Quick escape to ATX.

With Katie away at church camp, Ryan and I were itching to get out of town. (I use that phrase a lot, but it's true! I suffer from chronic wanderlust, and a few days without school/work/church obligations leave me hankerin' to get out of Dodge.)

After making the requisite Czech Stop stop, we drove into Round Rock to get some Torchy's Tacos for lunch with my niece. Then we enjoyed said tacos with her and her kiddos, a.k.a. the world's cutest grandnieces and grandnephew.

After lunch we got to play a while. The photos are mostly of Baby D and his sister Addie because the older girls were busy-busy-busy (and blurry in pix)!

He likes his new shirt.

From there we drove to our hotel, checked in and swam for a while. Once we were freshened up, we frequented our latest must-see Austin business: Pinballz.

Ryan's favorite pin

Ryan beat me a MarioKart
(no surprise!)

I did manage to beat him at Centipede, though.
(No school like old school.)

Pinballz is a great arcade, and it was nice to get to play without the huge crowds we saw last time we were there for a retro gaming event. After going through all those tokens, it was time for grub!

Of course, we went to Chuy's. Duh.

We awoke to a nice rain the next morning, which threatened our plans for the day.

Breakfast o' champs: cinnamon roll pancakes

But by the time we finished our Kerbey Lane breakfast, the clouds had parted. We were on our way to Barton Springs!

Boy, is that water cold! It's so refreshing! Unlike our last time here, we had goggles so we could see all the fish swimming with us. Now THAT was eye-opening. We saw a bunch, some of them fairly large. A little icky, yes, but SO COOL.

From Zilker we went uptown to shop (Co-op and Half Price Books, predictably) before heading north on 35. The donut fan got his Round Rock Donuts, I got my Dairy Queen, and before too long, we were home, just in time for Brett and I to go out for our 19th wedding anniversary.

Great company, great town, great trip, great ending. Can't beat it!

Posted July 6, 2013

Tyler excursion, day 1: State park.

Not long after the last bell rang to start our summer break, we were all itching to get out of town. Combine that with my need to see my parents' gravesite, and we had ourselves a quick trip to my hometown.

Before going into town, though, we spent the day at Tyler State Park, a pretty little recreation area. My parents were not all that outdoorsy, but the few times we pretended to be the camping type, we stayed in the state park's screened shelters. More frequently, my parents brought me here to swim or picnic, often with out-of-town relatives. I can remember laughing with my aunts, uncles and a cousin or two while gathered around one of the wooden tables here. Our church youth group had camp-outs and cook-outs here, and one year, my Girl Scout troop did an overnight stay.

In spite of all my history with this place, it'd been nearly 30 years since my last visit here. It's crazy that in all of our Tyler trips, Brett, Ryan and Katie had never experienced our state park. Better late than never, right?

First stop: a picnic area near this fishing pier.

View of the park store, bath house and swimming area

Love those pine trees!

It was nice to find a table so close to the water. We're no strangers to these on-the-road picnics. In fact, on our typical (much longer) road trips, our tradition is to load down a cooler with sandwich fixin's and have a bunch of snack foods on hand. Apparently I'm out of "road shape" because I forgot the tablecloth. Oops. At least I remembered the Pringles! Pringles have become our go-to staple for picnics since those cans hold up much better than bags of chips.

Dining companion

We decided this would be the perfect setting for a horror film.
Creepy screens, lots of bugs and no doors on the stalls?
Yeah. TERRIFYING.

After chowing down, we began our 2.1-mile hike around the lake. I remember walking this same trail years ago when our Girl Scout troop camped here.

This trail is labeled "easy," and it would be for anyone not as clumsy as I am! Just a few weeks after falling in the school parking lot, I took a nice little spill here. This time, at least, I fell over a wicked tree root and not a tiny pebble. Embarrassing!

This log was loaded with turtles—
until they heard us approach, anyway.
We figure this big guy was too deaf
to hear us or too big to move!

The trees provide a nice canopy for most of the trail. It was a warm day, but in the shade, the heat was bearable. Still, we had this trail mostly to ourselves on this, the warmest day of the season so far. (Near the end of our walk, we were in full-on overheated, sweat-dripping-in-the-eyes, I'm-gonna-die-if-I-can't-find-some-shade mode. but at least we didn't start that way.)

My nature buff LOVES hiking, and he was quick to spot cool natural wonders, like this branch/large vine that ran most of this tall tree's length.

Tarzan yell not included.

Beaver pond

Ryan spotted this teeny-tiny frog.

We're talking TEE-NINY. 

My loves

And another, this time wider shot of my loves
(Brett's smile in this one cracks me up!)

Nice view of the bath house and swimming area

Not sure if he's Zacchaeus or a monkey.

By this point in the hike, I was MELTING.
Brett and Katie were cool enough to enjoy
this little peninsula, but I stuck to the shade.

After our hike we cooled off with some A/C and ice cream from the park store. Then it was swimming time! We had a blast just floating around and skipping Katie's new "wave-runner" ball across the water.

With our picnic, hike and swim complete, we were ready to pack it in. One of the nice things about Tyler State Park is its abundance of tent sites and all those screened shelters, but for our overnight stay, we opted for Comfort Suites! I am my mother's daughter, after all.

Barton Springs.

Tucked inside Zilker Park is Austin's favorite watering hole, Barton Springs. For centuries it has attracted Austinites and tourists alike to its spring-fed pool.

But until today, no Dub had ever set foot in those 68-degree waters. In fact, Barton Springs was the main inspiration for this year's vacation. On other trips, it was too cold for us to consider taking a dip.

And really, because of that 68-degree water, you could argue it's ALWAYS cold there! Still, this was the perfect summer day for a swim.

Brett, still in pain from a basketball injury (a likely broken rib), stayed on the sideline, but the kids and I went for it. The chilly water made for an invigorating experience.

Katie even swam the length of this pool. That's impressive since it covers 3 acres!

It's shameful that it took me 43 years to finally swim in Barton Springs, but I'm glad I got to experience it for the first time with my family!