Live from The Mondrian in Scottsdale!

Hello all!

I cannot believe that it is already the last day of our road trip! Tomorrow at this time we will be back in Gilroy, California--hard to believe how many miles we have covered. We arrived in Scottsdale yesterday around noontime, which was not that long of a drive from El Paso. The drive was pretty uneventful, except for a bit of dust remaining in the air from the previous day's winds.

We are staying at the Mondrian Hotel here in Scottsdale, which is probably the nicest hotel in which I have stayed. They also have a Mondrian in Los Angeles which is frequented by celebrities--we have not seen any here yet! Since the hotel just opened six months ago, I was able to get a really great rate for our stay. The room has a plasma TV and a stereo, but is quite small. Our favorite part of the whole place are the pools! The main pool has a bar and a jacuzzi and is where most of the people hang out. It is kind of loud because of the mood music that plays, but they also have another pool called the "Serenity" pool. The pool is surrounded by vines and has a huge waterfall. There are also misters situated around the pool that mist you with a cool spray as you are lounging.

We did not just stay in the hotel though--we got up this morning and took a trip to the Desert Botanical Garden. It was pretty darn hot, but compared to the humidity we had in Texas, was not that bad! We saw quite a bit of wildlife--including doves, lizards, and ground squirrels. It was fun to wander around the huge cacti and other native plant life.

After our trip to the garden, we decided to lounge around the pool and relax the rest of the day before our drive home tomorrow. It will be nice to finally be home, but bittersweet because the trip was so much fun and a definite bonding experience for the both of us.

Not much to say about El Paso!

Sorry for the delay in posting, but we have had a very long couple of days! We left Austin two days ago and endured the long eight hour drive to El Paso. It is amazing how much the terrain changes within only a couple of hours. We were surrounded by the lush greenery and rolling hills of the Texas hill country, but by the time we reached Interstate 10 it was replaced with flatlands and high desert scrubland. Since we left Austin later in the morning, it made our drive seem twice as long! By the time we rolled into El Paso later that day, we were exhausted! The huge amount of dust in the air made it seem like we were entering the twilight zone. We checked into our hotel and went out for dinner, but collapsed as soon as we got back to the hotel. We were up early the next day to get out of there as fast as we could and make our way to Scottsdale! The picture on the left sums up why I love El Paso so much!

Bats and Waterfalls

These are a day late, but here is a picture of McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, as well as a picture of the bats flying out from under the bridge. You can just barely see the silhouettes of the bats from the picture, but I am glad you can at least make them out a little!

Last Night in Austin

Here is a picture of downtown Austin and the capitol building from the perspective of the Congress Street Bridge. What a beautiful evening! We were finally able to see the bats tonight! They were a little late in emerging from their roosts under the bridge, but when they did it was absolutely spectacular. I heard from a couple of people that the later in the summer it gets, the easier it is to see them flying around. We got a couple of pictures, but they are not really good enough to be able to see the bats. I am so happy that we had the opportunity before we left to see them though!

I am a bit behind in the blogging thing because the past day and a half were packed full of activities. Monday morning was spent checking out of the Holiday Inn on Town Lake, and also running along the Colorado River. I was going to use the treadmill in the hotel fitness center, but why waste the opportunity to run in the great outdoors! :) We then drove the sixty or so miles down to San Antonio and spent half of the day exploring the Riverwalk and the surrounding sights. It was just so hot and humid that we did not last long, and headed back to Austin before 5PM. The Riverwalk was ineresting, but a little too "touristy" for our liking. We took a neat little boat ride around the whole thing which was a good idea--so we would not have to walk the two and a half miles in the heat! We wanted to go up into the Tower of the Americas, which is the second largest observation tower in the US, behind the Stratosphere in Vegas. It was too expensive though, so we just decided to take a couple of pictures and call it a day in San Antonio!

Of course after getting back to Austin, we were super hungry. Although we did eat at County Line BBQ in Albuquerque, a trip to Austin would not be complete if we did not make a visit to the one here in Austin on the river. We had a wonderful BBQ dinner and headed back to our hotel for the night.

Today we slept in a bit then headed out to McKinney Falls State Park, which is about 13 miles southeast of Austin. We went on this small trail which lead down by a creek, and because of all of the recent rains, the waterfalls were spectacular! The park was a bit odd and the trail map hard to decipher, so we kept the hiking to a minimum and were not there for very long. We did find some shade under a rocky overhang and had our picnic lunch though! :) Since we have been going pretty much non-stop the whole trip, we rested for awhile in our hotel after returning from the hike and did not leave until later in the afternoon.

Tomorrow is the wonderful trip up to El Paso, which is definitely not one of my favorite places! I am glad it is only a stopover on the way to Scottsdale--and an eight hour drive at that! I will be sad to leave Austin, but looking forward to the next time we can get back to this unique city.

Amazing lightning!!!

This is looking out across the river from underneath our little shelter under the Congress Street bridge. No bats--but an amazing show nonetheless!

Before the Austin light show!

Downtown Austin as the storm started moving in

What a fun day!

We finally made it to Austin, Texas--one of my favorite places in the United States. When I lived here three years ago, I was so busy I hardly had time to really explore and see what the city had to offer. I also wanted to show James what it was like and find new places we could share together! We left Dallas and arrived here early this morning--just in time for breakfast. We had breakfast in Northwest Austin at this cool 24 hour place called Kerbey Lane Cafe. They serve breakfast all day and night, and luckily it was not too crowded when we got there. One of our planned destinations of the day was the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, which does not open until noon on Sundays. To pass some time, we headed up to Mount Bonnell, which has a panoramic view of the Colorado River and the Austin skyline. The picture above is of the bridge over the Capitol of Texas Highway--360 from Mt. Bonnell. As we were driving back down the hill, we just happened to stumble upon a small nature preserve! It was a much needed chance to wander a bit, although it was probably about 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity!

I am surprised I was able to find my way around the city so well, after being gone for three years. It also gave James the chance to relax and not have to drive or navigate for once. :)

After our nature preserve wanderings, we headed down to Southwest Austin to the wildflower center, which was so amazing and beautiful. The grounds were meticulously maintained and landscaped with plants native to the Texas hill country. Many people do not even realize that this portion of Texas actually has hills! But it is actually very lush and green. They had a little observation tower where you could go up and get a view of the surrounding countryside. It was extremely hot, but definitely worth the time and small amount of money. We even walked on a small trail that led us around gardens and oak trees.

After the wildflower center, we just drove around the area and explored a bit. We happened to come upon some model homes, and checked those out just for the fun of it! It is so amazing, what 300K can get you here! :)

Since we are staying at the Holiday Inn on Town Lake--which is actually the Colorado River--we have close access to a trail that leads downtown and through Zilker Park. We wanted to eat dinner on 6th Street, which is the historic street where there are many music clubs and restaurants. We again ventured out into the heat and humidity and walked about two miles to dinner. Our plan for the evening was to go to the Congress Street bridge and see the bats that roost there fly out to feed for the night. But those plans were interrupted by a HUGE thunderstorm! We started off on the bridge, but as soon as the lightning and thunder started, we headed underneath to seek shelter. We were trapped there for about an hour and a half, and due to the massive rain, wind, lightning, and thunder the bats never did come out! After being there for so long, we decided to make a break for it and called a cab to take us 3 miles back to our hotel. It was still an adventure, even if we did not get to see the bats! If the weather is good tomorrow night, we want to come back and see if we have better luck in our quest for the bats. :)