Yesterday morning I asked John "Don't you need to go to Walgreens or Home Depot over in Drippin' today?" "Not really. Why?" "Well, I've got this audio book from the library that's just
about due, and I'm not making much progress on it. We need to drive somewhere that takes more than five minutes, so I can finish it up." A moment later he was standing by the door, cap on and keys jangling, so I scrambled to get ready and we took off.
He headed straight for Dripping Springs, but instead of turning in at Home Depot, he whizzed right on past and kept goin'. I settled back into my seat with a grin. "What? No questions? No demands to know where I'm taking you?" "Nope. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the adventure!"
At the point where RR12 dead-ended into another road, we spotted a wonderful old filling station/restaurant/bar/bait shop and decided to stop for a soda. Alas, though the neon "Open" sign was lit, the doors were locked and it was dark inside. That's when we noticed the "For Sale" sign in the flower bed, and the slick new station that had gone in across the street. We couldn't help feeling a wee bit sad, as we continued on our way.
After passing signs for "Bee Cave" and "Hamilton Pool", the area beside the road began to drop away and undulate, and I got the feeling that we were nearing water. Sure enough, as we rounded the next corner, I spotted the sign for "Lakeway", but instead of the green hills and valleys we remembered from college, we found a sea of MacMansions, stacked one upon the other. We ended up having lunch at a fun little place called The Iguana Grill, and as we sat there looking out over the lake, we reminisced about skinny-dipping at Hippy Hollow and other adventures from "back in the day."
After lunch, we explored the area a bit more, and discovered that the residents of Lakeway no longer need to drive into Austin, for Austin has come to them. They now have a huge mall and pretty much every chain establishment you could want, including my favorite, Mandola Market. Kinda nice, I guess, since it means we no longer have to fight the traffic up I-35 to get a city fix, but still...
On the way home I realized that we were about to pass the Doctor Pound Pioneer Farmstead in Dripping Springs, and we decided to pull in. It was the perfect antidote for the "march of progress" we'd been witness to all day, and an ideal ending to another lovely day of adventuring with my Squeedunk.
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6 comments:
The day sounds wonderful! And I want to visit that last place! Did you finish your book?
I'm on the last disc of this particular volume now, but ought to be able to finish it on the way over to the library in San Marcos.
By the way, if anyone is looking for a great book series, check out the Elm Creek Quilts series by Jennifer Chiaverini. It takes you through the history of a Swedish/German immigrant family settling in Pennsylvania and struggling to build a simple farmstead like the one above, from their days as a station on the underground railroad and their fight to become the premier thoroughbred breeders in the country, through four wars and the families split and decline, and on to the last surviving descendant's struggle to save and restore the family homestead. Even John has got caught up in the saga!
What a great little outing! I was just thinking about Drippin' a week ago when I caught a segment on KEYE's Texas Country Reporter about Sol'stice. Love looking at that yard art.
Don't know y'alls plans for tonight but be aware that Austin First Night was cancelled months ago due to budget constraints but A.N.Y. (Austin New Year's) is a scaled down version at Aud. Shores.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/holidays/any.htm
Wish "Squeedunk" an early Happy Birthday for me and y'all have a wonderful weekend!
Too bad about First Night! We opted for a quiet dinner for two at Trattoria Lisina (Mandola Winery) last night. Friends are coming into town today to help us celebrate John's birthday. His gift from me is tickets for the four of us to go to a show at the Long Center next weekend - something called Intergalactic Nemesis: a live action graphic novel. Should be right up his alley!
I just registered (free) to access Texas Monthly online and read the blurb for 'The Intergalactic Nemesis.' Couldn't resist sending you the last sentence: "The result is a fantastical production that merges old-school radio dramas with cutting-edge pulp serials and features the only merchandise booth in the galaxy to offer bottled Zygonian slime."
I just **know** Squeedunk wants a bottle of slime as keepsake for his 61st!!
Have a great time---can't wait for the writeup.
Then you'll be sadly disappointed to hear that I got cold feet and cancelled our tickets. When Lex saw that it was based on a graphic novel, she said "Sure hope it's better than those bozos I saw one time at Alamo Drafthouse. OMG, they were terrible!" I started getting kinda nervous when I got an email from the theater last week,saying there were still plenty of good seats left, and offering a prize to the person who forwarded this message to the most people. They were only doing one performance, but they were still desperate to fill seats? Then a few days ago, I got an email from Lex saying "Mom, I hate to tell you this, but it's the same Bozos!" It'll be just my luck if it ends up getting rave reviews. John will never let me forget it!
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