#vanlife; Texas pt. 2

{texas cont'd}

After two weeks in Mission, I headed to Houston to spend 'a couple' weeks with Dustin & Laura, and their housemate Alex.  I went with the intention of only staying a couple of weeks and allowing my bank account to recuperate a little from the expense of the power system installation, but I loved it so much I ended up staying for 5 weeks!  Thankfully they were happy to have me, and we had a lot of fun together..

Laura & I squeezing in as many girls-days as possible!

My first weekend in Houston, we headed down to Galveston for a beach day!  We met a few others at the beach and had a fun day reading & playing frisbee, and had a delicious picnic lunch.  Unfortunately mother nature didn't get the memo and it was quite windy, but we went home in varying shades of red regardless and were glad for the fresh air!

Galveston Beach

My second weekend in Houston was a long weekend, so I headed off to Austin to explore there.  It was a gorgeous 3-hour wildflower-lined scenic drive up to Austin, where I parked at the Capitol and started with a tour.  Texas has quite a fascinating history of changing leadership and conflict, and the Capitol building is quite an impressive building which tells that story (oh, and political stuff happens there too.. sometimes.. only 5 months every 2 years).  After my history lesson, I went walking through the downtown, up and down and back and forth along the streets until my legs were thoroughly worn out.  There was lots to explore, and I love getting the lay of the land with a long walk!  I finished off the day with dinner at a Thai food truck, which was especially delicious.  That night I had lots of company camping out in the Walmart parking lot with me.

Wildflowers

Texas State Capitol

ATX at the Whole Foods Headquarters

The next day I decided to try the bicycle share program and use some different muscles, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked!  I could use the bike for the day with unlimited 60-minute rides, and exchange the bike as often as I pleased.  I biked through downtown, along the river, and over to Barton Springs outdoor pool.  The pool is quite large and was a nice refreshing place to be on a sunny day.  The water was quite pleasant for swimming, so I did a few lengths and relaxed pool-side for a few hours.  When I carried on, I headed towards the SoCo district (South Congress), stopping off at at the Greetings from Austin mural & a donut food truck.  I got the 'Son of a Peach' donut, which was so fresh it was still warm & topped with cream cheese icing, cake crumbs, and spiced peaches - mind blowingly delicious.  SoCo was a neat district to explore, so I walked around there for a bit and then headed back across the South Congress bridge towards the Capitol, where I'd parked.  My legs were pretty tired again, but it was an excellent day.  I went to a taco food truck for dinner, which had amazing portobello mushroom tacos, and then revisited Walmart for my evening accommodations.  The next morning I headed southeast through Bastrop, La Grange and Weimar which was another scenic wild-flower lined drive back to Houston!

Barton Springs Pool

Greetings from Austin

My third weekend in Houston started with a trip to the Houston Zoo, then a Friday-night food tour of Rice Village!  Dustin, Laura, Alex, Chris & I went to several places in Rice Village, including Torchy's Taco's, a cookie-ice-cream sandwich food truck, Yo-yo's hot dog stand and Black Walnut cafe for gelato & coffee.  It was a very fun night out, although I was fighting a cold which turned nasty and left me spending the rest of my weekend on the couch.

My last weekend in Houston we went up to College Station & Waco!  It was a late night Friday night in College Station, but we got up early Saturday morning anyway to continue the drive up to Waco.  We were very excited to go to the Magnolia Market and check out the town; it ended up not really being what we expected, and the shoulder-to-shoulder people didn't help the experience any.  Some of the other shops in town were better (in our opinion) and the local coffee shop was a highlight.  Either way, it was a fun weekend away and we saw lots of bluebonnets & even a couple longhorns!

Magnolia Market

Field full of Bluebonnets

In between all of my very fun weekend trips, I did some sewing and helped out a family with 4 kids.  I spent most of my time with the two youngest, who are 21 mos. & 3.5 yrs; we had a lot of fun at the park and around their house, and I loved getting to know them all.  My time in Houston was a highlight & I am really missing everyone already!

Missing these kiddos & friends new and old!

J.