 |
We were eager to see Ron and Cindy's new home. It's beautiful and they live on top of one of the hills that surround the city of Austin. They moved into their home last summer. Their two daughters are both in college and live away from home so it's just Ron, Cindy and their 4 big dogs and 3 cats living there. The dogs love the big back yard
to run and play. They also love the "doggie door" so they can come inside when it gets too hot to stay outside. In the photo here, you can Ron and Cindy taking Saki, Max, Lily, and Penny for a walk in the neighborhood.
Early in the morning you can see white tail deer roaming the neighborhood looking for handouts. They don't run away when you walk outdoors. Ron is careful to plant flowers that deer won't eat. We sat outside and had a cup of coffee and watched the deer and they watched us!
We toured the Lady Bird Wildlife Center on Saturday morning. So many flowers were blooming. The Center is located on one of the hilltops overlooking the city.
After visiting the wildflower center, we drove down hill to Lake Austin to meet granddaughter Liz and her friend Chad. Ally was home from college and with us on the trip. We had good Mexican food at a place on the water called "Hula Hut". It's a popular place for boats to pull in for lunch. Jim and I look around and decided we were the only people there over 50.We had a full day and after watching their big screen TV for awhile, we went to bed early.
Sunday we went on another tour. This time to the LBJ Library. It's located near the Univ. of TX and is a huge museum. We enjoyed seeing the things we remembered from when LBJ was President of the US. Ally grew up in Austin and had never been to the LBJ Library. She really enjoyed the exhibits. We got home mid afternoon and Ron grill
ed ribs for us. After dinner we decided to go to Target to get a few items. When you live on a hill in Austin, you don't just run down to the corner drug store or gas station. It's a major trip to go to a store, or at least it felt that way to us. The narrow winding roads up to the top of the hill would take a little getting used to for me!Cindy is a CPA and her office is moving to a new office building not far from where they live so she won't have to leave Glen Lake area to go to work. She had no idea the firm was going to be sold and moving when they bought their house last summer. It will be very convenient for her. Ron had some major surgery on his nose last fall to have a growth removed and decided to leave his job for awhile to recover and then look for something later. He is enjoying staying at home and getting the new house organized and takes care of the animals.
We left Austin around noon on Monday and headed back toward Ala. Stopped overnight in Lafayette, LA, in Cajun country. The next day we traveled
through LA and MS, arriving at Mobile around 1 pm. Neither of us had ever been to Bellingrath Gardens and we planned to do that on Tuesday afternoon. The scenic boat cruise had been canceled so we spent the afternoon just walking about in the gardens. Roses were in full bloom. The home is located on the bank of the Fowl River which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. It's like walking in a tropical paradise with so many big trees and tropical plants growing.
We left Bellingrath and drove by Bayou La Batre, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina which destroyed so many of the big shrimp boats. Several were being repaired in the big boat building places along the bayou.
We left Mobile late in the afternoon and drove east through Pensacola, north to Crestview, FL and stopped to eat (rather late) at a great seafood place in Florala, AL.
We arrived back in Elba late Tuesday night, tired but happy for having spent time with our son and family. We just don't get to see them as much as we would like. We hope to return for Lizzie's graduation from Univ. of Texas in December. She is getting a degree in Marine Biology.
Footnote: We had tons of laundry to do on Wednesday and got started early. The first thing that happened was the Maytag washer would not spin out the last rinse water. I removed the clothes and wrung out the water by hand. Then I placed a few in the dryer, and the tub wouldn't turn. Both the washer and dryer "died" while we were away from home. We managed to keep the dryer and just buy a new belt for it. Had to buy a new washing machine as the repairman said it was simply worn out from being used once or twice every day for the 17 years we owned it. So you know where our "Stimulus" check went - to buy a new washing machine. Thank you Obama. We went right out and spent our money as you told us to do to help the economy.
