Leaving Florida was bittersweet. We had what we assume will be some of our best beach camping weather during our U.S. travels. It was perfect, not too hot but warm enough to feel like a vacation. But on the flip side, we spent more money than we had planned, so we were ready to refocus and reassess our financials. But of course that couldn’t happen until AFTER New Orleans. We had already been there once on the way to Chattanooga, but our friends weren’t available to hang out with us then so we did a brief but fun date evening. Now our friends were ready to mix and mingle and they took us to some of their favorite spots. A walk around the Bayou, an excellent shared dinner at 1000 Figs, and games and drinks at various bars that we can’t seem to remember the name of for some strange reason.
Definitely epic times with good folks. But alas it couldn’t last, and we moved on to Cagle Recreation Area for a night of camping before hitting Austin. Cagle was a nice surprise. Since it was just a stopover we didn’t do much research beforehand, but our campsite was quiet and beautiful, located right on top of a peaceful lake. Javi made a good fire (there’s a “good fire” and “meh fire” thing with camping), and we cooked a yummy camp meal of asian noodles, a staple of ours. We positioned the truck so the lake was the first thing we saw we we woke up. Another case of “wish we had more time here” but we were excited to get back to Javi’s family for a week of celebration.
Austin is Javi’s old stomping ground, and we have been there together several times. We usually stay with Javi’s sister, but this time we shared an Airbnb with his parents near the Mueller development, where his sister and her family live. The week was filled with food and family, and we hit up some delicious and thirst quenching spots new and old, like Ranch 616, the Omelettry, Shady Grove, Snooze, Bangers, and more.
Javi’s dad’s 70th birthday party was spent at his uncle’s place out in Georgetown. Aside from the birthday boy, the highlights of the party were the lawn games, delicious food, a piñata, a kid rave in the yard after dinner (initiated by Laura’s glowing poi and Javi’s DJ skills), and of course Javi and his brother-in-law who had biked a 50k to Georgetown from Austin. It was supposed to be 70k in honor of the birthday boy, but . . . The next day Javi’s baby niece had her baptism at the Catholic Center with a post-ceremony celebration at Central Market.
Austin NEVER disappoints. We always have a good time there. Someday we can hopefully spend more than just a few days there.
