The Fourth

We went down to Austin for the Fourth of July this past weekend. It was our first trip anywhere since Italy, and I realize you can't really compare Austin to Italy, but that didn't stop me from trying! The main thing is really the hotel. To have a bath tub, a nice hair dryer, and even an IRON! Well those things are just really nice to have on vacation and I don't care if I sound like a spoiled American, I need my iron. Wrinkles are my enemy.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in downtown and we got it on Priceline for a steal! Go us. We got in on Thursday night and headed straight to Hula Hut for some dinner. We just split some nachos because we know what awaits us next door...Mozart's! For those who don't know, Mozart's is a dessert place on Town Lake that is delish. Jason had some chocolate cake with some Amy's Mexican Vanilla ice cream on the side and I had a lemon bar with some coffee. Both were super t to the a.

Friday we slept in and then got up and went to eat breakfast at, where else?, Kerbey Lane. This place never disappoints. It is always so good, which is why there is always a wait. So one baked potato omelet, two red, white and blue pancakes and some kerbey queso later, we decided to drive around looking for houses. The plan is to move there in a couple of years so we always look around while we are down there. We looked in a bunch of cute neighborhoods that aren't too far from downtown, but holy cow, they are expensive! I honestly don't see how anyone affords them, especially in today's 'you must have 20% down payment' world. We found this cute little 1200 sq ft house on about a quarter acre for $313,000!!! I don't know about you, but I am guessing people who have $60K laying around for a down payment aren't looking for a tiny house. I have no idea who can buy these places, but we can't. Unless we make a killing on our current house at least.

After that we went back to the hotel and laid by the pool for a while, then we went to Whole Foods and made ourselves a picnic to take to the fireworks show that night. Right next door to our hotel there was an outdoor concert with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. They played all kinds of patriotic music and then there was a great fireworks show out over the lake. The weather turned out great too. It was cloudy and breezy, so not too hot.

The next day we got up and went to this thing called RockKarts. It is basically really fast go carts. Jason is huge in to cars and stuff like F1 racing so he was so excited to do this. It isn't exactly my idea of fun, but we went anyway. You have to suit up in like a full body suit complete with helmet and gloves. You get to go around this track like 10 times and that is it. It was fun, I guess, but Jason loved it. I wanted to go to Schlitterbahn, but Jason refused. He apparently doesn't like public water parks. Something about the sanitary conditions of it. So we went shopping at the outlet mall in San Marcos instead.

That night we got ready and were going to grab a bite to eat at Threadgill's and then see The Scabs at Antone's. However, by the time we ate it was 11 o clock, which means the restaurant was all empty and quiet and we got too tired to go to the concert. Yes, we are total losers. Sunday we got up and drove out to eat at the Oasis on Lake Travis. I had never been before but had heard it was cool. I kind of figured it would be overpriced bad food that you pay for to sit by an awesome lake, but actually the food was really good and not that expensive. The only downfall was that Jason ordered what they call the 'perfect margarita', and it was not perfect by far. So bad he sent it back. But everything else was yum and then it was time to head back to Dallas. Which is when we met our little Gretta who you read about last post. =)