I’m not sure how I managed it, but I made it Austin from St. Louis in one day. I guess I knew I could do it, but 13 hours seemed a bit daunting. I had picked out a state park to camp in just south of Dallas and another between Waco and Temple as a back up. I never did see the signs for the park south of Dallas. I did see the signs for the other park and was ready to stop but they were accompanied by a “day use only” sign. That would have been helpful information on the website as opposed to all of the information about the campsites there. I was only about an hour from Kristi’s mom’s place at that point so it seemed kind of pointless to stop anyways.
I was really tired by the time I got there but seeing Kristi and meeting her family helped me get a second wind. We went for a walk and then out for ice cream. It was a really nice evening.
My goals for my time in Austin were pretty simple: 1) eat Mexican food and 2) eat BBQ. I hadn’t done a lot of research of other things to do there prior to arriving and I knew it was going to be a busy time for Kristi and her family since they were just moving there from NYC. I wanted to be as helpful as possible without getting in the way.
Things were on hold with their house my first full day in Austin, so we were able to do a couple of fun things. Her mom (Susanna) and Jack took the two of us and Lucy and Miles, Kristi’s 4 year olds twins, to the river to go rowing. Well, Jack, Kristi, and I went rowing. Kristi did take the kids out in a kayak for a bit though. I had never rowed before and Jack was a great coach. I had a lot of fun and will probably check into it out in the Bay Area. It is definitely great exercise and it uses your entire body.
Me and Jack about to push off of the dock
Getting a few instructions
Kristi's turn
For lunch Kristi, her husband Brian, and I went for Mexican food at a place called Manuel’s – check number one. It was super tasty. Later that afternoon Susanna, Kristi, the kids, and I went to one of the city pools that afternoon. Her sister’s family joined us there and we swam and had a little picnic. I was able to get in about half an hour of lap swimming. It felt so much better than my outing at Lake of the Ozarks State Park back in MO. That first time back in the water after being out for so long is always so hard.
The next day Kristi and Brian were anticipating gaining possession of their house fairly early in the day, so I decided to head out on my own for several hours to stay out of the way. My first order of business was to have BBQ for lunch. Brett (from St. Louis) recommended a place called Iron Works BBQ and it was awesome! After that, I went to the Whole Foods headquarters and spent about an hour there walking around looking at everything they had to offer. It was huge, at least from my relative perspective of the NYC Whole Foods. I picked up a few things for my impending camping trip before heading out in search of a place called Barton Springs Pool in Zilker Park. Kristi recommended it and it was very worth the effort of finding it. It isn’t really that hard to find, I just had a stupid moment, maybe blind moment is a better description. I pulled into the park and skimmed the sign directing me to all of the attractions and completely ski[[e dove the part that said Barton Springs Pool. I got to thinking maybe it was just near the park and not in the park, so I drove around for close to an hour trying to find the place before deciding perhaps I should check out that sign again. Sure enough, the first thing on the list was Barton Springs Pool. I should start off by saying it isn’t really a pool at all. It is a natural spring that has been dammed up to make a “pool.” It is really beautiful and much bigger than I expected. The water was pretty cold, so it took me a while to get in, but once I did I swam around for about half an hour. It wasn’t quite like open water swimming because it was full of teenagers, so it was more like paddling around. There was plant life growing from the bottom, which was probably about 20 feet deep at the deepest point, and fish, big fish, swimming around in it. Since I had my goggles, it was kind of like snorkeling (without a snorkel). It made for a fun day. By the time I got back to Susanna’s house, Kristi and Brian had finally been told that they would get the keys that evening. After dinner, I went with Kristi and Susanna to the house to help out with the cleaning. It’s a really nice house, and I’m so happy for them. After we returned, I finished getting things ready for my departure the next day. I wanted to get an early start so that I would reach Carlsbad Caverns well before the cavern entrances closed. I was not going to have a repeat of the Ozark Caverns.
Barton Springs pool
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