This post is a little overdue - my first one-on-one camp with coach Aaron Patel has come and gone and was a resounding success.
Last Thursday night, Ken and I left for Austin for our first "tri-cation" (my word, not his, obviously). We got a late start due to some unexpected complications including an over-flowing toilet and a golden retriever with a GI problem (you don't want to know), but by 8:30 we were at Central Market for a late dinner (brisket tacos, gelato, and an espresso for the road), and by 9:00 we were finally headed south on I-35. We rolled into Austin around 1:00 and went straight to bed in our normal room at my dad and step-mom's house (Gail, as usual, had it all laid out with a candle, water pitcher and glasses, and the usual bottle of wine replaced with two personal bottles of Gatorade - she is a hospitality master).
Friday morning, the fun began! We were up early (thank you work for programming our sleep systems), so we sat and had coffee with Dad and Gail while we planned our first day of vacation. We started with a hilly ride out on Bee Creek Road, during which we stopped often to take pictures (and catch our breath). It reminded me that, oh yeah, I need to do more hill workouts... Also that the hills we have in Dallas aren't actually hills. Afterwards, we inhaled about half of a watermelon, showered, and headed out for a little hill country adventure. Our first stop was Mandola's Italian Market to pick up lunch (fresh Italian bread, peccorino cheese, prosciutto, grilled zucchini, asparagus and red peppers, and of course cannoli), then we headed out into the country towards the Bell Springs Winery. We arrived just in time for tasting hours and after an incredibly cheap (and delicious) tasting, we made our picks and took our glasses of wine and food outside to the patio to enjoy. The food and wine were awesome, the scenery was great, even the music they were playing was perfect. Needless to say, we were both in vacation heaven. After we finished eating and bought a couple of bottles of wine for Dad and Gail, we headed west for Hamilton Pool. If you are a true Austinite you are very familiar with Hamilton Pool - if you are not a true Austinite, you probably aren't, but you should definitely put it on the itinerary for your next visit. It is a collapsed grotto, spring-fed, with a beautiful waterfall and lots of great plant life. It's a quarter mile hike to the pool on mildly technical trail, but more than worth it. The Austin heat started to hit us when we got there, so sliding into the 70 degree water after our mini hike was just about perfect. Hamilton Pool limits the number of people who can enter at any one time, so the place wasn't over crowded, and we had plenty of room to spread out our beach towels and alternate between laying in the sun and cooling off in the water. By the time we headed home, we were so relaxed we could have passed out immediately, but we managed to eat the delicious steak dinner Gail had prepared for us. Well, of course, it would have just been rude not to... After dinner, we went straight to bed.
And slept for about 11 hours.
Saturday morning was another relaxing start, and after the requisite coffee and shower, we headed to the Austin farmers market with Gail for some breakfast. Gail loaded up on local produce while we sat around watching all of the Austin people and animals shop, and then we loaded up on tamales - pork with tomatillo, and guava with cinnamon (yu-um) - and agua fresca from the pre-cooked food stands. Ken suffered through lots of picture-taking, but survived to tell the tale. We split ways with Gail after breakfast, and headed across the street to Mellow Johnny's, just in time to watch a youth ride leaving the shop (I was thrilled, of course). We wandered around the store for a while, and Ken bought a couple of new jerseys before we headed to our other favorite Austin shop, Bicycle Sport Shop. We browsed there for a while, too, and then decided to head up the road to Barton Springs (might as well hit both watering holes while we were in town). There was a line to get into the Springs, but it was worth it as soon as we hit that icy water. We alternated between floating and laying in the sun, and as the afternoon wore on and we got hungrier, we decided to hit Shady Grove since we were in the neighborhood. Sitting on the Shady Grove patio, with margaritas, cheese fries, and peach cobbler was about the perfect end to another perfect day of vacation. Of course, we still had dinner at home, which was equally delicious, and then again hit the hay right after dinner...
...Because Sunday was Camp Day!!!
To be continued!
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