Totality In Austin!

Seven-ish years ago, we trekked from Virginia to South Carolina, so we could be in the path of totality of a solar eclipse.  It turned out to be a pretty epic and memorable experience and I've been daydreaming about the next one for quite a while.  About a year ago, we realized that the "next one" was coming up in 2024 and we picked a location and started making plans.  We reserved our hotel, bought plane tix, purchased our eclipse glasses, and rented a car 9-12 months in advance, so we would be ready to go to Austin to see it and wouldn't get fleeced by last minute pricing.  

Even with all of our prep work though, we  had heard all sorts of nightmare stories about the expected crowds in Texas and how people's rental cars were getting canceled and how traffic would be horrible, plus it was supposed to be super cloudy, so we were pretty nervous and debated driving  instead, so we could switch direction if needed. 

But, in the end, we stuck with our plan and  our only hiccups of the whole trip were getting to Austin.   It snowed the morning we were leaving which delayed our flight out of SLC, which caused us to miss our connection in Vegas.  Glen caught a stand-by shortly after arriving, but Ellie and I were stuck for hours in the Vegas airport until our rescheduled flight that evening.   In case you weren't aware, the Vegas airport is pretty much an armpit of an airport.    It's dark (no natural light), full of casinos, dirty, and so overpriced it should be considered illegal to charge as much as they do.   

These nuts were just one example of the outrageous prices.   The Chex mix was $13.99 in Vegas.  The same size bag in the Austin airport cost $5.99.   In a regular grocery store, it probably would have cost $3.99.    I stubbornly refused to give them my money and in the future will try to avoid scheduling flights that go through Vegas, because it's a dumpity dump dump dump.   

Once we got to Austin, though, we've had no issues.  We hear a lot of people canceled their trips here once they saw the cloudy weather forecast, which meant we got our car rental no problem, the hotel is only half full, and the traffic wasn't bad at all. 

AND BEST OF ALL...

In what can only be described as divine intervention....

the clouds parted right at the moment of totality and we got the full amazingly spectacular experience we'd been hoping for!   

We honestly thought the clouds made for a cool natural filter for the photos and added some depth.   It was everything we'd hoped it would be!  


We also ate lots of good food, including....

Bird Bird Biscuit, which has amazing gluten free biscuits...

Torchy's, which is our favorite taco place of all time...

And Hop Daddy's, which had amazing gluten free buns, the best sweet potato fries around, and a burger I actually enjoyed, instead of just tolerating...

We also went on a couple good walks at Lady Bird Lake (something Cami loved to do when she lived there)...

And we saw some amazing wildflowers along the way, that made me smile...

I would call it a good trip overall, but also exhausting.   We left for Texas already pretty tired after hosting the boys  for a few days.    We had hoped that our time in Texas would be more restful, but between our very long day getting here, our too-small beds, and an extremely early morning to fly back home, we got home even more exhausted than when we left.  Coming home to a disaster area of a house did not help matters either. 

Exhaustion aside, we are already scheming a way for us to see another total eclipse.  The next one in the USA isn't for another 21 years, so we're thinking maybe Spain or Australia.... 😏

I guess you can call us official umbraphiles now.   😏

Lucie Love in Austin

 When Cami asked if I could come help with Lucie for a week in October; I jumped at the chance!  It's hard living far away from your only grandbaby and, though I still have a kid at home to consider, you will never have to twist my arm too hard to come hang out with her. Thankfully I was able to make arrangements for getting Ellie to and from school while I was gone and I went with open arms ready to snuggle my sweet Lucie May for a week! 

Inexplicably, though,  I  got the crazy urge to sew Lucie a dress before my trip.   Lest you forget this post from back in 2010, I am a terrible seamstress, but there's something about baby girls that occasionally gives me the urge to try my hand at it again.   This time around wasn't any better than my sewing escapades of decades ago, but after a lot of unpicked seams, an extra seam in the back where there wasn't supposed to be one, and some emergency help from a neighbor to make the buttonholes, I finally had a finished product worthy of presenting to the cutest little baby in the universe.  

And it's a good thing she's so stinking cute, because it made all imperfections totally unnoticeable.  

Cami had a week full of classes to attend and homework to do, so we didn't do any sight-seeing or adventures.  

 My days were filled with long walks with Lucie...

playing on the floor and reading books with her....

 

 and soaking up as many snuggles as I could get.  

 Oh, and there was a trip to Costco which led her to discover the joy of Costco free samples...

  She was teething during the second part of the week, so she was a little more  irritable...

But then Ellie came to join us on Thursday evening and we made it a full-out girls' weekend...

We made treats and had a Hocus Pocus marathon...

We went on a long walk around Lady Bird Lake on Saturday...

And after eating at home all week, we got some treats at some of our favorite Austin foodspots (Including Bird Bird Biscuit, which makes the BEST gluten free biscuits)...

WE tried OMG Squee, a gluten free ice cream shop, which was featured on the television show, Queer Eye....

WE also found a swing and had a little Facetime chat with our favorite missionary...

We went to church on Sunday and had the very weird experience of being asked by the Bishop if we were Hepworths (my Mom's maiden name).   I was very confused and assumed the Bishop must have been some long-lost cousin, but, in actuality, there were Hepworths in the ward and he thought we were related to them.  I contacted the Austin based Hepworths later and found out that we have the same great-great grandfather, but descended from different wives. 

I loved my time there in Austin and can't wait to head back for Cami's graduation in a few weeks.  After that, Cami, Lucie, and Garrett will be reunited, and our visits will be to Birmingham, Alabama. 

 

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being a grandma?