I know it's way too early to call favorites on this little road trip of ours, but I may or may not be in love with Texas. Jeff continues to remind me that what I really love is Texas in the Spring time. I'm sure he has a valid point in reminding me that the heat here in the summer would make it way less attractive, but WOW, this place is some kind of special!
From the blue bonnets blooming to the cactuses and cedars, this terrain is really stunning. We are in the hill country, so as we're driving we are taking in some gorgeous vistas. It has exceeded our expectations which were just that it would be flatland. We weren't at all expecting such captivating sightseeing. We have primarily avoided interstates though as we made our way into Austin and now on our way out, so maybe that has something to do with it.
We spent the week about a half hour south of Austin, in San Marcos, Texas. The home of Texas State University, it is a cute little college town that is now a suburb of Austin. Austin was on my bucket list and fortunately we had a couple of customers to see there, so we took the week to knock out a bunch of work and to eat all the breakfast tacos and brisket we could manage.
On Thursday night, we went to Stubbs Barbecue (you've probably seen the sauce in the grocery store) to see Ben Rector. I've seen him a couple of times before, but Jeff hadn't, so it worked out perfectly to get to see one of our favorite artists in a really cool little venue right in the heart of Austin.
The campground that we stayed in had experienced major flooding from the San Marcos River, not once, not twice but THREE TIMES in 2015. Fortunately, they have made quite a comeback and are fully operational now, but it was really interesting to see how the flood had impacted the river beds. Speaking of the river, each river and creek that we have seen appears to flow pure sea glass. The color of the water is spectacularly clear with the river bed being a gray clay and a far cry from the red clay river beds I'm used to in GA/NC or the brown murky waters that run through our area in Florida.
My friend Jesse, from Vero, was in Austin doing some sightseeing over the long weekend, so I got to meet up with her and her friend Mallory on Saturday morning for breakfast. After a couple of months on the road it was a treat to see "one of my people".
While we didn't really do proper "sight seeing" in AustinI do feel like we got a sense of it's culture and vibe, which I thoroughly dug. Jeff seemed less impressed but that probably had something to do with one of his least favorite words. . . traffic.
We are now making our way back up to north Texas. We have meetings in Vernon, Amarillo, Lubbock and Albuquerque this week, so it will be a big week mixed with traveling, working and meeting customers. Next weekend we'll start making our way to Durango, TX where we will spend a week, catching our breathe from this upcoming week, visiting with our friend Sue Croom, and meeting with customers as well. I suspect it will be my next favorite!
Happy Easter! We are missing being with our people today!