mistressofmuses | Off to Austin!

I'm still somewhat in awe that my younger sibling works for a company that pays for the entire company to go out of state for a weekend for a holiday party! And even more so that they pay for their staff and a plus one for each of them. And I'm Taylor's +1. :D

I know Taylor was initially pretty shocked, too... they described it as "Well, someone asked if I had any ideas for where we should go for our holiday party... so I was thinking of the sort of stuff we've done at previous jobs. Dave and Busters? Bowling? And then the next time someone mentioned it, they told me they'd narrowed it down to either Vegas or Austin."

Taylor isn't the absolute best at sharing information, haha, apparently our mom didn't even know about the trip until the tickets had already been bought, and the first I heard about anything relating to an itinerary for once we're there came yesterday in an off-hand comment, so I'm sort of going in blind. Got everything packed in a single carry-on, we leave this afternoon and return on Monday night.

I've never been to Austin! I've driven through El Paso a couple of times on my way from one part of New Mexico to another, but never really been to Texas. I'm excited to go, and everyone I've mentioned the trip to has raved about how great Austin is. I really hope there's a chance for me to meet up with

scarlipswolfwife at some point. As she pointed out, we've been friends online for over a decade, so if we had a chance to actually MEET that would be pretty rad! :D

For the time being, I'm sitting in a Starbucks a couple blocks from Taylor's office, since they had to still do a half-day of work before we head to the airport. Maybe I'll even manage to get a couple hours of writing in before 12:30 when we're hoping to leave.

I am also very excited that I won't be at work for another whole week! I got to use PTO for today-Monday, and Tuesday/Wednesday are my usual days off, so I worked yesterday and won't be back in until next Thursday! And yesterday our entire online system went down and still wasn't fixed by the time I left, so I am so glad that isn't my problem for the next week!

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Be utterly safe in traveling! Austin is pretty awesome. If it was spring (aka warmer) and we definitely could meet up, I'd suggest going to Barton Creek Park because it's huge and gorgeous and I haven't even been in YEARS (like decades). But a lot of it is closed right now from all the rain we've had in the last week. There are some cool new age/pagan/rock shops. Half Price bookstores. Central Market (which is like Whole Foods but local run because it's owned by HEB, therefore, the big Texas grocery chain that's been doing a lot of awesome stuff for a while), there is a Whole Foods. Just neat things to see and do. It's a little cold, I think, to watch the bats fly out from under Congress Street Bridge, which is something I think you'd love.

https://youtu.be/YwWGvf38TVM

So maybe you can make a trip back someday. I still haven't seen it because it's an evening thing, and we don't usually go to Austin in thee evening.

Have a great time! Austin sounds awesome :)

I would love to come back when it's warmer! It seemed to stay pretty warm yesterday and yesterday evening, but maybe not "stand around for a while outside late" warm. But... bats!! I think you're right that that is something I'd love.

It does sort of sound like Sunday is far less planned out than today will be. Would any time on Sunday work for you to try and find somewhere to meet up? I know you said lunch time is a no-go, but I could probably do earlier or later.

Thank you! It's been fun so far, though we got in late yesterday evening. More to do today!

Kass and I have talked about going to Austin for a whole weekend (if we could ever find a hotel for a decent cost) so that we could go out and watch (and photo/video) the bats when they come out from under the bridge. They're protected there. There's actually a coffee roasted in Austin (you can get it at Central Market) that all the proceeds go toward the bat conservation in Austin.

Actually, as it turns out, we're free on Sunday. My sister's still going to lunch with our brother and SIL, but we don't have to go, so we're totally free for lunch, too. We can meet up with you. Just have to decide where we want to meet and eat. :D

Awesome! :DDD Then we should definitely be able to find some time to meet up! We're doing a group thing this afternoon, and I'll make sure there isn't anything we're supposed to be doing tomorrow, but as far as I know, we're pretty free to do whatever. (I want to make sure my sibling gets their "bonding time with coworkers at new-ish job" in, but we should have plenty of free time.)

We're somewhere around Congress and 6th, though I don't know much of how to orient from that. Close to the river, which we walked along this morning. Surprised how green things are after Colorado, haha. Also herons. :)

Okay! I think we can find you pretty easily. We usually come up Lamar anyway (less crazy than 35). If you'd like, Kass and I could always pick you up so your sister can keep socializing with her work folks. What kind of food are you interested/not interested in? If we could find one close by there, we'd make you try Whataburger -- a Texas institution. But there isn't one close. There is, however, a place called P.Terry, which is an Austin burger chain that's pretty good. Or there are many other places to choose from that are finance friendly. :)

Finance-friendly is a good plan! That sounds good, if that works for you. (We just ate and at the moment I feel like I may never eat again, but that will change by tomorrow, haha).

I'll ask Taylor what their preference is. Do you have a target time in mind?

P. Terry has chicken sandwiches, too, and some other things. You should be able to google their menu. Hells, like anywhere lately, you can google menus all over. If you wanted to go a ways north on Lamar, there's a place across from Central Market called Taco Shack that's pretty good. I'm going to assume that you've gotten to eat some good Mexican food while you've been here. :D

Kass and I can shoot for any time. Be in Austin from 10am up. Would y'all rather eat lunch around 11 or noon?

Actually, we haven't managed Mexican food yet, so it's on the list for today or tomorrow! If Taco Shack is a good spot, I'm down for that!

Taylor isn't up yet (and was going to base whether they were coming on if/how hungover they are) so maybe plan on the later side?

Off to Austin!

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