Weekend in Austin

Last weekend, Dave & I headed to Austin for our last getaway before Baby Rinn is born in October. Our last weekend in Austin was wonderful, and so we were both looking forward to this a lot. We left as soon as Dave got home on Friday afternoon and headed down 35. Of course, our first stop out of town was Dairy Queen. I was so excited that their featured Blizzard was Girl Scout Thin Mint...but my excitement faded when they were all out of the Thin Mints. (Mint cookie dough sufficed, though.)

On Saturday morning, we rented a tandem bike near downtown Austin and spent nearly the rest of the day riding around Austin's beautiful hike & bike trail. The man at the bike shop told Dave to ring the bell "liberally" to warn other walkers/bikers/runners that we were coming...and Dave took this instruction very seriously. We truly had a blast riding around, & I don't remember the last time either of us laughed that hard! We were so impressed with how well the trails were maintained, and the cool breezes off the water felt so good. Not to say that we weren't hot, though....by the time we returned the bike around 3:30 that afternoon, we were both BEAT! We grabbed some food, headed back to the hotel, and crashed!

Dave had made reservations for us that evening at the Oasis on Lake Travis. We had heard rave reviews from many of our friends of how gorgeous the sunsets are at this restaurant...after all, it is the "Sunset Capital of Texas." We didn't get to see quite a picture-perfect sunset since it was partly cloudy, but the sky did still turn a gorgeous color of pink. We had a great time eating & talking on the decks above Lake Travis....we'd be lying if we didn't say that most of our conversation centered around how excited we are for Baby Rinn to be home with us soon!





The highlight of the weekend (for me, at least) occurred on Sunday when I beat Dave in Scrabble. We played on the decks of Mozart's Coffeehouse on Lake Austin....the coffee & and the view were both wonderful. (If you zoom in, you will see that I only won by 1 point...but a win's a win!)



Now we're on a downward slide until October...and we can't wait! Hope you're all enjoying the final days of summer, too!

Inn on the River

Knowing what a difficult time Mother's Day is for me, my sweet husband planned a special getaway this weekend. We started our time on Saturday morning at the Fort Worth Zoo, which was a lot of fun!

We laughed really hard while watching the huge elephants swim in their pool, and Dave had a great time walking through the Parrot Paradise. I tried going into the Parrot Paradise, too, but after 10 parakeets tried to "dive-bomb" me, I ran out! I was also very proud of myself for walking through the entire "herpatarium" (the snake house), though I was very glad to get out!




After our adventure at the zoo, we made a quick stop at the DQ for emergency ice cream cones before driving to Glen Rose, where we stayed at the Inn on the River. This truly was a lovely and restful little hotel, and we enjoyed reading by the edge of the river for hours.

Last night we got a taste of authentic Texas BBQ at the "Ranch House Barbeque" which we both agreed was delicious, though one thing we saw describes the entire atmosphere: the deerhead on the wall was wearing a feed cap. There were also 2 full coyote skins on either side of the door to the restrooms.

After a great breakfast in the inn's dining room, we spent more time down by the river before heading back to Ft. Worth. I am so thankful for special times like this weekend to spend together.