I started looking over my posts and realized I didn't say much about my trip to Austin--my "actual" vacation, though I have been home all summer.
Well, besides the trauma of the drive to Austin, everything else went well. My sister, Lydia, came in. Her birthday is the day before mine, so we celebrated together. Her son goes to UT and is working in Austin over the summer. We met up at Oasis, a nice restaurant on Lake Travis, the day I arrived. Oasis is up in the mountains outside of Austin, and the drive there and back scared me--twisty turny roads, steep inclines. But the views had me dropping my jaws. We ate outside on one of the decks with an astounding view of the lake and the homes on top of the mountain, as well as those nearer the lake.
On my sister's birthday, she, her friend Pam, and I went lampshade shopping and then we went to see "Mama Mia" at the Alamo Draft House. My daughter used to work there (she's worked everywhere, really). The Alamo serves food, so you can eat and watch the movie. It's a silly, funny movie. I love ABBA's music, so I had a good time.
We later went to see the bats come out from under the Sixth Street Bridge. I've seen them before from the shore, but this time we were on a boat. Spectacular. I took some video, but it's kind of shaky. I kept swooping the camera when I should have kept it still.
On my birthday, my daughter cooked dinner, and we stayed up talking late into the night. Lydia came sans her friend; she needed a break.
On the Friday after my birthday, my son took us to see "The Dark Knight" at the IMax theater in Austin. What a rush! I had to close my eyes a couple of times because the IMax scenes made me dizzy. But the movie was awesome. Daniel, my son, and I sat up for a while talking about the role of the hero in modern life--well, we just dissected the hero's place in the world. "The Dark Knight" got it right.
I stayed a day later than I planned, but that was fine. We needed a day when we didn't have to go anywhere or do anything unless we wanted to. Dan and I gave in to our meat cravings--we grabbed some burgers and watched "Pirates of the Caribbean--At World's End."
The trip home, as I've already mentioned, was a snap. I didn't take any wrong turns, and I made it home in six hours exactly--and I stopped once for gas and eats.
With gas prices so high, more than one trip would have been too expensive. Gas cost me almost $180, which is way more than it used to cost. I'd love to travel more, but, until prices level off, I'll just use email and the phone.
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