Trip to Texas

At the beginning of October, I was able to fly to Texas to visit family since I found a sweet deal on a flight and I had a lot of free time.  My mom and step-dad live in Dallas and my dad and step-mom just moved to Austin.  It has been a long time since both parents have lived within a couple hours of driving distance from each other.  Now visiting family will be much easier!

I flew to Austin and my brother and my sister-in-law drove down from Dallas the day my dad and step-mom moved into their new home.  Us big kids helped them move in and tried to do as much of the heavy lifting as possible since my step-mom is six-months pregnant!  We did manage to do some fun things in between moving boxes, though.  First, we went to this awesome barbecue place called Rudy's.

"Country Store" and Bar-B-Q

This is definitely not a fancy place.  They give you your food on wax paper and styrofoam cups, but that does not mean it's not delicious.

I had the brisket and it was amazing.  I usually do not like creamed corn, but I would definitely recommend this kind.  This place is now on the top of the list of my favorite barbecue places along with Firefly's in Framingham, MA.

Another day, we tried out the Austin food cart fare.  This is not just some guy with a fryer in the back of his trailer serving greasy crap.  This stuff is good.  One cart we went to called The Mighty Cone was created by chefs from high-end restaurants.  Another great food cart was Cutie Pies, which was chosen for best pies in the South by both Martha Stewart and Southern Living.

Another great gem in Austin we explored was Zilker Park, which has tons of activities including a free science and nature center and botanical garden.  At the science and nature center, my two brothers dug for "dinosaur" bones.

One brother was kind of just pouring the sand on himself

The botanical garden was nice, though I'm sure it will be great to go to in the spring.  Instead I took pictures of the awesome people I was with.

I didn't know much about Austin before the trip even though I applied and was admitted to UT for college, but after our great adventures, I am a fan.  After a great weekend down in Austin, the big kids drove back up to Dallas.  I was lucky enough to be there for my sister-in-law's first week of being a 5th grade teacher.

Her classroom

The teacher before her had been promoted to teach gifted and talented kids, so my sister-in-law started after the school year had already began.  That meant she had zero time to get her classroom set up the way she wanted it.  My whole family went in a couple of times while I was there to help her get things organized.  It was great to be around for all these big events and to be able to help out when I had so much free time.

The Texas State Fair was also going on while I was there.  I had never been, so it was a treat to go with my brother, my mom, and my step-dad.  Here are the highlights:

Took a picture with Big Tex

Rode the ferris wheel

View from the ferris wheel

Saw the model train and greenhouse exhibit

Ate a fried snickers

I was apprehensive about the snickers, but yes it was good, in small doses, of course.  It was a really fun trip and it was great to see everyone before we become expats.  I will post soon about that! :)