Wow, the weather has not been kind to us since we left Florida. We had a day and a half in Austin, and the weather has been freezing cold, and very dreary. I don’t think it even got up to 40 degrees today. We have heard what an outdoorsy kind of city it is, but it was too cold to do anything much. We even turned on the propane heat.
Yesterday we went to REI and got some warm gloves/mittens for all of us. There was also a neat, independent book store, Book People, next door. I love the independent stores, I’ve never seen a kid’s book about sperm prominently displayed in the big chain stores. I almost bought it, but I really don’t want to answer the questions it would generate. I couldn’t cough up $140 for a kid’s coat, $250 for a man’s coat at REI, so off to walmart we went. I hate that store, but every now and then its useful.
Today we went up to Hutto, about half an hour away, to see the gaudy hippos. Apparently, hippos are the town theme, because back in the early 1900’s, a train full of circus animals came through town, a hippo got loose, and they had quite a time recapturing it. A few years ago the mayor bought about a hundred hippo statues, and they are all around town. There will be many more photos of them on Flickr in a couple of months. It was a pretty cold day but we wandered around anyway.
On the way home we spotted this restaurant. Its a lumberjack version of Hooters, with much better food. It is a chain, but again, not one we’ve ever seen before. Sean was very happy, and Caitlin decided she doesn’t want to get her belly button pierced.
Tomorrow we start the long drive across Texas.
By: Deana on December 17, 2008 
By: Sandra on December 29, 2008