Showing posts with label texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label texas. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

eat: John Madden Mexican






somewhere in the middle of nowhere Texas we found this gem. 

no, it wasn't the best Mexican food I've ever had... but it WAS the only Mexican restaurant that I've ever been to that paid homage to one John Madden. Plus, we all know I love a good John Madden Haul. (what?)

I'd give this place a strong "decent" as a rating, but it earns extra points for being the only restaurant within 50 miles. 

Friday, September 28, 2012

do: Barton Springs

I mayyyyy have mentioned once or twice that I'm in love with Austin, TX. I realize this. However, my gushiness is about to continue & I'd like you to go ahead and deal with it.

Outside of multiple face-stuffing opportunities for BBQ and tacos, Austin also has these amazing fresh spring pools that are not waist line enhancing at all! Hamilton Pool (which, to me, is the prettiest) is quite a drive outside the city. Since we live in a van, we decided to forgo that experience and head to Barton Springs on our day off instead.

Barton Springs

Instead of me trying to describe what Barton is like, I'm going to leave it to Wiki:
Barton Springs Pool is a man-made recreational swimming pool located on the grounds of Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. The pool exists in the channel of Barton Creek and is filled by water from Main Barton Spring, the fourth largest spring in Texas. The pool is a popular venue for year-round swimming, as its temperature maintains a narrow range from about 68.0 °F (20.0 °C) in the winter to about 71.6 °F (22.0 °C) in the summer.

The water is constantly chilly, but can be crazy refreshing if you let it. In my experience, the best way to do this is to just jump on in. Our very own Meghan Tonjes put us all to shame when she said "eff it" and jumped in first. That's hero shiz. 

The best part of all of this is - it's CHEAP!  $3 and you're in. The men in speedos come free. 


People always ask Ron what he'd be doing if he didn't play music for a living. Clearly he'd represent the US in Olympic diving.
You need a close up of this beaut. 
free toes!
butt cracks aplenty! (but seriously, this place is gorgeous)

hayyyyyy.




Carl got in & them promptly took a nap. Perhaps he had too much fun the night before? Perhaps. 

That about wraps up our Austin visit. We attempted to go to Franklin's BBQ since we've been berated for only going to Salt Lick... but it was, sadly, closed. Ahhh well... I guess we'll have to come back. 


post love/hate/advice below! (please don't really post hate. I live in a van. I can't deal with hate)

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Austin: We've arrived.

in fact, we arrived JUST in time to make it to Antone's Record Shop to do a little show preview. It was a free (FREE... FREEEEEEEEE!!!) acoustic set and we gave away free (FREE!) beer. It was pretty fun. I got all nostalgic for record stores & wanted to buy everything... and then I remembered I live in a van most of the time.







From there we went to our BBQ heaven, the Salt Lick. I can't tell you why it has the best brisket in the world... you have to find out for yourself. All I can say is - if you're in a town known for great BBQ and all of the locals (and anyone who has ever visited) tell you to drive 30 minutes away to get BBQ - you know you've made the right decision. So, we relaxed on their beer deck with a couple of buckets of Shiner Light Blonde & went to work. Any photos of Meghan's cleavage, she took herself.... and below is proof that Carl does not actually smell bad (since I took a picture with him).













TONIGHT: full band show at the ND. Rock.

Later!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Things You Didn't Know About San Antonio

I suppose I don't need to tell you this... but it's HOT in San Antonio. Like, melt your face off hot. Luckily, ours stayed in tact for the 2 nights we were there, but I don't know if we would have been as lucky on the 3rd day. Here's a crazy thing I didn't know about San Antonio: it's ridiculously touristy! Who knew The Alamo was a big enough attraction to warrant a Ripley's Believe it or Not & Times Square-esque t-shirt shops? I for sure didn't know. So there we were in tourist-town.

prickly pear marg
Normally, I'm pretty averse to touristy-type things, but my cousin (who once lived there) told us the River Walk was nothing to be afraid of.  It's full of restaurants, shops, and is probably 20 degrees cooler than the streets above. So, off we went... in search of more mexican food & margaritas.  Dear Texas - stop being so good at Mexican food! I surely gained 7-8 pounds in tortillas and cheese... I'm sure the multiple delicious margaritas had nothing to do with it - and I'll never blame them!

Another thing you don't know - ducks love mexican food. We encountered multiple ducks of this variety & if you don't feed them their favorite food, they nip at your legs. Ron learned that the hard way & now can't look a duck in the eyes again. Poor guy.  If only he'd handed over that tortilla. 

Since I wasn't prepared for the touristyness of the town, I also wasn't prepared for our hotel to be resort-like. We had exotic birds roaming around, a pool with a mini waterfall, and fruit-infused water in the lobby. I mean, lets face it... this type of hotel isn't an every-night occurance out on the road, so I took full advantage of the situation. Ron and the boys (minus Josiah, who seemed to be the only one with a brain that day) all went to go play baseball in the 100° heat. Josiah and I hung back to tan (aka freckle) ourselves by the pool. Our poor skin... so not used to these types of rays, so our fair faces got a tad burned. Lesson in sunscreen noted.

