The Austin Trip, Part II

During the second half of our trip, we spent more time in Austin. One morning, since Jed & Christine were helping Emily & Charlie at their restaurant Obee's, Stephany and I headed down to Kerbey Lane Cafe (the original one, near 35th St. & Lamar - on Kerbey Lane, of course), one of my favorite local restaurants for breakfast. We had some awesome pancakes there - buttermilk, gingerbread, and pumpkin - and some really good breakfast tacos. After breakfast, we spent most of the rest of the day driving around town, checking out the familiar places - and a lot of new buildings that have gone up since I left. I lived there for five years, but the place has changed a bit since 2004.

We also checked out the Texas State Capitol. I have been there several times, but Stephany had never been. We really enjoyed walking through the elaborate halls, seeing the Senate chamber, and learning about some Texas history. I had no idea, but they actually have an entire room there which functions as the state's agricultural museum. It was freezing and rainy outside, so we didn't linger too long on the lawn.







We ventured down some of the hallways where the tourists were not present and checked out some of the office space, etc. It was interesting to read through some of the postings they had up for various congressional committee meetings taking place that week.





They also had a lot of really old Texas flags on display in some of the hallways. You can actually read the history of these flags online. Some of them go back a ways, to the days when Texas was a Republic.







Here's a picture of the capital's rotunda. It's pretty awesome.





This is a picture of the inlay in the floor beneath the rotunda, looking down from above.



Our friend Emily turned 25 while we were there, so we out for dinner at Buca di Beppo to celebrate. It was good seeing some people we hadn't seen in a while. Here is the very pregnant birthday girl, with Charlie to her left.





Me and the birthday girl. We met when she was five. That was a long time ago.



And me and Steph. We enjoyed hanging out with some friends.



If you couldn't tell, we were in the "pope room." He was actually available on a turning stand, for all to view and receive.



And here's Jed, Emily, and me at Obee's, shortly before Steph and I left to head back to Dallas. We've been good friends for quite a while.



Me and my buddy. It had been about a year since we'd seen each other. He lives in Germany now, where he's working on a masters degree. It was good seeing him and catching up on life.



And lastly, we will leave you with something we saw heading out of Austin on I-35. It's just....awful.



It was a very good trip to Austin for us. We were glad to get out of the weekly schedule and be away from school, work, email, and Dallas for a while. And it was really good to reconnect with good friends and live life with them for a few days - it had been a while since we'd been able to do that. We came back to Dallas feeling refreshed.

Our love to you all,
Nathan & Stephany