Party with the Peterson's: Good Bye Austin

Big changes are happening at the Peterson Casa. Eric's job is taking us on a new adventure to Denver! But having two weeks left sure makes you want to check off some things on your Austin bucket list before you run out of time!

:Paddle boarding:Paddle boarding on Towne Lake was a definite must do! We met up the Heinricks and Seldon's for the most beautiful time. With downtown as our back drop and huge gorgeous green trees lining the lake, you couldn't ask for anything better. We saw a snake eating a fish (see section titled creepy critters below for more details), enjoyed perfect Austin weather, and had great company. Of course no Austin activity is complete without food so we stopped by Hula Hut for some Tubular tacos, Seldon's recommendation, Sooo good!There is a thing called the "Freshman 15" here in Austin we have the "Austin 15" and it's true! When you're surrounded by all this amazing food it's hard not to just EAT all the time! Thankfully Eric and I still have working metabolisms! :)

:Creepy Critters:
Summer weather brings all the critter out of the woodworks, and boy does Austin have its fair share of weird ones!
Things we've seen:
-tarantula, crawling across the volleyball court during my private lesson
-lizards of all shapes and sizes
-birds, these are the worst in my book
-frogs, big and little
-snakes, two encounters within 3 days: a huge snake eating a fish right next to us while paddle boarding, and while hiking one swam right next to Eric in a river we were crossing. This lead to 30 minutes of Eric trying to pick them up on a stick, quite entertaining.
-scorpions
-cockroaches, outside, not in our house thank goodness
In the not so creepy category we have:
-turtles
-bunnies
-deer
-roadrunners
-fireflies! This was both mine and Eric's first time seeing fireflies, so cool!
I clearly have walked around my whole life with blinders on or Austin is just its own ecosystem with crazy critters.

:McKinney Falls:

Heinricks took us to McKinney Falls State Park to go hiking. Now to all my Utahans and Idahoans, Austin hiking is not like our hiking.... Austin has no mountains, but it has some pretty awesome areas for "hiking". McKinney Falls wasn't very long but it was really sweet. There are lower and upper falls that we went to and after a big rainstorm these falls can get much bigger then what we saw but they we had a blast. There is a great swimming hole at each one. We hung out at the upper falls and jumped off the rocks. When it's hot and humid nothing feels better then swimming. And the water was perfect temperature. Not freezing snow melt off like Utah, but refreshing cool perfect water!
A good hike and swim sure builds up an appetite. Phil's hamburgers hit the spot! Delicious burgers! But everyone needs dessert after and Lick's ice cream was a new endeavor for us. Lick's is all natural, local products, some gluten & dairy free , deliciousness! I went with the coconut and avocado flavor, weird yes? Umm... Mistaken, it's amazing! What a fabulous, Austin filled day.

:NASA:
Eric has a love for airplanes, space, anything that flies really. So before we left Texas I surprised Eric with a day trip to NASA in Houston. We had a really fun time being nerds at the space center. We stopped at Buc-ee's gas station on the way. This place is the nicest, cleanest, hugest, most awesome gas station on earth! We spent like an hour in there. Of course no trip is complete until Eric gets pulled over, that boy is a cop magnet, thankfully we didn't get a ticket.

Of course no Texas day is complete until you’ve had some food. We went down to the Kema Boardwalk and ate a Bubba Gump’s. The shrimp was so good!

:PICTURES:

We wanted to get some family pictures in Austin before we left and have some good friends that took them for us. We took them with Downtown in the background. We really loved it in Austin and are so sad to be leaving. Denver will be a new adventure for us but Austin and Texas will forever be dear in our hearts.