I'm going to go ahead and apologize for this overly boring post. Not my best, I'll admit. Oh, but you know what this means?? It means you're all caught up on Texas! Not one other good thing happened. I'll just cut it off here and give you the pictures. Everyone loves pictures!

the offending duck/the offended Ron
pretty pool

thanks thanks thanks, hotel
the river walk
the river walk
if you didn't know, when you go touristing with boys, they are not interested in pictures. Self portrait. You're welcome
The Alamo at night (when the guys were watching basketball)
The Alamo at night... spooky and pretty
please note the Crockett Hotel. PLEASE.


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Meet Hank Jr.

I'm not a fan of dead animals. I like them very much alive and pet-able. For some reason that is unclear to me, men like dead animals to grace the front of their trucks. "But, you guys don't have a truck" some would say with confusion in their voice.... Yes, my dear, you are correct. However, that did not stop the following from happening:

Upon driving the 20 min outside of Austin to visit the Salt Lick (in the post below), we passed a man in a van on the side of the road selling longhorns & skulls. It took every ounce of Kyle's being to not skid us into a u-turn and start the negotiating process right then and there. Luckily, the prospect of BBQ is too powerful & we made our way safely to Salt Lick with promises to return. 

After an amazing afternoon, we piled back in the van to head to San Antonio. I sat quietly in the back hoping they'd forget about the man on the side of the road... but wishful thinking only gets you so far in this van. Forget, they did not... and below is a photo journal of the events that took place in order to secure Hank Jr. on the front of the van. 

The selection: Just horns or horns + skull?? DECISIONS.

a transaction


Securing Hank Jr. to the van. Notice shirts are off since it's 100° out. Awesome.


This was a mistake. I accidentally took this, but it displays my distaste for the situation so accurately that I HAD TO POST. 


In an attempt to correct the above, I took this thinking it would show my unhappiness. Doesn't hold a candle to other. Raw emotion right there.


...and we're finally done. Here he is in all his glory. Ready for the road and tied to a van... just how God intended it. 


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Austin


Confession time: Austin, I love you… ahhh, I do indeed love you so very much. I’ll never claim you as my own, but I’d like to say we have a mutual admiration for each other. Shhh, we were introduced via an ex, but that is neither here nor there. Sometimes love blossoms in the strangest of places. And now everyone knows. EVERYONE. All six people who read this.

Unfortunately, our stop in Austin was a brief one & we didn’t have time to play a show (because we’re coming back soon!). This means we didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to partake in some of my favorite things:
  • Swimmin holes – Barton Springs or Hamilton Pool
  • East Austin - good tex mex & bars that aren't found on 6th st (although, those are fun for people watching)
  • Tacos tacos tacos (keep reading for our mistake on this)

Oddly, RP and I were craving Indian, so we went to the highest rated Indian restaurant in Austin – The Clay Pit. Umm, wouldn’t recommend. Not bad, but definitely not worth writing about.  I guess that’s what we get for craving Indian in a Mexican-centric town!

Salt Lick BBQ & RP with his ever present phone
At least we did not miss one MAJOR thing: a stop at Salt Lick BBQ. It’s about 20 min outside of the city, but well worth the trek. RP and I both classify it as the best we’ve ever had. So, we popped in, put our name on the list and got a couple buckets of beer for everyone but the driver to drink. We were set. One slight problem: my recent vegetarianism! Yikes, forgot about that little situation. I was persuaded by my fellow travelers to put it on hold… I didn’t want to miss an experience right? Plus, as I was kindly reminded, my reasons behind the diet change are varied, but do not involve me thinking that we, as human beings, SHOULDN’T eat meat (I won’t go into my reasoning here, but if you’d like a post about it, throw it in the comments). SO, I did it. I ate meat AGAIN! This is proving to be trickier and trickier the further away I get from NYC. Any vegetarian readers care to give me some support or words of wisdom of how you got through the first hurdles? I’ve been doing it for about 6 months & it’s been a breeze until these last couple of weeks.

Anyway, back to the meat. The boys decided to get "All You Can Eat"... which is not just a cute saying here, but a threat. Each plate they bring gets bigger and bigger until you have to fold and admit that you can no longer consume BBQ of any variety. 

Unfortunately, it was delicious. Too delicious. So delicious, in fact, that when we put our full bellies back into the van,  IT WOULDN’T MOVE! No matter how much Cousin Carl pushed the trailer, it just stayed put. Just kidding, but that would have been a better ending to the story. What am I saying?? That would have been horrible. Knock on wood. Instead of that, Josiah ran around like a maniac (like he tends to do), Ron picked me a very small flower for the van, and we traveled down the street to pick out Hank, Jr., who now graces the front of the van with his presence...

… but that’s a story for next time. 





Sorry for the lack of smiles in the pictures... I have an easier time being behind the camera than in front of it.

See you later!