Big City

First up, breakfast at Mi Madre's!

Next up, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center!

Please click on the pic above and check out the hilarious bee that flew in front of camera.

The second we walked in this guy says, "Do you want to see a great horned owl?"  Um, yes please.  Voila!  Behind that cactusy grass.

The pic above gives you the shape of this butterfly, and the pic below shows the bright blue stripe.  So pretty, and so darn fast!

A little nest lined with flower petals.  Too cute!

And back to the airport!  Inexplicably we get to go through the TSA pre-check line so no taking off your shoes, put your chapstick back in your purse, wham bam plenty of time for dinner before we board!

And one last one from Merle, appropriately, Big City:

Rainbow Stew

First up, Gruene!  First of all if not for Jennifer and Rick we may not have stopped here.  Second of all, we would not have known it's pronounced "Green."  

 Breakfast at Adobe Verde.

Gruene proper!

These are chairs made out of huge wooden spools, cute!

Next up, Oasis at Lake Travis!  Our seat friends from the concert asked what we would see in Austin, and Mark said you tell us!  So this was their first suggestion.  Part restaurant overlooking the lake, part mostly unleased mall, it was really fun!  It seems like it should have a hotel, and then it would be like most of the resorts we saw in Cabo.

 Just a spaceship.  Nbd.

Beautiful homes of beautiful celebrities.  No celebrities were sighted.

 My new favorite food, the beef brisket sandwich!

 Then driving on to Austin proper!

Just some deer heads on the highway.  Nbd.  Once we got into our room we immediately called an Uber to take us to the Texas State Capital.

 It takes quite a few tries to get each selfie.

 Pigeons!

 We thought buildings would be closed, but nope!

We made a squirrel friend!

And saw a real life Blue Jay!

 I think this pic makes the ceiling look like a cup and saucer.

The Hyatt Place Arboretum -- we were skeptical because it looks like Northgate, but it was really nice.  It was LOUD at night, with traffic.

Sixth street is a little like Vegas, only without the casinos.  Our nameless seat friends from the concert and our Uber driver recommended we check it out, just for the experience.  It's not someplace we'd want to spend all night.  The streets are all blocked to cars, there's actual hordes of cops around, and there's competing hip-hop and country playing back and forth across the street from the different bars.  We went to Maggie Mae's which looked like our speed, and there was a guy giving an acoustic performance and in front of the stage was a table of deaf people signing to eachother.  The bartender is wearing the official Maggie Mae's t-shirt which says on the back, "Beer.  Not just for breakfast anymore."  I just loved this place.

Rainey Street is a little like Portland in every way.  Wonderful.  We walked here from Sixth Street, and stopped to ask a cop if that was safe because it was dark and we're new in town.  The cop admitted he was new to that beat, but pointed out there are tons of cops around which was absolutely true, and reminded us to dial 911 if needed.  Lol.  Tons of restaurants, bars, food trucks (but we're in Texas so I guess they're trailers).  Shout out to Craft Pride, the only taps we saw in Texas.  And when I told them the ladies room was completely out of toilet paper and paper towels, they stopped the presses to refill them.

And Merle, singing one of my faves, Rainbow Stew: