6/28/17
Today was jam packed and HOT! First we got up and ate at the Executive Lounge here at the hotel. It is a perk due to Jack's "elite" status and I have to say it was rather nice... I had planned to go out for breakfast tomorrow, but we are going to eat here instead. The food was good and the hostess was nice.
After breakfast we loaded up and headed down to the Visitors center for our tour. I booked a Van tour in advance ... once here I wish I would have waited. They had a double Decker hop on / hop off tour that I did not see online, it is by another company and I think we would have enjoyed it better, live and learn.
The tour we took was good, don't get me wrong, it just could have been better. It was 90 minutes - the guide was entertaining and told us a ton about what we were seeing, but we went by everything too fast. Plus the windows made it hard to get pictures... also, much of the tour was talking about stuff behind trees we could not see. I've been on much better, but we enjoyed it and it was in the A/C so bonus on that.
Once we got back we bought some souvenirs and then walked to grab some lunch. At first we went to a restaurant called the Jackalope on 6th street. On yelp it had high reviews... what yelp did not tell me is that it was 21 and over even at 12 in the afternoon. So I looked up another restaurant a few blocks away and we walked to it. Waller Creek Pub House was where we went and it was really good! I had tacos and they were yummy!
After lunch we walked back to the car and headed to the State Capital. This building was so pretty, both inside and out. We walked around and took lots of pictures. We even got to take pictures in the senate/house floors and in one room we got to go behind a podium. It was pretty cool. Once we were done we meandered down to the gift shop and I bought a Christmas ornament. While heading back Kaylee wanted to go up a different elevator than the one we came down and I was resistant. She was right - this elevator took us to an area we would have not seen otherwise. The view from outside was amazing! We took some pictures and were going to walk down to the Bollock Museum, but it was hot and there was a hill I didn't think Mama would do so well walking back up so we decided to just scrap it.
We headed back to the hotel and took a couple hours of downtown that I think we all needed. Mama and I napped and the girls watched videos.
After the nap we loaded back up to go watch the bats. They have a bridge here in Austin that is a perfect bat home and they live there by the millions. If you are sitting there when the sun sets you can see them fly out from under the bridge so we went to watch.... While we were waiting a teenager fell from a tree and broke his leg. 911 was called and there was a bit of excitement, but he was well taken care of so we stayed in our spot and watched from afar.
Also, while we were waiting Mama struck up a conversation with a gentleman next to her. He was from Ohio and was extremely nice. There were at least 200 hundred people out to watch the bats on a Tuesday night, I can't imagine it on the weekend. Everyone was friendly and there were some deaf people selling brochures. One hugged the girls and freaked them out a bit, it was cute.
Then the bats came. I expected this onslaught of bats that blanketed the sky.... not so much. It was just a steady stream of them leaving the bridge. It was neat I guess, but not worth the wait or the hype. It still made an enjoyable evening out, but I wouldn't do it again.
After the bats we drove a bit (further than I realized) to get pizza. It was wood fire baked and awesome!
Then we drove to the board walk where Stevie Rays statue is. From the internet I expected it to be well lit given it is open until midnight. It is not! It is a walking trail that is gravel and dark at night. There were a ton of people around, walking their dog, jogging, etc.. so I felt safe, but it was pitch black. We walked to the statue and got Kaylee a picture that her Mom asked for an then walked back. On the way back we found a frog I was trying to get out of the road... I was just going to get it to safety, but Mama picked it up and carried it to scare the girls with. I'm sure it was terrified... I know it peed in her hand, which she totally deserved! Kaylee did squeal a little though, so it was worth it.
And then we headed back to the hotel. We stopped at Riverside Chevron to let Mama use the potty and they wouldn't let her! Told her to go down the street. To say the least they will never see a dime of my money and I hope others boycott them as well.
We are now back at the hotel, Mama got to potty and we are all tucked in ready to get some sleep so we can see more tomorrow :) Sleep well blogland!
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