On the Road, Austin to Lubbock

On day one of our road trip, we packed up in Austin, picked up our rental car, and said good-bye to my parents and (sniff sniff) Cooper.

The good-byes were pretty difficult as we likely won't see the three of them for at least a year. Cooper tried to jump in the car, thinking he was coming with us, and that made us pretty sad. Since dogs aren't allowed in our Kabul housing and my parents were willing to take good care of him for the next year, this was the right decision. He is already in LOVE with their swimming pool - he played there for a solid hour the other day! After the goodbyes and cries, we were off. We came across a pretty nasty thunderstorm that conveniently struck when I had to get out of the car to fill up the tank. I got soak by the sideways rain. Otherwise, the ride was beautiful and uneventful as we took in the wide vistas and colorful Texas wildflowers.

Austin Eateries

I believe it's common knowledge that some of the best Tex-Mex food is housed in strip malls, right? After a trip to AAA (we joined in time for our upcoming road trip), we found ourselves hungry in an unfamiliar part of Austin (ok, who am I kidding? All of Austin is unfamiliar) and not knowing where to go. I am still head over heels in love with the conveniences of America and obsessed with all the cool applications I can put on my Blackberry...like Yelp! So Yelp helped me identify a few good choices but Camino Real really stood out and was just a couple of strip malls away (strip malls - didn't miss those in Italy).


It was delicious! I went with the taco platter as its my Tex-Mex litmus test and it didn't disappoint. My husband with his years in San Diego is still adjusting to the differences between SoCal-Mex and Tex-Mex but said his enchiladas were pretty great (he claims that fish tacos overall are not as good in Texas. I will concede that one). The refried beans were kind of greasy but the veggies in the taco were fresh and the meat was well-seasoned. The salsa was incredibly tasty and fresh with just the right amount of cilantro.

A couple of days later, we were driving home from the dog park in the evening and found ourselves compelled to pull over to the side of the road and check out the cupcake-selling Airstream trailer. Hey Cupcake! was started in 2007 and inspired by Magnolia Bakery in New York. I got the Red Velvet and M got the Carrot Cake. The cupcakes were pretty good, not too crumbly. The frosting actually tasted better on the half I saved in the fridge and ate the next day. The trailer schtick is pretty inventive - the bright silver definitely got our attention. It was way better than anything I've had in awhile but I really think DC has better options in the cupcake market (Georgetown Cupcake, Bittersweet Bakery in Alexandria). Good value (they were huge), good cupcakes overall.


Camino Real, 8650 Spicewood Springs Rd #137 , Austin TX
Hey! Cupcake, multiple locations, 6900 Rand Rd Rt 620, Austin, TX

Austin - Why yes, we are enjoying home leave.

In our empty apartment in Milan, we noticed a coupon deal on Living Social for a discount speedboat rental at Just For Fun on Lake Travis. We LOVE boats and the water so the 50% off discount was a no-brainer.

Spending a couple of sunny hours on the water with my parents and husband was lots of fun. We rented the tube and ripped all around the water for a couple of hours. I learned quickly that there's a LOT more bounce when there are two people on the tube! So since cold brews, fresh pedicures, and warm breezes on the water make me happy, I'd say that home leave is going swell.

Austin, Texas

Before heading off to Milan, Mark and I spent a long weekend at my parents' new home in Austin. Straight from the airport, my parents headed toward Driftwood, Texas - home of the Salt Lick. The Salt Lick is famous for their barbecue and, as I found out, rightly so. It's BYOB but we came prepared with a cooler of beers to complement the brisket, ribs, and homemade barbecue sauce.


From there, we didn't waste any time in working off the delicious lunch. Hamilton Pool is part of a nature preserve and sometimes functions as a swimming hole, depending on bacterial levels. Sadly for us, it was not a swimming day, but after a short hike to the pool we were able to climb around and explore the rocks.

There's a 45-foot waterfall that fills the pool, which was formed thousands of years ago when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion.


Saturday afternoon, we toured the Texas State Capitol building. It's the largest state capitol building in the U.S. (everything is bigger in Texas) but smaller than the U.S. Capitol. The rotunda at the Capitol is a whispering gallery - supposedly you can whisper to a friend standing on the other side of the room, and they can hear you. The tour was a bit too crowded to test it out for ourselves, but the University of Virginia had a similar whispering wall that worked, clear as day.

After touring the Capitol, we headed over to the University of Texas to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential library. My mom was skeptical and didn't understand why I wanted to go but I think everyone enjoyed themselves in the end. There were a number of really interesting exhibits and while the museum didn't shy away from Vietnam War talk, they also went into a great deal of detail about LBJ's work in passing civil rights bills and other work toward social movements. My favorite part? The animatronic LBJ statue (below) of LBJ at his farm telling jokes. I bet they don't have anything like that at other presidential libraries!

On our last full day, we rented a boat and headed out to Lake Austin. We had wonderful weather and great views of the extravagant lakefront properties and the dam.

After grilling out back at the house, we had a little entertainment during dinner. My parents had promised wildlife and they weren't kidding - a whole family of deer came to hang out in the front yard. They stuck around even when I came out to take photos!


It was a wonderful visit, and we're already looking forward to heading back.