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Day 1
Fifth stop on our trip is Austin, Texas, home of Oli’s extended family. We flew with Jet Blue, our third airline of the holiday. These were a step up from US Airways, free checked bag AND free snacks. I think you were only meant to take one snack but Oli somehow managed to snaffle three snacks and I wasn’t far behind with two. We pooled our resources and had a rather nice meal of cookies, peanuts, popcorn and these weird dark navy blue crisps.
Our flight arrived a little late in Austin at about 6:30, Mark and Janie were waiting at the bottom of the escalator to meet us. We collected our luggage and walked out of the airport into a wall of heat which didn’t let up the whole time we were there. Mark drives a massive BMW X5, which we had to clamber into as it was so large. However, by the end of the trip the car was starting to look small next to all the massive Texan trucks. Then they drove us straight to Maudie’s, a Mexican restaurant Janie and Mark often frequent. There we had a family reunion with Phyllis, Oli’s great
aunt, Sara, Janie’s daughter, and Claire and Cade who are Sara’s children, it was nice to see 4 generations around one table. Mark had a Margarita big enough for two in Oli’s hand before he could say guacamole. There was a big bowl of chips and dips on the table and we all got stuck in. Oli had the Mexican special and I had Maggie’s Plate. This entailed three different plates of Mexican food each, including enchiladas, chilli con carne, guacamole salad and a really nice warm cheese called quesa. Three plates of food down and I could barely move. This was a common theme of Texas. Then we drove back to Mark and Janie’s house. On the way, we went on an impromptu deer hunting mission, to find the herd of deer that live in the neighbourhood. We spotted a couple lounging on someone’s lawn and we got out for a closer look. We dropped Phyllis off over the road (literally). Dimitri the dog was very pleased to see us when we got home, as was the neighbourhood cat, who goes via a variety of names. We stuck with the name Buddy. We got in, got our suitcases up
to our room and then settled in the living room. This was when we realised Buddy was not a normal cat. Buddy loves all animals and people, but he has an extra close relationship with Dimitri, which involved following Dimitri around nudging him until Dimitri gave in and licked him all over. Buddy would then lay down, satisfied, while his hair dried into a style which looked as if he had been electrocuted. We lounged on the sofa for a while and had a chat with Janie before going up to bed.
Day 2
We made the mistake of not setting alarms for the morning, which resulted in me waking up at 10 and Oli waking up at 11. We enjoyed our favourite blueberry bagels with strawberry cream cheese (Janie had got some in especially after a recommendation from Andrew). We then went to the pool, which is shared with other residents in the street. It was a very nice pool, there were three different pools of different depths. I took the plunge in the deepest one, although it took me a while to get in. Oli and I had a few swimming races, Oli won them all
except the back stroke with no hands. Oli didn’t put any sun cream on, an action he later came to regret. By the time he came out of the pool 40 minutes later human Oli had been replaced with lobster Oli.
We went back to Janie and Mark’s and got changed, picked up Phyllis and went out for dinner. We tried one of the new local restaurants called Hopdoddy’s. It was a burger restaurant with several different burgers on the menu, again cooked rare, medium or well done etc. I went for a cheese burger while Oli had a burger with bacon and blue cheese. I got a raspberry and white chocolate milkshake, while the others got a beer, including Phyllis. It was a funny sight Phyllis drinking beer out of a massive glass.
