Keep Austin Weird, Visit Often

My second first impression of Austin is not quite that it's weird, but that it's awesomely normal and perhaps all other cities are weird. After reconnecting with cousin Kim, who I hadn't seen in at least 5 years, she took me all around the city and I was surprised to find that wide-bodies didn't exist! On a blazing hot Texas Saturday the 10 mile loop around the lake in Austin was runner after runner after runner. The lake was dotted with kayaks, canoes, paddleboards and legs dangling from the shady understructure of bridges. We dropped in at Torchy's Tacos, a locally famous food truck, scarfed down some delicious homemade tacos and washed it down with an ice cold cake shake from Holy Cacao! NOM. It was red velvet cake :) Next up we headed to the lake to kayak! Two hours and mucho sun later we decided to check out the spring fed pool which stretches as far as the eye can see and has relaxed sun bathers lining both hills surrounding it. What a great time! Kim and I went back to her lovely new home to meet up with her husband Geoff and head out to her friend's apartment in the city to celebrate her friends recent engagement. Overall a great weekend! I can't wait to go back and visit!

In other news, BOLC is going well. It's long hours but pretty interesting material. This past week we learned a general overview of our roles and responsibilities in planning medical assistance overseas for soldiers. I'm beginning to realize that a job with the Army isn't a clock in, clock out job, it's pretty much a 24/7 deal. I'm enjoying it, but I'm definitely at the beginning of a vertical learning curve. ;)

Kayak Rental Place

My favorite part of Texas is the clouds and the sky. They are HUGE!

Cousin Kim with the Austin Skyline in the background!

Catching up and having fun

The spring fed pool, so much fun!

Most likely those are all TU students

Cousins!

You wouldn't expect to see grass this green in Texas... however this was seconds before a mini sandstorm...

Torchy's Tacos!

You can see the capitol building in the center (it's pinkish)

Cool motif... screams I'm a sophisticated skater punk

Seared Ahi-Tuna corn tortilla taco

I love their names!