Sunday in Austin - 2/27/2011

More Austin Pics

In the morning we woke up in Sarah's giant orange and super comfy couch/bed and got a recommendation to try Juan in a Million for breakfast tacos.  Since we were both hungry, and a breakfast taco was around $3, we each ordered our own.  A few minutes later, two ridiculously huge plates of tacos appeared.  There was one small tortilla piled high with eggs, bacon, and potatoes.  We have been sharing meals, so we only ate about half the food.  We also went through 4 tortillas each and ordered 4 more for later when we attacked the leftovers.

Since we had gotten bad information the day before about the time of the last tour of the capitol, we headed over to check that out.  The tour consisted of seeing where the Senate and the Congress held their sessions and learning about the different procedures followed in each chamber.

When we left the building, we saw a large group of people sitting silently on the lawn. Was this a protest? A sit-in? People were quietly milling around taking pictures, so we asked one photographer in whispers what was going on. Turns out it was a meditation mob. People use the internet to set a place and time for a meditation, and anyone can show up and sit down. It actually started in Austin, but is spreading around the country. Not ones to sit anything out, we plopped ourselves down on the fringe of the circle and became one with nature for a little while. Actually, I people watched and contemplated a tree, but I think that’s basically the point - to focus on something basic and let peace wash over you.

We headed over to the Burton Springs next. These are natural spring waters that are always 68 degrees and popular to swim in. We knew that the springs were closed for cleaning, but we had been told they were beautiful and headed over to check them out. Without people swimming though, it wasn’t particularly interesting. However, across the street was the Zilker Botanical Garden, and it was crazy crowded with people directing traffic and cars parked in make-shift parking lots all up and down the road and at the springs. So, of course we had to check it out. A girl directing traffic told us the Green Garden Festival was taking place at the Garden that day. Which sounded awesome.

We walked into the Garden and at the entrance we had to sign in and provide our email addresses. In exchange, we each received pretty reusable shopping bags and were entered into a drawing for one of several compost bins. Farther into the park, a lady stopped us to ask whether we’d carpooled. We said yes, so she gave us each a T-Shirt and bracelet to promote saving the ozone by reducing emissions.

At a tent, a woman was giving a talk on gardening, and at the end Tricia got another bag with a shovel, level, and gardening tip sheets. We couldn’t decide between the compost talk or the organic cooking talk next, so we decided to wander past both of them. At the compost talk we signed in again, and this time were given kitchen compost bins (about the size of a lunch pail). Tricia stayed for that talk, and I went to watch the organic cook make carrot and beet salad with food grown from her garden. She even gave us samples!

After!



Before...

Having filled our bags, we went to the only place we hadn’t seen yet - the food trailers! It wasn’t very exciting, so we just bought snow cones and ate them on the way back to the car (Tricia got watermelon raspberry, and I got raspberry kiwi). The sun had come out while we were exploring, and it had gotten hot! We took a second picture by our car to show the difference between the morning and the afternoon when the fog had burned off.

Next we made a quick trip by Lady Bird Lake and stopped our car next to the road to look at the water, and then hopped back into the car and went back to Whole Foods. We had picked out some appetizers the day before, and grabbed a loaf of honey walnut date bread, some red pepper hummus, and some carrots. We also stopped to try some more samples, although there are less on a Sunday evening than on a Saturday afternoon. Then we went back to Mickey’s to add our offering to the dinner. She had made chicken, potatoes, and spinach, and added cut bell peppers to dip in the hummus.

When dinner was over, we pulled more chairs up to the table and many members of Mickey’s family came by for dessert (red velvet cake!) and coffee and chatting about Tricia’s grandparents and aunts and uncles. There was Mickey’s daughter Susan, her twin siblings Edna and Ed, and Ed’s wife, son, and grandson. So a total of nine people. I entertained everyone by reading their palms and have since decided to be a palm reader on a cruise ship. J