Quick escape to ATX.

With Katie away at church camp, Ryan and I were itching to get out of town. (I use that phrase a lot, but it's true! I suffer from chronic wanderlust, and a few days without school/work/church obligations leave me hankerin' to get out of Dodge.)

After making the requisite Czech Stop stop, we drove into Round Rock to get some Torchy's Tacos for lunch with my niece. Then we enjoyed said tacos with her and her kiddos, a.k.a. the world's cutest grandnieces and grandnephew.

After lunch we got to play a while. The photos are mostly of Baby D and his sister Addie because the older girls were busy-busy-busy (and blurry in pix)!

He likes his new shirt.

From there we drove to our hotel, checked in and swam for a while. Once we were freshened up, we frequented our latest must-see Austin business: Pinballz.

Ryan's favorite pin

Ryan beat me a MarioKart
(no surprise!)

I did manage to beat him at Centipede, though.
(No school like old school.)

Pinballz is a great arcade, and it was nice to get to play without the huge crowds we saw last time we were there for a retro gaming event. After going through all those tokens, it was time for grub!

Of course, we went to Chuy's. Duh.

We awoke to a nice rain the next morning, which threatened our plans for the day.

Breakfast o' champs: cinnamon roll pancakes

But by the time we finished our Kerbey Lane breakfast, the clouds had parted. We were on our way to Barton Springs!

Boy, is that water cold! It's so refreshing! Unlike our last time here, we had goggles so we could see all the fish swimming with us. Now THAT was eye-opening. We saw a bunch, some of them fairly large. A little icky, yes, but SO COOL.

From Zilker we went uptown to shop (Co-op and Half Price Books, predictably) before heading north on 35. The donut fan got his Round Rock Donuts, I got my Dairy Queen, and before too long, we were home, just in time for Brett and I to go out for our 19th wedding anniversary.

Great company, great town, great trip, great ending. Can't beat it!

Posted July 6, 2013