We weren’t able to do a Segway tour in Washington, which pleased Janie greatly as it meant we could do one in Austin. She sorted it all out and off the 4 of us (Janie, Mark, me and Oli) went for our 6:30pm Segway tour. Segway riding was a first time experience for all of us and we were all excited and me and
Janie were a little nervous as we are the first to admit we are a bit clumsy. There were only the four of us on the tour which was great. Janie went first to try out her Segway, and it went well, Janie was confidently leaning forward and back to move round the car park straight away. This gave us all hope. I was next, I was a little nervous on it to begin with but once I realised it’s more or less impossible to fall off then I was zooming around. Oli and Mark picked it up quickly. We started off slowly, then the tour led us to an area where we could get up to speed on our new Segways, then we hit the streets of Austin, riding past the historical sites, bars and restaurants. We all loved the Segways, Mark was even talking about getting one to drive to work on but at $6000 for a new one I think he may pass. Our tour guide was a nice chap and knew his stuff, but he couldn’t tell Mark or Janie anything they didn’t already know about Austin. Halfway through he told us this was his last
ever tour. At one point we saw a cowboy, including cowboy hat and boots, casually strolling through the city centre on his mule. Janie and Mark assured us this was not a common sight. We headed to a bridge near the end of the tour, to see if we could catch the bats coming out. Millions of bats live under certain bridges in Austin, and every night they come out, all at the exact same time, to hunt for food. There were lots of people waiting to see them. Unfortunately they didn’t come out for us. Mark drove us home via the State Capitol building so we could take some snaps and then we headed to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. Oli and I shared one with Reese’s peanut butter pieces, Snickers and cookie dough in. We headed to bed when we got in as we were very tired.
Day 3
The next day we got up early at 7 to go to Fiesta Texas Six Flags theme park. It has been a dream of mine ever since I discovered my love for roller coasters at Alton Towers to one day visit a 6 flags and my dream
was finally coming true. Janie drove us to the park. As we rolled up we noticed a quite a few school buses and we were worried it would be busy, but we quickly got our tickets and got into the park just after it opened. We thought we should take advantage of the early morning short queues, so went for the biggest looking rollercoaster, Superman. We waited for literally 2 minutes and then we were on the ride. I suddenly got very nervous as I had not anticipated being on a rollercoaster so soon. It was a very long rollercoaster and had the biggest loop in it I had ever seen. We enjoyed it so much we queued again but this time for the front row. This took less than ten minutes and we were back on it. It was a much better experience at the front, it felt like we were going a lot faster. We thought the queues were a one off but they didn’t get any longer all day which was good news for us. This meant Oli and I went on as many rollercoasters as our bodies could handle, which turned out to be nearly all
of them. Next we went on Poltergeist, I hadn’t read too much into the rides and you couldn’t really see what the ride did from the queue and it only had a lap bar so I thought it would be a nice leisurely coaster to go on after Superman. I was wrong. It was the craziest ride ever. I later found out it was marked as the biggest thrill ride in the whole park. We had queued for another front row seat so the ride was even more scary than normal. Then we went on Boomerang, another amazing ride, then onto the log flume with Janie and then the rapids. Then we went on the Rattler, which was one of the worst experiences of my life. That ride should be closed down. It jolted us around so much I thought my brain was hitting my skull. Then after that lovely experience we went on Goliath, which was similar to Nemesis at Alton Towers. Despite the atrocity that is the Rattler Fiesta Six Flags was the best theme park I have ever been to. After the theme park we tried to find a fast food drive in, which is not normally
a difficult task in America. However, we missed a turn and a Wendy’s was not where it was supposed to be. In the end we ended up with a Subway which we munched in the car on the way home. When we got back Phyllis and Mark were hungry so headed out to Poke e Jo’s BBQ restaurant. This was one of Oli’s favourite places we’d eaten so far. We all chose a different selection of BBQ meat and some sides. Oli ate an impressive amount for someone who had not too long ago finished off a Subway then we went home to play Mexican trains, a game I have been itching to play since our arrival in Austin. You use domino’s to make trains and at the end of 12 rounds you want to have the fewest points. Oli managed to pull out a win, I think it was beginners luck. I managed to come last.
