Blogs from Hill Country, Austin, Texas, United States, North America

In addition to enjoying a few nights of Austin's great music scene we followed Anna's recommendation and drove about an hour outside of Austin to see Hamilton Pool Nature Preserve (aka Hamilton Cave). We understood that it was an area that had an incredible pool for swimming and an interesting rock formation. The weather was iffy, but today was our only chance to see it. The sky was soon alive with lightening and rain but we continued our "take to the waters" quest when Karena showed no fear braving the weather. I, however, was a bit more reticent, but went along. After 10-15 minutes hiking down a creek valley we thought that we should take some shelter from the downpour. It didn't take long to realize that our "dry" spot was flooding fast so we sprinted ... read more

DFW to Austin Tues. 1 Feb. This will likely be episodic, so hang on! Currently on Amtrak train 21 in the last rays of the afternoon sun - which runs Chicago to San Antonio TX - having joined it at Fort Worth, lvg at 2.10pm. It was there already at 1.50 when I arrived, having hailed a passing cab (very slowly due to ice) outside the Sheraton - somewhat surprised to see an elderly black lady inside but it got me to the station - or what they grandly call in Ft Worth ITC - that's Intermodal Transport Centre - i.e. local rail to Dallas, the TRE; the Amtrak train; buses and Greyhounds. At 4.04pm we passed Crawford TX (blink and miss it) the ranch home of Pres. Bush – not that you can see anything. ... read more

Talk about bloody hot here in Texas, I have been down in Harlingen over the past few days with my old mate Curtis and Janet along with my old room mate Bill, that I shared a room with on my first South American Patagonia trip in 2005. It was so good to catch up with these guys. Janet let me take her Spyder for a ride and we also took Dave's (another guy from that same adventure) V10 Viper for a run to get some fuel. Dave lives in Bali and Curtis looks after the car for him, keeping it in ready mode for when Dave can come back to drive it. It was such a long way down to there, but the hospitality was awesome, thanks guys. I hope you have found your legs again ... read more

Our book club is not only sending Stanley on adventures around the World, but also hosting Stanley for a class in New Mexico. We took a picture with Stanley in front of our school with our principal (posted). We are working on taking pictures with Stanley at hot spots around Austin. Students will write letters to the 3rd grade class to tell them all the important things one needs to know about Austin, Texas.... read more

Today Stanley got to play in the snow in AUSTIN, TX! He was so excited to see big flakes falling for most of the day. This is a very unusual thing to experience here in Central Texas. We ventured outside with one of our reading specialist at lunch and we couldn't believe our eyes! It was definately a Kodak moment. Unfortunately Stanley forgot his jacket at home, so we couldn't stay outside long. He enjoyed building a snowman and throwing snowballs after school at home. Now he wants to be mailed to Colorado so that he can go snowboarding! He better hurry, spring skiing is the best in my opinion. What a fun day!... read more