Wakeboarding

This weekend we headed up to Lake Travis again, but decided to avoid the nudy beaches and actually reach the water! Rich has been really keen to try wakeboarding since we got here, it ticks lots of boxes as it should be fun when it is really hot in the summer and the mountain bikes won't leave the garage, and it involves lots of adrenaline. All we need to do now is find a friend with a boat, no mean feat when we are still struggling to meet people at all! Unsurprisingly, Rich took to this like a duck to water, by the end of the session he was jumping the waves, but unfortunately I was too busy actually watching those tricks to take any photos, so you will just have to cope with an early shot of him getting used to going forward.

I was a bit more hesitant, I am not known for my love of water-related sports, and was rather shocked to see that the board straps to your feet like a snowboard. On the assumption I would fall into the water at some point (actually a guaranteed 100% certainty), surely I would sink to the bottom like a stone? Well, it turns out that the board and boots are buoyant, as is the vest you wear, so when you spend any time in the water, you float along quite happily. I was extremely relieved to find that out, and it turned out I could get on to the board, and stay on the board, like a pro.

No jumping for me, I am still struggling with pointing forward. I did feel like I was getting into a yoga stance to reach the boots, next time I am going get a smaller board where the boots are not planted so far apart, and hopefully that will help with the position. We had a great time and can't wait to get into the water again. On the way back, Greg, our teacher, showed us how it really should be done!

Rich hopes to be doing this by lesson number 3!!

And on the way home, we drove by this shop, I just couldn't pass on the opportunity for another crazy photo. I haven't dared go in yet, so no idea what flavour the dog biscuits are, maybe we can bring some home for Pippa's christmas?

The Flag, Harleys and Wagons - a great Southern photo!

 

Unfortunately this shot is a little blurred, as I had to take it out the window as we drove past at 70 mph, but this is out front of a Harley Davidson garage on the I-35, just south of where we stay.  We love it, it makes us smile whenever we drive past!

A weekend of non-admin - visit to Lake Travis and the Botanical Gardens

A-ha, I hear you cry, finally some actual touristy photos, maybe we will get some real views of Austin. There have been some comments made that there have not been enough photos of me on the blog, but that is mainly because I am the only one taking the photos. So here are some great photos of me.



But seriously, we spent a weekend doing non-admin, which was great, and very relaxing for a change. We drove up to Lake Travis on Saturday, it is about 30 miles north west of Austin in the "Hill Country", although we are still rather dubious about the extent of these hills, the views were not exactly mountainous. It was another scorcher of a day, so after rolling down all the windows and opening our moon roof (posh Subaru name for an ENORMOUS sun roof) we took our new car out for a drive, simultaneously trying to eliminate the dog smell left over from the last owner's use of the car. (think we are getting there on removing the smell, but if anyone has any dog smell removing hints, would be grateful for them!).

Obviously I had the guide book, which is always in my handbag, and may be the reason I have one overdeveloped shoulder, and we decided to stop at "Hippie Hollow", one of the first park areas where you can sit down at the lake, to take in the views. We were rather amused by this sign ( so your faithful documentary photographer took a shot for you)


We were less confused by the last point when the lady at the kiosk on the way in pointed out to us that this was a 'clothing -optional' park. Don't you just love the positive spin the Yanks can put on everything - the guidebook definitely didn't mention it was a nudy beach!! We carried on, undeterred, and found a spot to sit and admire the views. Unsurprisingly, most of those could not be photographed, and if I had I think I would have had a mob of angry, 40+ men in trainers, socks and nothing else running after me, so I just took this one shot on the way out to help show you what a beautiful spot this really was!

On Sunday we lazed around for most of the day, spending a vast majority of it watching the best US TV has to offer (repeats of the Simpsons and Family Guy), but in the afternoon decided to head out to the Botanical Gardens which we had spotted before when driving past Zilker Park, just south of the river. It was only 93 degrees at 4.30 in the afternoon, so we reckoned we could handle it. That is where the artistic shots of me were taken (and one in the great cafe we stopped for dinner in after). Here are some more:

Some dinosaur footprints were found in this area in the 1980s, hence the pre-historic feel to this section. As you can see, Rich went in camo for the day. And didn't really follow my instructions to 'make it look like you are being chased by the dinosaur'.


. . and here's one of Rich posing that age-old philosophical question, "is it runnable?"
Hopefully more fun weekends like this to follow!

