Check another U.S. city off the list- Austin!

Last week, I had a conference in Austin, TX, and decided to drag Drew along for good measure. Aside from the conference itself, we got a chance to see brother and sister, experience the nightlife in Austin and bond a little bit with my co-workers.

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Starting off the trip at the Cedar Door

Chicken, jalapenos, cheese deep-fried then wrapped in baccon and dipped in hot sauce

We checked out 6th- which is a little like Garnet Ave. meets Bourbon street- but fun nonetheless. Here is the Thirsty Nickel

Look who I ran into!

Almost Charlie's Angels (If I weren't barking orders at photographer Drew)

Co-workers Noel pictured on L and Brandie on R

Cute couple Dave and Brandie

After the conference sessions (yes I did work, I just didn't take pictures of it!), we went to the Congress St. bridge to see the bats. But they are too pregnant to fly or something

Group shot

The Stillwell family at the sponsored dinner

And I got a chance to see Mandy! I miss that infectious laugh soooo much. It's good to see the people who will just pick up right where you left off.

And the last night we went out to the Salt Lick and had a huge family-style BBQ dinner. It's a good thing because we brought some family along (sister-in-law Monica)


cute little Sierra

And our last night took us to 4th street (a much more mature scene- little bars with great live music). This is the Ginger Man- 81 beers on tap... yes, please

At Six (Mandy tells me this is Lance Armstrong's bar)

Good stuff. Next stop- Tahoe!

On the road again

Willie Nelson can't wait to get on the road again- and apparently, neither could we. It was just 10 months ago that my mom and I drove from San Diego to Tallahassee, but I found myself on the all too familiar I-10 when Drew and I decided we couldn't wait any longer to get his truck out east. So we thanked Drew's parents for taking care of Big Red in our absence, and set out from Exeter, CA.

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Last trip, I made sure to get a postcard from each state and sent them all to Drew along the way. This trip, we played the "capture the state welcome sign" game. We couldn't pull over to take the pic, and we didn't use maps or navigation to try and anticipate the state sign (but having been cross-country on numerous occasions, I was pretty good at remembering which little towns were on the borders). We got them all!

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Oh, Arizona, you still have a little piece of my heart

New Mexico: the land of enchantment. Hmmm. I'll refer to Toby on this one.

Really, Texas? I could make a comment about your obsession with everything being "bigger" but this is a family blog.

Everything's a little fuzzy in Louisiana.

The mighty Mississip. It reads: birthplace of America's music. Praytell, what kind of music would that be? I have a feeling the answer involves spoons and washboards.


Obviously a selling point for the position of Governor of Alabama

And here we are... the Sunshine State. Although I'm pretty sure Arizona and New Mexico feel slightly jilted by that slogan.

The pups welcoming us (and Big Red) home

Hopefully I'll get around to posting pictures of our last two trips on here soon- soonish.