Returned from Texas with a New Appreciation....

Just returned from Texas with a new appreciation...for humidity! Holy Mackerel!!! We landed in Austin early Thursday afternoon. The temperature hovered near 100 until about 3pm and then Satan decided to open his bathroom window while taking a shower, 102F & 90% humidity. After spending thirty-five years in the sweat soups of Texas and Florida one would think I would be accustomed to this insanity. I'm not; I almost dissolved.

It was the first Thursday of the month so, we decided to checkout the First Thursday Markets on South Congress. It was so damn miserable outside that the market vendors were closing up shop around 5:30. No one wanted to play. Next, we went indoor and dug into some Guero's tacos. Conditioned air is a good thing. Guero's Taco Bar lived up to the hype and delivered an excellent afternoon diversion. After a house margarita and a few chicken especial tacos we opted to forego the ubiquitous bats under the South Congress Bridge for the climate controlled environs of a city driving tour. That ended Thursday.

On Friday, the rains came. An afternoon deluge left us pondering our options in a Target parking lot while a two inch flow of water raced across the parking lot toward drains unseen for what seemed an hour. We decided to head for the safety of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. On the on ramp to the highway water flooded into the rental car from under the floorboard. Seriously, it was raining hard. The night ended with a forgetable visit to the Pappasito's cantina.

Saturday started with a very pleasant brunch at Kerbey Lane Cafe. I'm pretty sure they put a little vanilla in their pancake batter. Kinda addictive, don't you think? After a few marvelous hours in the Central Market, we crept along the University of Texas campus to Scholtz Garten. There we drank cervezas and people watched at the oldest business establishment in Texas before and evening of grandiose college football at the stadium. What an amazing day!! On Sunday, we overslept our checkout time and made it to the airport in time for a Salt Lick BBQ sandwich before boarding a Frontier flight for cooler Las Vegas. That just sounds ridiculous, cooler Las Vegas.

Al, the Travel Valet
Hook'em
Pick of the Day(55-13-1)...Cubs