A few weekends ago we took our first trip west of Houston -160 miles to the state capital of Austin. Leaving Houston and driving through open countryside was bliss. There was gradual change in scenery from flat to “Hill Country” – the name for the area around Austin. It was wonderful to see hills after being in flat-as-a-pancake Houston. OK, so not the big hills that we love, but they were hills!
Austin, is quite different to Houston with a much more historical feel to it. It is also very relaxed and much more pedestrian and cycle friendly. We explored the city, some of the parks and visited the Capitol Building, which is 7 feet taller than the Capitol building in Washington DC - everything has to be bigger in Texas!.
Typically for us we could not keep away from food for long! We enjoyed delicious American and Mexican breakfasts. The Mexican included tacos, salsa, refried beans and other southern delights. I’m not sure you’d want to eat it every day but it was different and yummy! The Saturday Farmers Market was wonderful and so much bigger than the ones in Houston. We bought honey and local jams to take back. Remaining on the subject of food, we paid a trip to the home of Wholefoods Market, one of our favourite grocery stores. Some of you may know of Wholefoods from trips to the States or from the recently opened store on London’s Kensington High Street. For those that haven’t heard of Wholefoods they sell wonderful food. I’m waffling. Sorry. The reason for the trip to Wholefoods in Austin is that Austin is their head office and has the biggest Wholefoods in the states. Foody heaven so we returned with some yummy treats!
We very much enjoyed our trip exploring another little bit of Texas. Thanks also to our friends Adrian, Jon & Trisha and Ian for the social events in Austin too!
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Sorry for the silence!
Oops, we’ve been a little quiet, but we haven’t disappeared! We’re all ok here in Texas. It’s been a busy few weeks as Adam headed back to France for two weeks, we moved house and have been getting sorted so there’s lots to catch up on and things to say. We’ll try and catch up with all our news very soon so watch this space!
Monday, 5 November 2007
No Guy Fawkes here
Here in Texas Guy Fawkes hasn't been heard of so no fireworks or bonfire for us tonight! Good job as it still feels far too warm (sorry to those of you in colder climes but it's still 25-30 celsisus here!). Halloween has been the main event in the States and boy do they go to town with houses decorated with more than the iconic pumpkin. Aside from Halloween we've been busy with continuing on the road to get sorted.
Another success happened last week as we purchased and took delivery of another car. Both of having wheels is making life soooooooooo much easier. Yeah!
We've been doing some exploring of the local area. The houses much smaller than on Wisteria Lane. Both of us are very happy to see so many places to walk/run/bike straight from our front door and also to see so many other people doing the same. There is a good network of sidewalks and paths next to the golf courses which should help keep us on track and off the obesity scale...we hope!
There are several state parks close by which we have enjoyed visiting. Last weekend we went to the San Jacinto monument. It is the site of the 1836 battle which resulted in Texas becoming independant from Mexico. So you can see we're trying to improve our Texan-American History. San Jacinto left Claire with an interesting memory as she was bitten by an unknown (to us) insect. Well at least we got to see how the American medical system works and it wasn't life-threatening! Yesterday we went to Galveston Island state park. There's a super looking campsite literally on the beach so once we can get the tent out of the container it seems we will be going on a camping trip.
Above: Yesterday at Galveston Island State Park (for all of you asking for piccies and to see we're alive and well!)
Another success happened last week as we purchased and took delivery of another car. Both of having wheels is making life soooooooooo much easier. Yeah!
We've been doing some exploring of the local area. The houses much smaller than on Wisteria Lane. Both of us are very happy to see so many places to walk/run/bike straight from our front door and also to see so many other people doing the same. There is a good network of sidewalks and paths next to the golf courses which should help keep us on track and off the obesity scale...we hope!
There are several state parks close by which we have enjoyed visiting. Last weekend we went to the San Jacinto monument. It is the site of the 1836 battle which resulted in Texas becoming independant from Mexico. So you can see we're trying to improve our Texan-American History. San Jacinto left Claire with an interesting memory as she was bitten by an unknown (to us) insect. Well at least we got to see how the American medical system works and it wasn't life-threatening! Yesterday we went to Galveston Island state park. There's a super looking campsite literally on the beach so once we can get the tent out of the container it seems we will be going on a camping trip.
Above: Yesterday at Galveston Island State Park (for all of you asking for piccies and to see we're alive and well!)Adam is settling in well at work. However, it seems he has got bored of all this exploring, as he's off to France for 9 days! His ex-colleagues miss him so much he's going back. Also a good excuse for delicious cheese and wine!
Adam and Claire xxx
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