~ Laguna Gloria and Crime TV ~
Day Three, Tuesday October 14th, in Austin was memorable and stunning, very photo worthy. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Josh and I rode bikes to the Spider House for a second wonderful morning coffee experience. The day was hot, at about 90 degrees with a decent amount of humidity. After coffee, we cycled out to a place called Laguna Gloria, which is some affluent and impressive estate along the river that was donated to the Austin Museum of Modern Art and now serves as an extension to the art museum. The ride there was not for the faint of heart. I was able to understand exactly what the people in that area of the world mean by the term "hill country". By the time that we arrived at Laguna Gloria, we were dripping with sweat. My impression of the place was that while it was totally beautiful and a lovely place to spend the afternoon, it was a little overly glorified. My favorite part of the home was this empty room in which there was no display, the lights were turned off and the blue tile on the floor was broken in several places, and I sat down feeling in love with the incredible view through the windows. Josh and I also explored the gardens along the river. Beautiful. The area seemed very much like the "deep south" in my romantic sense. By the time that we left, we were about to collapse from low blood sugar. It took us some time to get back to a part of town with places to eat. We went to this establishment called the Kinney Street Cafe (I think) and I was very satisfied with my meal. Then we continued to wander around the area and stopped in another coffee shop for a sit down. I fell asleep and drooled on the pleather couch.. I felt exhausted from all of the cycling and wandering, as well as feeling overly stimulated with being in a new place. That evening, we made a dinner from some leftovers that we had collected from our restaurant meals, as well as cookies and beer from the neighborly convenience store, and relaxed in the hotel room watching crime shows. It was fabulous! Incidentally, part of the awesome thing about not owning a television is that it always seems like this new, almost "cultural" experience when I get to watch some tv. So it truly felt like a quality way to spend part of my vacation, snuggling up watching some crime shows.
We really toughed it out that day. We handled it well though. I really enjoyed relaxing at the hotel for the evening.
By the way, I've managed to write a blog over the first day and a half. Ofcourse, its taking longer than I thought..
Posted by: Josh | October 30, 2006 10:53 PM