I Left My Heart in Austin!

Austin is AMAZING! I could totally see myself living there. The area is absolutely beautiful and there are so many things to do and see. If it weren't for the unbearable humidity I would seriously consider staying forever. It was painfully hot and sticky which made being outside near impossible.

Despite the sticky, hotness we did have fun there. We spent time driving around looking at massive houses we all wished we owned. We went downtown and walked near the river. We saw the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue. We spent a few minutes playing around at the fountain. We went on a heatstroke-inducing bike ride at Kinney Falls State Park. We also spent time just hanging out in the trailer. If we would've had more time we would have visited Lake Travis and rode our bikes along the Colorado River.

The RV park we stayed at was gorgeous. The girls made a few friends there and many families seemed to be at least temporarily living there. I thought it might have been an excellent place to spend Halloween but we didn't stay that long (and in the end we had a fantastic Halloween in another Texas city).

One sad thing about Austin, and most of Texas, in general is the desperate need for water. While driving in to Austin we drove through many tiny towns with church bulletin boards saying "pray for water". And, the lack of water in all the creeks, rivers and lakes we passed made it abundantly clear that there's a drought. Before we ever left home I knew Texas was dealing with a brutal drought, I had read articles about all sorts of things being found in dried-out lake and river beds. To see it though was depressing. We were excited to see McKinney Falls based on the pictures we'd seen online but when we got there the falls were a sad sight. Lake Travis was also incredibly low, so low that most (if not all) of the boat launches were closed. I have come to love Texas and if  I was the praying kind I'd definitely pray for water!

Oh, and someone should pray for the evil sticker bush things that grow in ALL of the grass here to die!! I have had to pick out tiny stickers from everyone's shoes at every place we go. No shoe is safe and no grass has been free of these evil little prickly plants! I hate them and they obviously hate me because they keep getting stuck in my children's feet and shoes which leads to them being stuck in my fingers as I try to pull them out of said feet and shoes!!! DEATH TO THE STICKER PLANTS (or whatever the proper name is for such an evil, menacing plant)!!!

Now for the pictures...

Downtown Austin Shenanigans:

McKinney Falls State Park bike ride (these are from the early stages of the ride, pre-exhaustion and near heat stroke!):

Campground Crazies:

A few random pictures around Austin:

A bridge in Austin

Colorado River

Other side of the Colorado River

A hill with a mansion on top and the river below