Category: Austin Images

March 29 – Road trip!

We’re on our way to the Caribbean for a sailing vacay!  Our flight itinerary takes us there via Puerto Rico.   We’ve decided to stay 2 nights in San Juan, since we never visited there before.  We won’t have (and don’t want!) internet connectivity while we’re away, so I’m drafting these blog entries as I go along, and am posting them in order, after I get back.

Saturday, March 29.

We are leaving on a beautiful day in Austin.  Here’s a great shot from the plane showing Lady Bird Lake, Zilker Park, the booming downtown skyline, the 40 acres, Longhorn stadium, UT tower, Erwin Center, the Capitol, Disch-Falk field, … What else can you spot?

20140329-115220.jpgAfter arriving in San Juan and checking into the hotel, we took a walk around the neighborhood.  We stopped into a pub nearby and I found one of my favorite brewskis from my misspent awesome youth!

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Our crew, Susanne and Laura, arrive in San Juan tomorrow!

You know it’s cold when…

…the neighborhood gargoyle is wearing his woolies.  🙂

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Trail of Lights.

We made it to the Trail of Lights tonight in Austin’s jewel, Zilker Park, for the first time in probably 5 years or more.   We used to go more frequently, but it has either not been easy to get down there in recent times, or it has been postponed for financial reasons.   I remember, in the good old days, being able to decide at the last minute to go, and just zip down to the park and park for free on the grassy field and walk over.    No more.   We had to plan ahead.   I got a parking pass online which made it a little easier, but the traffic was really crazy, and the crowds were enormous.

In any event, the lights were simply lovely.

This is the tunnel at the entrance…

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This is a view of a bunch of different lights, with the Zilker tree in the background.13121901

I love the tree lights.13121902

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And one last look back towards downtown.  It’s a little blurry, but you can see some of the Trail lights, some of the city lights, and the waning Cold Moon.13121905

 

Christmas at Zilker.

I was in south Austin today, and just had to drive through zilker park on the way home. They lit the Christmas tree on Sunday and this weekend the trail of lights opens, after which it will be nearly impossible to make it through the park.
I got a shot from underneath and another from about 100 yards away. Christmas is in the air….

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Bowl me over.

Today Laura and I went to the Austin Empty Bowl Project event. It is a fundraiser for organizations that feed hungry children in the area. Potters donate bowls, food vendors donate soup, musicians take turns entertaining the crowd, and tons of Austinites show up to make it all work. $20 gets you a bowl of your choice and a delicious hot bowl of soup. It was great! This is the one I brought home.

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Greetings.

I took the day off, and Monte and I made a trip to South Austin.   You may be familiar with the “Greetings from Austin” mural.   It was first painted in 1998.   It only took me 15 years, but I finally got down there in August to see it myself.  When I did, i saw how deteriorated the mural had become.   Here is a link to the photo I took back in August.  Since then the building owners raised money to restore the wall behind the mural and repaint it.   They started the renovation about a month ago and just finished it.   Below is a photo of the brand-spanking-new version that I took today.

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Blue-hair special.

As 5:30 rolled around tonight I got this text from Monte on my phone: “Blue hair special?” That’s what we call the hurry-up-to-beat-the-happy-hour-rush dinner run to our nearby Chuy’s. If we time it right we can be in and out of there in no time flat.

Yes, sir! I logged off and got semi-presentable in a jif. And we were off. Ah, yes, dinner and a marg, and home by 6:30. Yum!
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Celebrating a milestone.

This evening the UT Nursing School held the official pinning ceremony for the students that have passed the RN exam and are now nurses. We were honored to be Julie’s guests, to celebrate with her.

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Afterwards, we grabbed dinner downtown at Easy Tiger. They serve bratwurst and other sausages made in-house, and breads, pretzels, sauerkraut and cheeses that they also make themselves. It was our first time, and we really enjoyed it. I don’t remember seeing Waller Creek in this good condition. A nice place. You should check it out next time you’re near 6th Street.

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A fun but not-on-the-lake Sunday.

As much as we love spending our weekends on the lake, it’s nice to have a change of scenery every once in a while. I mean, we live in an awesome place; we have to get out and about. On the first Sunday of every month, the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum offers free admission to all their exhibits. So, we made plans to go today to see their current special exhibit on Texas Furniture. Here are a few scenes from our day…

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The iconic, iron lonestar out in front of the museum…it was a beautiful day…

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I snuck a pic from inside… shhh… a tad blurry, but a grand 4 poster bed…
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Lunch at Freddie’s…

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And, I finally got a picture of the Austin mural on South 1st street… it’s probably about time for some TLC – it’s showing a little wear and tear…

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And we wrapped up the day at the Zilker Hillside Theater.  Their 55th annual summer musical this year is Little Shop of Horrors.  It was a great show…

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G’nite all!

Wheee!

We went toobing today on the San Marcos. It’s always a great time – we try to make it out there at least once every summer. It’s funny, all the toobing photos from every year look like exactly the same trip. 🙂
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My neighborhood rocks.

Happy July 4th! Monte and I are packing for two days and nights on the lake. It’s going to be great! As we were getting ready I heard the Stars and Stripes blaring down the street. We went outside and caught our neighborhood’s annual parade. I love it. Small town awesomeness in the middle of Austin! They do this every year, but this is the first year we have been home on the 4th to see it (!).

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20130706-011347.jpgwhy yes, that IS a mop&linen Statue of Liberty going down the street. Don’t you have one of those?

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Taking our time going home.

I’ve already said how much I’ve enjoyed this reunion trip to Nashville.   It’s been a really great visit.   Today our flight leaves in the afternoon, so we have several hours to check out more of Nashville and its surrounds.

This morning we got up and checked out of the hotel and drove to Franklin.  A lovely small town with Victorian homes, antique malls and really great shops.  The backroad to Franklin is lined with amazing homes and homesteads.

This was one shot of a number of churches in the village – the First United Methodist.  I liked the doors.

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We passed the morning walking through town, shopping in several of the antique stores, and had lunch at a nice Irish pub in town.  After that, we dashed over to The Hermitage – home of Andrew Jackson. But didn’t have much time to do more than a quick drive by.  Sorry, no pics.

Back at Nashville International Airport, I was glad to find an Admiral’s Club on the same concourse as our Southwest flight.

This is a shot of the UT campus as we were landing, flying south towards the airport.  If you can find the Erwin Center in the picture (left side, middle of frame), you’ll get your bearings.  I believe the area in the foreground is the grounds of the old Mueller Airport, now a bunch of mixed use housing and retail.

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Yay, it’s good to be home!   I’m headed to baggage claim carousel #4.   I’m so very glad this is a 4 day week!!!1306242

Virtual Friday!!!

This has been yet another busy week.   But, today is the last day of work for me, as we’re taking a long weekend.   Wooo Hooooo!

Tonight I stopped by Mayfield Park on the way to a friend’s house.  There are peacocks in residence here, and a couple were putting on a show when I arrived.

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Walking 9 (well, 14 really).

At the beginning of the year, I had scheduled today as an extra day off after the long weekend. Bonus! I relaxed, swam laps at the gym, and then this evening monte and I zipped over to the newly renovated Morris Williams golf course for the sunset rate. We usually can only squeeze in 9 holes before sunset. But we made good time today and finished 14. The golf course looks really great and there is a fabulous new clubhouse.
This is a shot from the 15th green looking west right before sunset. You can see the old Robert Muller airport control tower still standing in the distance.

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And this is a shot of the new clubhouse as we were heading in.

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Back to work tomorrow. Yay 3 day week!