Texas Round-up Part 2 ~ Austin

November 4 ~ 6

Rick spent several of his formative years living in Austin....I've  never been, but have good friends there who I haven't seen in forever, so much of this stop will be a trip down memory lane.

After settling into the Lone Star RV Resort (carfreeresorts.com), part of this chain that we've come to learn are very typical of the mid-tier kind of place and just fine for a night or two, we set  out to find Rick's childhood home.  He had not been there in almost 50 years.  He locates it easily with the help of the GPS, stops and knocks on the door.  Out steps a gentleman who after hearing Rick's story, eagerly invites us in...guess we don't look too much like axe murderes!

He and his wife gladly shows us around the home they bought in 1970.  They have taken loving care of it, added a pool and updated many things.  They are charming and we end up having a delightful, long conversation about the neighborhood, neighbors, our trip, respective children and careers.  Rick is very pleased.

Next day we walk about a billion miles around town.  We start at the Capitol...taller than our National Capitol (big surprise, it's Texas!)  It's so odd that it's almost deserted but they meet irregularly and we just roam around.

Find a few lovely Victorians which now all seem to have been turned into offices.  But they are well taken care of and pretty.

Austin's motto is "Keep Austin Weird"!  You gotta love that!  We wander to 6th Street that is the core of the live music scene looking for a spot to have lunch..but this is defintely a night thing and not much is open.  We find the Driscoll Hotel, an old, gracious structure that serves a nice lunch on the terrace.

The LBJ Museum and Library is a must do!  Beautifully done, fascinating and not surprisingly slightly slanted in its viewpoint.

An animatronic of LBJ leaning on a fencepost telling good ol' boy stories is freaky real. 

Do a drive through the University of Texas campus..pretty and huge stadium.  Find the infamous Texas Tower where 14 people were killed and 32 others injured in a rampage by in a lone shooter in 1966. The 307 foot structure has recently been renovated and re-opened as an observation tower again after a 30-year hiatus.

Tonight we're meeting Herb and Mary, great friends of mine I knew in Westfield, NJ a thousand years ago...and they will meet Rick for the first time.  Mary suggests a restaurant that typifies Austin in the "keep it weird" way so we really get a flavor of the city. 

Shady Groove (theshadygroove.com) is perfect!  It's a fabulous evening, we eat outside.  It's mobbed, festive and they're showing movies on the side of a wall.  I have a great tortilla encrusted catfish and  Rick loves his chicken fried steak.

It is so wonderful to slip back in with old friends...like you've never been apart.  Rick loves them and vice versa. A truly wonderful evening.

We were hoping to play golf with Herb the next day, but we've been thrown out of the RV park where we're staying....not because of raucous behavior, though that could have been fun, but because everything, everywhere is sold out due to a UT home game.  We sadly leave Austin in the morning, but stop at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (wildflower.org) on our way out.

We are so spoiled living in DC the past 10 years with all the world-class museums available that are all totally free!  Everytime we have to pay for these things anymore, we cringe.  While the $7 per person charge is probably justified at most times of the year, it seems to me it should be waived when nothing is in bloom.Rick manages to catch a stunning butterfly photo and the plantings and wild growth outside the gate are interesting and very Texas.

Heading to Dallas where we get to see another good friend!

Texas Round-up ~ Houston & San Antonio

October 30 ~ November 1

Haven't been to Houston since Kelly was two.  I lived there for two years in another life and she was born there.  Was interested in seeing how the city had grown and to take a look at some places lodged in my memory bank.  The drive was highlighted by what must have been a 20-mile bridge over the bayou...fascinating and pretty.

Found Lakeside RV Park (lakeside-rvpark.com) which turned out to be a fine place to spend a couple of days.  While it is populated with a number of "extended stay" residents, it had a pond we could look at, a nice walking track which I used every morning and a nice clubhouse/pool set-up. And it's very convenient to places we want to visit.

We pop into the Galleria, which except for Neiman's and the ice rink is totally unrecognizable to me.  Drive by the first home I ever owned and had lunch at an old favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, El Patio, that wasn't as good as I remembered.  What we found most interesting, are the street signs suspended over the major intersection. Once again, a trip to Whole Foods, was a highlight. 

Was very interested to see San Antonio, another place I hadn't been to since I moved from Houston.

Stay at Traveler's World (carefreeresorts.com) that is not great, but okay for a couple of days and is convenient to downtown. We spend our first afternoon checking out the lay of the land, visiting the Alamo and strolling the River Walk. 

What's left of the Alamo is very small and much of it is now not accessible due to restoration work.  What was most interestisng to me were all the not-famous men who died there who were from Europe.  They were given land grants to come over and settle in the Texas territory, a fact if I knew it in fourth grade, I had forgotten.

We search for  Mi Tierra (mitierracafe.com) in the El Mercado Market Square (a few blocks of shops which specialize in Mexican souvenirs) which I had read alot about.  It's a 24-hour a day cafe and bakery that has been in the spot since 1941.  It reminds me of a Mexican Mama Leone's!  It is very festive! But unfortunately serves mediocre food.

There are four other missions, besides the Alamo, and we find them most fascinating.  While we think of missions as churches and homes to the monks, these were very extensive self-sustaining communities run by Spanish Franciscan monks who were sent to recruit and convert the locals.  They would then turn over the missions to the residents in ten years, a process called secularization.

The large San Jose and Concepcion Missions are in wonderful shape and true treasures to explore.

Concepion is said to look essentially as it did in the mid-1700's.  Unfortunately the chapel, which is still used today, is under restoration and we can't go in.  But some of the walkway frescoes have been restored and one  can just imagine how the chapel must have looked.

The architecture at San Jose is stunning...the archways and windows pure works of art.

San Juan and Espada are small...no buses, few people and we loved them...you could almost feel what it was like to be there 250 years ago.  Both of these churches are parish churches today....must be wonderful to attend Mass in settings like these.

Leaving the Mission Trail (nps.gov/saan), we stumble upon a series of very funky sculptures called "Making Hay at the Missions.

It is a hoot!

Back to the Riverwalk for dinner.  It is mobbed.  Our restaurant of choice is Boudros which has an hour and a half wait.  Walk down to Casa Rio which has been there since 1946 where they say the wait is 20 minutes.  So not true!  While we are waiting, a gentleman from Phoenix comes over and says he is by himself and has been given a table for four, would we like to join him?  We do and have a delightful conversation accompanied by really bad food. 

Tomorrow we're on to Austin.  I've never been there...Rick lived there as a child...have very good friends there that I can't wait to see.

Casino Stop-Over

October 28-29
Rick has decided he really is into only driving a couple of hours a day if we can.  So, on our way to Houston, we take detour to the Coushatta Casino (coushattacasinoresort.com)  in Kinder, LA.  It's in the middle of nowhere...a great place to decompress a little, get a little work done, play golf  with a little entertainment at the casino thrown in.

The weather is miserable with very high winds and driving rain.  We are very fortunate, though, this storm hit Shreveport and portions of Texas very hard. Golf was out again. 

We did make it to the casino once and this time we won at the craps table thanks to a very helpful man standing next to us who gave us a primer in how to play.

We also have a service come to fix a crack in the windshield, the product of a stone kicked up at us.  Not happy with the fix, but we'll see how it goes.