So we had a lovely weekend visiting our friends in Austin. We’ve been plotting with Neil for weeks to surprise Kate for her birthday (Happy Birthday Dearest!) and pulled it off perfectly. We got there on Friday afternoon, before Kate got home from school. We hid in the guest bedroom and Neil sent her in when she got home. There was much leaping and squealing.
We had a great dinner that night (brisket flautas - num!) and then just hung out at their place, a cute, cozy little duplex.
The next day we had a kick ass breakfast then walked along Congress Ave., poking into shops. Neil bought himself a cowboy hat and Hawk bought a sweet pair of shit-kicker boots at Allen’s Boots. I actually considered buying a pair of boots myself, but couldn’t justify $300 on something that, in L.A., would really just be worn for the sake of irony.
That night, their new friends came over for a party. Most of them are college age (since Kate is back in school, most of the people she meets are much younger) and we succeeded in getting them shitty drunk. We’re such good role models!
Sunday was spent recovering from Saturday night. We were able to venture out in the late afternoon to head back to Allen’s so Kate and I could buy some sweeet straw cowboy hats. I can deal with $50 irony much better than $300 irony. Plus, I make that shit look good. Then we went to this little outdooor beer garden and listened to a cajun bluegrass band. It was a gorgeous day, the sun drifting through the oak trees, and the music was awesome. There were some cute little kids bopping around to the zydeco, trying to do a little baby two-step.
Then! At sunset, we went on a boat cruise of Town Lake (actually a river) to see the largest urban colony of bats in the world, which, every year, takes up residence under the Congress Ave. Bridge. There’s 1.5 million bats that live under that bridge. It was awesome. When the boat goes under the bridge, you can hear squeaking. Lots and lots of squeaking. Then, a few bats come fluttering out here and there. And then they start streaming out by. the. thousands. It’s quite a sight. They all follow the same flight pattern, and you can see them like a trail of smoke down the river, for miles and miles. Our guide told us that the group is so big when it takes flight that it shows up on Doppler radars.
We came home this morning and are totally exhausted, but so happy that we got to see our friends, who showed us such a good time. Must be that Texan hospitality worn off on them 
