got the water working about mid day. We just chilled in the hotel and watched tv.
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| very cold |
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| effing cold!! me showing of my jacket prowess in the hotel |
Snow was coming and to try and stay out of it or to reduce the effects of it we headed down to San Antonio where we would meet up with Micah, Anna's brother. We spent our last night in a hotel down there and Micah stayed in the room too because he didn't have to report for duty at the Fort he was stationed at till the next day.
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| Our view when we woke up after the snow San Antonio |
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| Right by the hotel. Thought it was interesting looking |
We woke up to a thin layer of snow all over. There looked to be no cars on the freeways but the surface streets seemed ok. We stayed as long as we could in the hotel then left for a coffee shop till the snow got done melting. The coffee house we chose was downtown which turned out not to be the best idea. The tall buildings kept the streets from receiving sun so there was still snow covered street where cars were slipping and sliding. I was very careful with Maander and we did fine but there were a couple of people driving as if they were brain dead.
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| The Alamo!! |
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| The riverwalk |
San Antonio's downtown is really expensive to park in and there are no hidden spots for free parking as best we can tell. We ended up going outside downtown and parking and then walking in. We saw the Alamo and Riverwalk. San Antonio seemed like an alright place but didn't have the charm Austin did. We saw what we saw then went to a Walmart and spent the night just outside the main city.
For the Superbowl we met up with someone Anna knew from CFO named Jonah. He is in the army like her brother and he was having a little Superbowl party. He said we could stay the night so we gladly accepted. We got to know him, his wife and their really cute 3 year old Caleb. We went to the church they were checking out in the morning then just hung around till the game got started. It was funny because it started at 5:30 which sounds really late to me because I am used to California start time of like 2 or 3. We pigged out and watched the game good times.
Anna and I decided that we would return to Austin because it seemed like such a cool town and we barely got to experience it. After spending the night at Jonah and Brandy's we headed back to Austin. We just got here this morning and we went straight to the Capitol building. they have free guided tours there which is pretty sweet so we went on that and ate at their cafeteria which had good food for a reasonable price. We are just chilling at a coffee shop now and the barista has given me a bunch of places to check out here in Austin so we will have to discover the Austin that natives know. Peace out and I am happy in Austin :) so far if I were to live anywhere except Cali it would be Austin. We will be heading to Houston and visiting my Uncle Gary!!!
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| These steps don't seem safe |
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| At the japanese botanical gardens |
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| GQ? |
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