My
husband is awesome. One of the reasons – he took me to Austin for a spontaneous
little getaway! It was sooooooo nice
to relax and reconnect with my hubby after a really LONG and TAXING school
year. We had the best time checking out new places (and visiting a few old
favorites). Here are the places our little adventure took us.
1.
Tanger
Outlet Mall in San Marcos
This
was our first stop, and we had a blast shopping! Y’all, my hubby is an awesome
shopping partner, especially when he is on “vacation mode”. I learned that
Vacation Hubby says “yes” to pretty much everything. Yeah, he might be my
favorite Hubby yet. ;)
It
was blazing hot, which means that I was a hot mess and didn’t take any
pictures. But let’s get real, when you’re shopping, who has time to stop and
snap a pic? REAL shoppers don’t, that’s for sure.
2.
Lakeway
Resort and Spa
Chillin' in the 3-tier infinity pool that overlooks Lake Travis.
#perfection
Ready to swim!
This
is THE place to stay when visiting Austin! It’s about 30ish minutes outside of
downtown Austin and right on Lake Travis. Let me tell you about the view…oh,
the view! We really wanted to take a beach trip this summer and get a room that
overlooked the ocean, but we couldn’t make it happen. This was the
next best thing for us, and we got a really great rate! I think the pool view
was our favorite part, but the great service from the hotel staff was a close
second. I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to stay anywhere else when visiting
Austin…we are ruined.
We
learned something interesting while staying at Lakeway: teachers rock it out when the fire
alarm goes off, no matter where they are. Around 10:30 on our first night, the
fire alarm went off. B and I looked at each other, he grabbed his backpack, I
grabbed my purse and we headed for the stairs. You know who else joined us as
we emerged from our rooms??? NO ONE. Seriously!?!?! What the heck is up with
people? Hello, fire alarm = fire (or at least the possibility of one). A
few, pj-wearing
people stuck their heads out, saw us in a mad but calm dash for the exit, and
then went right back in their room. It wasn’t until we reached the lobby that
we realized the dramatically obvious: we are teachers who have participated in
WAAAAAY too many fire drills. Summer vacation or not, we are teachers through
and through. When we hear a fire alarm, we gather everyone and everything and
calmly get the heck outta there! After returning to the room (false alarm), my
husband said, “Well, I guess we’ve done so many fire drills that it didn’t seem
out of the norm. I kinda
thought we were at school.” This is when I decided that if there is a fire, I
want to be with my hubby. Or at least a fellow teacher. :)
***The
only negative thing I have to say about Lakeway is that their “steakhouse restaurant” is
ridiculous. I put it in quotes because, seriously, the fact that they call
themselves a steakhouse is maddening. Terrible service, slow-as-Christmas, and
not good food were just the beginning. The only good part of that dining
experience: my handsome hubby and the sweet Lake Travis view.***
my handsome dinner date
3.
Tubing on the Comal River
He thinks the tube is a sombrero. #heforgotheisasian
This was a super fun afternoon for us! Definitely a "must do"! I haven't been tubing on the river since I was about 11 years old, so I couldn't quite remember what to expect, but it was delightful! The Guadalupe River is closed right now due to all the rain we've been having in our great state, but I really enjoyed the Comal River as an alternative!
4.
Texas State Capitol
I
had high hopes for our State Capitol visit. Sadly, I wasn’t too impressed. I
think my expectations were too high. Because I teach about Texas and the
Capitol, I thought it was important for us to visit. I’m glad we went and I’ve
had that experience but I don’t care to go again. Honestly, I liked reading
about it on the brochure we got in the Capitol more than I liked walking
around. #DoesthatmakemeabadTexan? One
thing I found interesting and incredibly inefficient was their system for
displaying the governors’ portraits. The rotunda is pretty grand and along the
walls of three stories you will find the Texas governors’ portraits proudly
hanging. The first Texas governor is on the third floor, and it continues
downward as the most recent governor is displayed on the first floor. This idea
is super cool but a guide told us that as a new governor is added, all of the
portraits must shift one position. Are you kidding me? This seems like a legit
waste of time and effort. Why didn’t someone hang them in the opposite
direction? Although this is a minor detail of the Capitol building, and not at
all supposed to be the focus of this building, I can’t help but think about it.
Seriously, my OCDness (new
word) keeps thinking about how much time is wasted moving all of those
portraits. I probably should get over it and move on. Ain’t
nobody got time for that running around in their brain.
5.
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
Now
this is the place to go. Does everyone go to museums and historical places when
on vaca? My
hubs and I love it; maybe it’s the teacher in us? Or the history nerd? Either
way, I now have a new mission thanks to this visit: go to all 13 presidential
libraries. I LOVED looking at and reading about all of the amazing and
heart-breaking events and accomplishments of the 1900’s during the span of LBJ
and Lady Bird’s lives. LBJ experienced so many changes and major US milestones
during his lifetime. The museum has done an incredible job of preserving these
memories. I really did learn so many things!
I
also discovered another reason B is the best hubby! He is patient and lets me
walk through museums at my own pace, which is uber slow, and doesn’t complain or rush me as
I must read almost everything and examine every picture. He also acts
completely engaged when I recite all the similarities and differences that I
learned about our US presidents, even though he just looked at the same display
himself. And
he smiles for a photo when I tell him he has to get a pic with the LBJ statue. I have
found a good man! I
think
we spent close to 3 hours at the library and I could have probably spent
longer. I loved it! B says that the George W. Bush Presidential Library is even
better. So, can you guess where we’ll be headed this summer? After we left the
library, I looked up all the information about the other 12 presidential
libraries and told B all of the cities he needed to plan a trip to for us. I
think he tuned me out after number 5. :)
The
next post will be about the yummy places we ate on our little Austin adventure!
