Austin, Texas

We had a fabulous trip over the long weekend to Austin, Texas. While we are really big on just hanging out with each other, we did do some neat things during our trip together.

Friday

We all arrived fairly late, but we zipped over to David and Catherine's apartment and dug into delicious quesadillas, guacamole, and awesome baked goods made by Catherine. We actually acted like we'd never seen food before in our lives...

Saturday

After sleeping in a bit, we headed from the hotel back to David and Catherine's for another awesome meal--this time, brunch. We caught up, watched a movie, and then headed to the state capitol. Now, for those of you who imagine Texans wearing cowboy boots and hats, this was where you'd find them. The state troopers adequately fit the 'cowboy' stereotype. I really enjoyed the trip because I'd never actually been inside my home state's capitol (sad, I know), but it was quite amazing. We snapped some neat group pictures in front as well.

Next we headed over to Central Market, just a hop, skip and jump away from D & C's apartment. Here we loaded up on 'appetizers' (i.e.--free samples) before dinner. I believe a few other customers had the same idea as us since we were being followed each time we found any plastic-encased display. Hey, our actions were justified since we did make some purchases. Then for dinner we headed over to The Salt Lick. I'd been hearing about this BBQ restaurant for years and am so glad we all went. It's a banquet style, BYOB restaurant possibly made (more) famous by it's appearance on Man vs. Food. The food was delicious and the conversation fun. I think, though, the highlight for me was the amazing blackberry cobbler. Wow.

The girls at The Salt Lick: Sara, Catherine, Lucy Anne, me

Sunday
After driving through beautiful hill country to attend church, we stopped for lunch outside at Shady Grove. Let me just say that after a few months of freezing cold South Carolina weather, the 60-ish degree temperature that day was a very warm welcome. David and Jonathan each ordered a "Bad Dog" which is essentially an oversized extra long chili cheese coney. Though the size was potentially intimidating, both boys fared pretty well.

We headed back to the apartment to chill out, have some snacks, and get ready for the roller derby. Let me just preface this event by saying that I've always wanted to be a roller derby participant--ONLY because over the years I've lived under the slight delusion that it just consists of girls racing laps on roller skates (yes, it is true that I spent a large portion of my childhood roller skating in my back driveway in a spandex unitard). Well, after attending last night, I'm positive I'm not quite cut out for that type of sport. But, I had a blast watching. Those girls are tough--and the penalties are pretty hilarious. After the derby we headed to Kerbey Lane for a late-night dinner. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner 24/7. Pancakes are their specialty, so I ordered a blackberry. It was the size of my plate, and that didn't stop me from almost finishing it. Then we headed back to the apartment for one last movie and good-byes.

(I would have thought a plate-sized pancake would have made David smile...)
We had a great time, as always. Thanks again, David and Catherine, for hosting us. :)