Austin Part 2

I just realized I posted the important post from the Austin trip, about Janine, the Neuro Center, the doctors and the testing, but never posted about the fun part. Even though the trip was not supposed to be a fun trip we had a great time.

We didn't leave Am*rillo until 11:00 a.m. as J*nine had a doctor's appointment here before we left. Once she was home, we were off on our adventure. I had consulted with several people and Internet map sites to see what was the best way to go from here to there. Seems everyone had their own opinion of what was the best route, so I just decided to program the address of the hotel into the navigation system in my car and go with that. At least Lola (that's what Robin Williams called his navigation voice and since mine is a female voice that's what I call her) could give me turn by turn instructions. I must say she scared me and J*nine quite frequently as we would be all involved in conversation or singing along to the radio when she would BOOM over the sound system "TURN LEFT IN HALF A MILE." We would jump and then laugh that she scared us again. You'd think we would get used to it, but never really did. We stopped for lunch in Lubb*ck. The first place we stopped, as we entered the doorway, a very unpleasant smell almost knocked us down. Ever since I got severe food poisoning about ten years ago I'm very picky about where and what I eat. If it looks funny, smells funny or anywhere in between I always pass. J*nine was trying to be polite and not say anything, but I said, "Come on. Let's go. I am NOT eating here." When we went back to the car J*nine agreed she didn't want to eat there either. We drove on down the road and found a Subway, so I pulled in. It seemed to be relatively new and was spotlessly clean. After lunch we were back on the road heading for Abilene. If you've never driven that road somewhere along there is a huge wind turbine farm. For as far as you can see are wind turbines. They were all in motion. Not too fast but definitely spinning. J*nine and I commented on how we wished just one or two of them were ours. We took some photos out the car window, but then I pulled off the road for a few quick shots.

We got to Abilene about 4:00 and decided to stop and stretch, use the facilities and get a drink. A Chick-fil-A just happened to be right on our route. We didn't stop for long. Once again we were back on the road.  We didn't stop again until we got to our hotel. Lola led us straight to it and I was thankful as it was dark and the roads were winding and hilly. We checked in and took our stuff up to the room and decided to got get something to eat. We drove up a little ways to a Chili's and had a great evening. We even had a pomegranate margarita to celebrate. The food was delicious and much enjoyed. By this time we were pretty tired and decided to call it a night.

KD and I love to stay at Hampton Inns and I had found one, that according to Mapquest didn't seem to be too far from the Neuro-Center. It was close to Lake Travis and in a very upscale part of A*stin. The hotel was a little over a year old and was beautiful. I have to say it was the nicest Hampton I have ever stayed in.

It was very modern and classic. My favorite style of decor.

J*nine's appointment was at 9:00 so we had planned to leave the hotel by 8:30 to allow driving time. I had tried to arrange it so we wouldn't have to deal with any major interstates and morning rush hour traffic. Unfortunately I turned the wrong way out of the hotel parking lot and we wasted about ten minutes before we realized we were going the wrong way and turned around. Then there was a bottle-neck and construction. I was starting to panic as time was ticking and we had no idea how much further we had to go. Next we hit some moderate traffic and I was really trying to keep my head together. The whole time I was praying, "God just get us there and show us some favor." We pulled up to the door of the Center at 8:59! I told J*nine, "Go in and I'll bring all your stuff." We only had to wait a little while before they called her back for her testing. Go here to read about that. We were there until 1:30. We decided to go back to the hotel to try to find somewhere to eat for lunch. We tried all kind of searchs on the Internet but were having no luck so I said, "Why don't we try somewhere the hotel recommends." We decided on The Iguana Cafe. We struck out once again. We knew it was by Lake Travis, but it seemed like we drove forever. I had just about decided to give up and go somewhere else when we found it. The fajitas were not that good, but the salsa and chips were amazing, and of course we had dessert. Janine had apple crisp and I had flan. They were wonderful, but the view was the best.

On the drive up the hill to the restaurant J*nine had spotted a scrap book store and asked if we could stop. We did and had a great time. It was a huge store. J*nine was a little more excited than I was since I don't really scrap book but I still managed to spend about $50. Those places are evil. They always manage to get your money somehow.It was about 5:00 p.m. by this time and we started to head downtown to the Capital, but decided since it would be dark soon, the traffic would be really heavy and we had no idea where we were going we opted to stay in the area of our hotel. Earlier on the way to the clinic I had noticed a sign that said "Hill Country Galleria." I know what Galleria means . . . shopping mall. Well, apparently this was a new concept and was not a mall per say, but was like an old fashioned main street, except the stores were Banana Republic, Claire's, Chico's Black and White, Whole Food Market and the likes.  

It was the coolest thing. We went into a few shops and then I noticed there was a movie theatre. I suggested we just make it a girls night and go to a chick flick. We went to see Life As We Knew It. I loved it but was surprised at how much crying I did. The plot of the movie is about two single friends of a married couple that become guardians of the couples small child. I definitely recommend it. After the movie we decided to find somewhere to eat. We ended up choosing Mimi's. I had never heard of it, but they said it was a chain. We both had corn chowder. It wasn't that good, but we had pumpkin spice latte and of course dessert and that was great. Then to top it off, the waitress said since it was our first time we were entitled to four muffins. We decided on blueberry and pumpkin spice. They were huge. We had the blueberry muffins for breakfast the next morning. We had already decided to come back home through Dublin so I could get my fix.

As we were leaving Austin, we realized how beautiful the countryside was. Remember it was black night when we arrived. We stopped and took a few photos of the Hill Country. That's Lake Travis in the far background.

Lola was leading the way and we were off again. I knew Dublin was close to Comanche as D* has been by there to get Dr. Peppers before. I kept seeing road signs that said "Comanche" but Lola never directed me to take them. We finally pulled up the the Dr. Pepper bottling plant and museum at about 1:30. We didn't know there was a soda fountain inside, but we were thankful and the lunch was quite pleasant. We decided we wanted to take the tour of the bottling plant and museum. I loved it and it was one of my favorite things we did. If you are ever in that area of Texas make a point to stop by. I found it to be very interesting as well.

J*nine opening a nice cold Dublin Dr. Pepper! They were perfect!

 This was my favorite machine. It was the capper. See them all in the top hopper and then they slid down the chute to be pressed on the Dr.Peppers.

After capping they head into this part of the machine that is a large spindle. It turns them three times to mix the Dr. Pepper syrup with the carbonated water. They determined that three rotations was the perfect amount for the perfect mix. The tour said that in the early days it was a mans job to stand on the line and hand turn each bottle three times before sending it on down the line to the cases.

I asked him how often the bottle Dr. Peppers and he said, "Once a month." I told him I want to come help. I really didn't think he would take my offer serious, but he said, "You probably could. We usually round up citizens of Dublin to come help us on bottling days." I think that would be awesome. Too bad I live about seven hours away. After the tour we loaded up the car with our Dr. Pepper goodies (I bought four cases) and hit the road for Am*rillo. We stopped for dinner in Wichita Falls and then made a pit stop in Childress. We pulled into Am*rillo at 10:30. After I dropped J*nine off and got home it was 11:00. Exactly twelve hours since our journey began. It was a great trip and not one thing went wrong. God definitely blessed our journey and I can't wait to go again. Maybe you can come with us next time.