Back in Austin

First let me say -- I Love Austin!!  I think that it is one of the places that we go and it never gets old and is always just such a nice time.  Now, why are we here this time?  Well, Cassie is down here working at the Austin Airport and so we combined a stop in Temple to help Jen with parent/teacher conferences and then spend some time with Cass.  We drove down to Austin after finishing up with Jen and checked into our hotel, while thinking that Cass's hotel was right across the parking lot.  The next morning we get up and find a funky coffee shop called Summermoon Wood Fired Coffee for Mister and then as we are heading downtown, we come across a banner for the "Capital of Texas Quiltfest".  I cannot resist when Mister says we should go.  We spend 3 hours there - where does the time go?  I am once again motivated to start quilting this Fall when we settle down from traveling.  We find so many cool quilts and critique them as if we are the judges -- I have fun and Mister is wonderful as usual.  We come across an iron and a "magic" foot for my sewing machine that I just have to own and so we order them and am looking forward to arrivals in October.  From there, we head to Hops & Grains, a local brewery.  As we are walking in, I spot the East Side Glass Studio and peek in to find some beautiful pieces of art and meet Leigh and Shara, the artists themselves.  They tell us that they will be blowing glass in just a short time so we decide to stop back in after Hops and Grains.  It is a cool little brewery and we are lucky enough to find a spot at the bar where we can talk with the brewers and learn their history.

As we are there, one tour group after another stops in and the place is totally packed with standing room only many times.  There is a vendor outside the door that is selling brats and so I go out and order one for us to share.  It is very good.  As we pass the glass shop, we stop in and watch for a few minutes and talk with the girls.  Their work is really good -- would like to get a piece sometime.

From there, we head to where we "think" Cassie's hotel is only to discover that it is a few miles down the road so we pick her up late --oh well.  We drive downtown to walk around for a little while and show her around and grab dinner at Piranha Killer Sushi -- which is WONDERFUL!  When we finish with our order, Mister tells the Chef to make us one of his choice.  I'll let the picture speak for itself.

Soooo fun.  We walk down the street to the Congress Bridge and watch the bats take flight at dusk.  No matter how many times I see this, I love it each and every time.  We end the night by walking over to  Chez Nous for a little French dessert.  We share the Crepe Normande and Creme Caramel -- oh my, how do the French stay even remotely slim?  So very good.  The night comes to an end and we drop Cass off at her hotel and head to ours for some needed sleep. What an eclectic night! 

The next day, we find another funky little coffee shop located in front of a little garden shop so we sit outside on the patio enjoying our drinks and breakfast.  From there we go to the Bob Bullock Texas State Museum to discover that the film I want to see isn't for several hours and in our old age, we have forgotten that we have already been to the Museum itself.  Ugh.  We go to the Whip In Parlour Cafe -- which used to be a Quick-Trip , but is now a wine bar, restaurant, and Namaste Brewery.

We sit at the bar and are entertained by the bartender as he converses with co-workers and locals.  We then drive to the north end of the city for a BBQ hosted by Adelbert's Brewing and after tasting their product and gathering some freebies,

we head North and stop at BlackStar Brewery and Co-op. A quick drink there and we grab one of their growlers and are on the road to Dallas.  Absolutely love Austin.