Amusing Photo number 273

I promise, we will move on to more sensible posts soon, documenting what we have actually been doing, meantime here is a picture of Rich with a rather amusing squash we found at the supermarket.

Last night's tea; probably 8 on the CCS (cheese coma scale)

Last night Rich and I went out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant a bit further north on South Congress, in the heart of SoCo. It was the Mexican festival of Cinco de Mayo (5th May for you non-Spanish speakers out there) which is celebrated as the date the Mexicans obtained independence from France, I think. No need for too much historical detail, though, you just need to know it is an excuse for a party!

Unfortunately, the majority of the party had happened at the weekend while we were car shopping (SO dull, and hot, but on the plus side I think we are buying one today). But we had been told about this Mexican restaurant, El Gallo, and that it was lively and busy and has good food, so we thought it was worth a go. The restaurant is great, and they had a Mariachi band playing due to the festival, which added a good party atmosphere.

As any of you who have been to the US will know, they haven't really gotten a hold on portion control yet, and so I opted for the "Gallo Salad" which I thought looked the lightest of the "platos combinadas", being the options with a variety of authentic Mexican dishes. Rich unsurprisingly went for the most expensive thing on the menu, being the special of the house, stewed goat.

We were each brought a guacamole salad to start which was really good, and mine included a beef taco and some cheese. We were off to a great start! The next course was slightly more amusing, however. I had to choose between a cheese enchilada and a chile con queso and had picked the chile assuming it would be meat with cheese on top (my fave!) Unfortunately my Spanish is obviously not up to that much, because what I was brought was a corn tortilla covered in a cheesy soup, with a few chilis through it. How that much cheese could be sold under the banner of "Salad" I have no idea! Rich graciously split his goat stew with me and took a couple of ladlefuls of cheese in return.

I drowned my sorrows in a Margarita on the rocks - apparently Margaritas were invented in Texas, but picking crushed ice would be an obvious tourist error. Rich had a beer, which was also amusingly brought together with a glass decorated with salt and lime. He said it complemented the dark ale perfectly though!

So possibly this wasn't the Mexican fare we were imagining, but the food was good, the atmosphere was great, and the bill was v light on the pocket. If you come out to visit, I would definitely suggest taking you there, although I might order something different from the menu!

The Infamous Onion Glasses

As most of you know, packing to go on holiday can be difficult, to make sure you don't go over the limit the airline allows for baggage weight. Moving to a new life on another continent only makes that decision much harder, particularly when the only options you have to take things with you is either to ship it for it to arrive in about 3 months time, or take up some of the precious baggage allowance and carrying it with you on the plane. Mum decided that it was ESSENTIAL that she give Rich these onion cutting glasses the day before we left (as a birthday present) after the shipping cargo had left, necessitating their inclusion in the hand luggage. Thanks, Mum! As you can see, they have proved very useful already though.
Here is a picture from the balcony of our new apartment. Our block (and all the others in our complex, and most of the others in Austin) look identical to this one. I had to turn away from taking pictures of the balcony, as Rich had stood up (see post below to get this joke, and apologies when you finally do, it is not great).

Eating on the Balcony

 

We have finally purchased some more furniture for the flat beyond a sofa and a bed - a dining table was proving too difficult, so we just bought a patio table and chairs, which allows us to sit outside and make the most of the good weather (and severely reduces the chances of Rich spilling on the new sofa).  I find this picture particularly amusing because it looks like Rich is eating his dinner naked! I can assure you that was not the case (sorry, Lindsey)

Another silly picture from the first week!

 

We have moved into our apartment, which is a great relief! The hotel was excellent, but it is nice to have a bit more room and be able to relax.  I will upload some photos of it once I take some!  The apartment complexes here are all very similar, the only real differences being location and size and quality of apartments.  We are pretty chuffed with ours and reckon we got the best deal - a garage and 3 bed/2 bath apartment.  The formula for complexes seems to be at least one pool, possibly a sand volleyball court, a gym, a "business centre" (meaning a room with a computer, printer and fax machine), a "clubhouse" meaning communal area with the biggest flat screen telly money can buy, a kitchen area, and maybe a pool table, basically an area to hang out in and also you can rent out for parties.  However we went to one in the posher west end of town that included this "Gift Wrapping Centre".  I had to take a picture because it was just too weird! How will I cope in our inferior apartment if I ever need to wrap a present (Catriona, this is probably the only reason your birthday present is late, I apologise sincerely that we didn't pick an apartment in this complex oh and Happy Birthday for tomorrow!)