Nana, Papa and Nathan Came to Visit!

The Gutts came to visit during their spring break, the second week of March. That also happened to be the girls’ spring break and the week of SXSW (South by Southwest) – the HUGE interactive/film/music festival in town. Lots going on. Because of SXSW, tickets into Austin were sky high, so the family flew into Dallas, spent a day sight-seeing and then drove down to see us. Hotel rooms in our area were also crazy expensive and highly booked, but luckily, our apartment complex has furnished apartments that can be rented. We scored on of those, since our guest room currently also doubles as our couch. It was really nice to have everyone so near, and coincidentally in the same apartment we first stayed in when we arrived in Texas three months earlier.

Our first night was rather low key. We brought the group to our favorite Italian restaurant, Lily’s absolute favorite because they serve “pasketti and neatballs”. We all overindulged and felt happy about it. We took at quick drive out to Sweetwater to admire the dark skies and abundant stars, not realizing we’d be back a couple days later seeking out a comet.

*the nicely composed, sharp photos in this post were taken by Nathan, the rest were taken by my camera with a nearly dead battery or my iPhone.

 

Last two photos by Nathan.

On our first full day together, we ventured downtown to the state capitol. The state capitol of Texas’ dome is taller than the dome of the nation’s capitol. Fun fact. The building was abuzz with activity with tourists, lawmakers, activists and Texas Rangers (not the baseball team) roaming the halls. I enjoyed the Texas themed door hinges. The girls enjoyed spinning and dancing on the shiny floor. Another fun fact: Texas had a female governor elected in 1924 and 1933. Yeah!

We spent some time on South Congress, with a mandatory stop at Allens Boots. The girls occupied themselves in the mirrors. Lily, the fashion diva is bringing back sticks as the must-have accessory for spring.

We trekked the group up to Mount Bonnell for some sightseeing. The girls were great hikers this time, making it to the top without a lot of protest and no scuffed knees.

Neck wrenching photo by Nathan.

We made a stop with the group at a local thrift store. I volunteered to stay with the sleeping portion of the vehicle. One minute, they were slumbering peacefully, literally, a minute later, I look behind me to find shenanigans breaking out!

We couldn’t have guests in Austin without a stop at Amy’s Ice Creams! Photos by Nathan.

 

We spent a late morning/afternoon at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Preserve near our house. Ella was ready, complete with daisy headband and tutu. We enjoyed seeing the beginnings of the wild flower season with some color popping out, butterflies swooping about and we were even being watched upon entering the site by a nesting owl. There was a lot to see and the closer we looked in some instances, the more we were privy to, like little snakes swimming amongst the weeds in the pond. My first official snake in Texas, luckily, it was the size of a pencil. It did eat a minnow though.

Above photos by Nathan.

After hiking and enjoying nature, we brought the group through our house when it wasn’t completely enshrined in countertop dust and adhesive. Nathan took these fun shots in the house.

Meanwhile, in the skies overhead around sunset all week, the comet PANSTARRS was visible near the horizon and the rising new moon. One evening after enjoying some great BBQ from Rudy’s, we quickly rallied the troops and set off, Cadillac a blazing toward the sunset. We climbed to the highest hill, in what will be the gated part of our development, and set up our little ramshackle astronomy shop. Nathan with his camera and Loran with his binoculars. I thought we’d missed it, and we were feeling a little let down, when Loran casually mentions, “there it is.” Like we’d been waiting for the UPS truck, not a comet streaking across the heavens. Nathan did get a pretty good photo of it considering he didn’t have the ideal lenses with him. The only stars he’d planned on photographing when he packed his bags were named Ella and Lily…ha ha ha.

As usual, we  were sad to see our guests leave Thursday morning. Loran took off for work and the girls and I were left in a quiet house. After a week of going and seeing things, it was so strange to just be home, on our little spring break. I filled the void by cleaning and doing laundry. Being a tourist in our own town was a lot more fun!