We Heart the Lone Star State

We're back! What a great weekend!! Even though we've been home since Sunday, I'm still basking in the glory of Austin. We truly had such a great time, we were almost ready to move there! But then, all vacations are like that...

Anyway, get ready for a big, fat post FULL of pictures, meant to appease my sister who didn't go. =)

We arrived on Friday night and after dropping our stuff off at the house where we were staying (parents of my childhood friend Lindsey), we headed to 6th Street. 6th Street is Austin's main entertainment corridor in the downtown area and home to many South x Southwest events, a HUGE music and film conference that just happened to be the same weekend as the wedding. The street was crowded, full of people and live music and so much fun. We ate at a delicious Mexican restaurant and then strolled the closed-down-street with thousands of other revelers.

The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast with our hosts and I got my first true feeling that I was indeed in Texas. We were talking about the wedding later that day and what we would both wear and our hostess said, "I think I might wear boots, since I'm worried there could be chiggers." I smiled so big when she said that and told her, "I don't think anyone has said to me that they were worried about chiggers in at least 15 years." Ian didn't even know what chiggers were and for those in a similar boat, it's a slang word for ticks. Even the term ticks was a little vague for Ian. I told him about a current country song where the singer says he wants to check this girl for ticks and then on the way to wedding, we actually heard that very song...anyway, I digress. All that to say, it was a real "I'm in Texas" moment and I loved it.

After breakfast, we headed out for our trip down memory lane (well, my trip down memory lane. It was Ian's trip down, "Oh, cool!" lane, in response to my "That's the place where I _______" every five minutes).

We started by driving to my old house.















It looked very much the same! Then we walked around the back of the property and down the steps to the green belt/creek bed right behind the house. This picture is literally ten feet down the hill side of the back of the house. You can see the path on the upper right hand side of the photo. Mary and I spent HOURS back here, fishing for crawdads, building forts and exploring.



















We walked for over an hour, exploring all my old playing places. It was so nostalgic and I felt a real sense of loss - our kids will never experience a back yard like this in the concrete jungle that is LA. The hike made Ian and me both feel like we need to do a better job of getting out of the city and in nature.

The creek behind our house starts small and then expands into a very large spring (which I have a picture of later). Down about a mile from the house, it opens up into a medium sized creek which we would tube down each summer.















After that delightful adventure, we headed back in the car and headed off to see my old high school (which had undergone a major face lift) and then to see the Education Building where our church used to meet after "big church." At that time, the church rented a middle school for the worship service and then everyone drove over to this building off Bee Caves Road for Sunday School. I spent many, many hours in this building and the adjacent portable, at youth group activities. Apparently, it is now a women's shelter (which could have been why there were no signs identifying it and why the ladies out front gave me a strange look as I was taking pictures.)
















We did a little more exploring Westlake, the town I lived in, and then we headed off to Fredericksberg for the wedding.















My brother David performed the wedding and did such a good job! I love family weddings. The photo above has the maid of honor, Angie, the bride, her father, my brother and the groom, plus his best man (his brother).















Here are the other two bridesmaids, Anne and Gina, my sister in law.

And here is the bride and her father, listening to words about the goodness and commitment of marriage.




















They got married under a huge oak tree (2nd largest in TX, apparently) and there was a field nearby with games and a beautiful sunset!



















We had a really good time at the wedding and so enjoyed Gina's family and how they included us. My parents, Mary and Mike (and kids) were there too. It was a great celebration.

The next morning, we had a lovely Texas breakfast in a restaurant in Fredericksberg (it's a quaint, tourist-y town full of "I Should Have Been a Cowboy" and other such shops).

With plenty of time to do some more exploring before our flight that night, we headed to the Lady Byrd Johnson Wildflower Center, where Ian got to see some real live Blue Bonnets.

Then we headed to Zilker Park and Barton Springs, a place I used to play/swim all the time. And guess what? This huge, natural spring is the same creek as the one behind my old house! It's a very cool swimming area -- full of all natural water. As you're swimming around, you come across different springs, sending very cold bubbles up to the surface. We didn't swim but did walk down and put our feet in. It was lovely.

We eventually had to return our rental car and get on the plane, but not before hitting the Salt Lick in the airport for some BBQ sandwiches. And right next to the Salk Lick was an Amy's Ice Cream, another institution in Texas. Their slogan is awesome: Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first. That sounds like some sort of life motto. =)

Anyway, that's the trip in a nutshell. If you're still reading this, I'm very impressed. But it was a great time and I'm so thankful to have shared that part of my life with Ian.

On a related note, I was just really thankful for Ian this weekend and aware of how well we travel together. I'm the more adventurous of the two of us but he's always up for a good time when I suggest something. So thank you, my love, for letting us go across the country twice in the span of three weeks, to see people and places dear to me. You are so wonderful!