Day 4
We got up extra early today as Mark has Friday’s off work and he drove us out to Fredricksberg to the Enchanted Rock in the State National Park, which is an enormous pink rock made out of Granite. Mark,
Oli and I set off and made it to the top in a steady 20 minutes. It was hot – around 95 degrees Fahrenheit, but there was a nice breeze at the top to cool us off. We walked around the top taking pictures from different angles. The view from the top was breath taking. We then walked down the other side of the mountain and then went up the rock next to it, which was nearly as big as Enchanted Rock. We took some more shots from this side then made our way back to Janie. Mark and I both gained war wounds, Mark fell on the path and in a bid to protect his camera sacrificed his leg. I managed to walk into a cactus. We kept an eye out for rattlesnakes as they are known to live in the area, any little noise I was certain was a rattle. We made it back to Janie two hours after we set off and then went to a cafe in Fredricksberg called Sugar Smoke for some lunch. Mark and I had burgers and Oli had a salad. Mark was not impressed with this choice, and thought he should have
ordered something meatier as is the true Texan way. On the way home Oli and I fell fast asleep and only awoke when we pulled into the driveway. We went back to see Phyllis and I enjoyed a prolonged recline in one of her chairs, then back home for more Mexican trains. Janie had bought lots of cooked meats from the supermarket and I made one of the best sandwiches ever with turkey pastrami, turkey meat, ham, cheese and mayo. Mmmm. Mexican trains did not start well for Mark, by the end of the first round he already had more points than we had after 12 rounds the first time we played. Janie won and Oli came in second. I was pleased with my third place finish. Mark headed off the bed and the three of stayed up with the cat and dog to watch the premiere of one of my favourite American TV shows – The Bachelorette.
Day 5
We had a leisurely morning, complete with blueberry bagels and strawberry cream cheese, this time with the addition of some actual blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. We drove over to Sara’s house, which is really nicely decorated. The outside
area was especially nice with a big gazebo, complete with TV and outdoor music controlled by Iphone. Oli and I wondered how long an outside TV would last on our house before it was stolen. We were trusted enough to be let into Claire and Cade’s garden den’s, I guess it was the family connection that granted us access. Claire was a good tour guide, showing us around her bedroom and getting the chickens out for us to stroke. She then tried to teach me how to hoolahoop. I didn’t get the hang of it, but made up for it with some very skilful skipping moves. Then all of us, Janie, Mark, Sara, Claire, Cade and Phyllis went to the pool at Janie’s. Claire pulled me in the pool while I was wearing my shorts. Unfortunately they were not swimming shorts but they dried out in no time in the Texan sun. We stayed in the pool for a couple of hours then Mark then drove us on a scenic tour round Austin of some of the bigger dams, bridges and lakes, including Lake Austin. Mark spotted a rock squirrel with its back turned to us. Oli tried to get
its attention by throwing small stones at it. The squirrel was in a world of its own until Oli clunked it on the back of the head. It ran off though so I’m sure it’s OK. We walked up the side of a cliff edge for more views, Janie was not happy about this as someone recently fell off the cliff, but it was worth it for us to see the views. We finished off the tour with a quick visit to see Marks fancy big dental surgery, I picked up some lip balm given out to customers to help with the dry lips I get from flying. It’s hard work being an international jet setter. We hoped to show some thanks and appreciation for the hospitality we’d received from Oli’s family by cooking a meal for everyone. We had a few meal options to pick from the specialities we cook at home, however we decided enchiladas would not be a good choice as Janie and Mark are the connoisseurs of Tex-Mex food. We decided to cook a curry. We went to the supermarket to source the ingredients. We were able to find most of the stuff we needed easily,
however we struggled to find red Thai paste. We eventually found it and off we went to pay. Unfortunately we couldn’t even manage that as Mark beat us to the checkout. It took us about an hour and a half to cook our signature curry. Phyllis made the long journey over the road to join us and we all settled down to enjoy curry, Naan bread and rice. It turned out well and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We started watching the next episode of the Bachelorette but I was too tired from Mark’s guided tours round Austin so we headed off to bed.
Day 6
We had to be up early to catch our 8am flight. I sat down at the kitchen table at 6am to enjoy my blueberry bagel and fruit. However, I only made it through the fruit before Oli started burning holes in my bagel. We may be seasoned travellers but Oli does like to be at the airport a bit too early. So I took my bagel to go. Janie and Mark drove us to the airport. I had had a dream the night before that Mark had driven us to some more
Texas hotspots on the way to the airport and despite Janie’s plea’s we missed the flight. As much as we enjoyed Mark’s tours of Austin, we were pleased this didn’t happen. We made it out of the airport on time and headed to Las Vegas! Hmmm...Strawberry cream cheese.
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