Texas-sized Fun Trip

Today we took a long-anticipated road trip across Texas, and had a load of fun finding weird roadside attractions!

The first might have been my favorite only because I thought the town was so cute.  Here are some pictures of downtown Smithville, Texas:

And here is Smithville's claim to fame: a monument to the same scale as the largest gingerbread cookie ever made.  Said cookie was made in this town (otherwise, this might be Austin-weird!).

The next attraction we visited was a Cinderella pumpkin carriage, sitting outside a... junk car lot?  Poor princessmobile.  Death shows no favoritism...

This one completely creeps me out!  A golden chariot and horses about to wage war on me.

And "Mount Rush Hour", so nicknamed because it sits alongside a Houston highway.  What's odd about it is that it includes famous American heroes alongside famous Texan heroes :)

barely caught this one!

The Houston skyline was pretty neat.  Herein lies the end of the fun roadside nonsense.

this is how texans do highways.

Because Smokey wasn't too keen on car-riding, she snuggled with me most of the time.

We enjoyed lovely Texas landscapes and scenery all the way...

...to Galveston!  Galveston was around three and a half or four hours away from Austin, and is an island in the Gulf of Mexico off the south-east coast of Houston.  It's a quaint little place!  There was a really neat historic district called "Strand" where we walked and ate.

love.

this is the "Moody Mansion"

We had lunch at a mediterranean cafe, and Smokey joined like a sweet little lady.  She even let a very young boy run up and touch her on the nose-- without reacting!  What a good girl!  We might not have noticed even if she freaked because the food was sooo yummy.

gyros... mmmmmm

And the entire reason for the trip: to tour my home for six upcoming weeks.  It's not a "home" per se, but it's the hospital and unit where I will be catching babies this spring.  I really, really enjoyed the midwife with whom I spoke and the staff that I met, and I think it's going to be a great fit!

Fingers crossed for an equally good fit wherever I rent a room!

Christmas Festivities

We've had a lovely Christmas celebration at our little place on the lake!

It started with the preparations.  We finished our shopping the weekend before Christmas (eek! cutting it close!) and stuffed the space under the tree with our goodies-- as well as goodies sent from our loving family members out of state.  We missed you guys :(

Then, on the 23rd, we bought all of our groceries for our "feast."  Fearful of venturing out onto the crazy streets and parking lots, we chose to enjoy the 70-degree weather and biked to Whole Foods.  It was a fun and successful trip.

On Christmas Eve, we ....

...made gingerbread cookies!  Dogs!  And hearts!  And angels!  Yay!  This is not the first time we have made gingerbread cookies, but it is the first time we've done it for Christmas Eve-- and by far the best they have EVER tasted.  They were delicious!!!  We didn't even add the vanilla frosting they came with because we liked them so much without.

Then after a lovely concert of carols, we came home and prepared our "feast"!  We had: Spanish chorizo (which I haven't had in this form since Spain!), Spanish manchego cheese, Spanish membrillo (a quince jam that tastes delicious on the manchego), peppered goat cheese, French baguettes, and Chilean Cabernet wine.  MMMMM...

With full bellies, new pajamas, and a second or third glass of vino in hand, we sat down to watch a Christmas classic-- It's a Wonderful Life.  Even Smokey donned her pajamas and joined the party.

And I still cried at the end.  It IS a wonderful life.

Life on the Lake: A Recap

I wanted to do a recap of our amazing experience on the lake so far.  Just so you can picture exactly where we are, here's a screenshot of our place in relation to downtown, the lake, major roads, etc.  Perhaps this will help you understand how close we really are to everything.

The dot is our apartment complex (though we're at the tip nearest the lake, not exactly where the dot is), and you can see the high-rises across the lake.  The bridge on the map is Congress Street, under which the largest urban colony of bats lives that fly out at once every summer evening (GORGEOUS!), and which runs straight into the Capitol building and straight down through one of the hottest districts in town-- SoCo.

This is the view in our living room.  Smokey sure enjoys watching dogs, people, and all sorts of wildlife pass by!

The front windows look out onto the lake.

The sliding glass door opens to the pool!

And this is the view right outside our apartment, from the picnic table that's between the pool and the lake.

Our apartment is in the upper right hand of the above photo.  

Our green and red kayaks are stacked beside our porch.  See them?

We've spied some pretty neat wildlife here: turtles, swans, great blue herons, many ducks, some lizards, cockroaches, spiders...

Can you identify the critters in the photos directly above and below?

We've also witnessed some amazing sunrises and moonrises, beginning on our very first day here.

And we've had some excellent family walks on the trail that leads from our apartment complex and travels all along the lake, with excellent skyline views!

We are very, very happy with our decision to live in a slightly more expensive, but infinitely more beautiful apartment.  We love the sunshine, lake views, trail access, ability to walk or bike (or kayak!) just about anywhere, and all of the together time that walking, biking, and kayaking has afforded us.  It is amazing how much more time you spend together when your commutes are short and you have little need for a car apart from work.  The beauty surrounding us has reminded us to "stop and smell the roses," and our daily walks have given us many good conversations.  We don't plan to be in this apartment forever, but we are grateful for every day we have here and we feel so blessed to have this opportunity.