Bats and BBQ

So my dad and his wife came to visit this past weekend and we had a lot of fun. They arrived Thursday evening and flew out Monday morning, so basically we had 3 days to pack as much "Austin" in as possible. I like it whenever folks come and visit us and of course it's extra special to have my pop here. This was his first time, so we made a few of our regular first time initiations as well as a few new ones to us.
We started out Friday by taking him to Lucy and Brendan's school. We then drove down to South Congress (SoCo to the snooty snoots!) and had the customary terrible Austin coffee and wandered through some very interesting boutiques. (Did you know cowboy boots can cost > $1500?????) We also drove through the downtown area highlighting the capital and sixth street. We then headed back to pick the kids up from school. We rested a bit back at the humble abode, and then headed out to get Rudy's. The first of our 2 bbq runs.
The next day, I made breakfast and then we headed to Lucy's first piano recital. After that, we went to Zilker and the Botanical Gardens. It was about 95 degrees so even though it was shady, we got overheated fairly quickly. We decided fairly quickly to run over to Amy's Icecream in the Arboretum. The ice cream was of course delicious and the staff there were predictably grouchy, mean and unhelpful. It sure is a good thing their ice cream tastes so good! The Arboretum has a bunch of statues of lifesize cows that the kids love climbing on so we sat in the cool breeze blowing in from the hills eating the icecream and really having a good time. We then headed home to drop Tiffany and the kids off while dad, Linda and I headed down to see the bats! I've never done this before, so it was kind of exciting for me as well. The bats didn't come out until 8:35 so it was a good thing we didn't take the kids. Also, if you're going to see the bats, I think it's better to be up on the bridge, not down on the grassy knoll.
On Sunday, we decided to take it a little easier and spent the morning at home and down at the local park. After a lunch of left over Rudy's, I drove them out to the dam and Lake Travis. The wildflowers were out, and the weather was wonderful. Dad kept marveling at how hilly and green it was. I was glad he got to see it at this time of year. After a quick stop at Starbucks (not great, but better than any other Austin coffee shop I've found) we headed out to Salt Lick in Driftwood for the grand finale: all you can eat barbeque (beef ribs, sausage, beef brisket, sides, etc, etc) chased down by a home-made peach cobbler. It wasn't super packed and the live music was pretty good. We all had waaaaayyyyyy too much to eat and drove back home very happy.
Sadly, this morning, I drove them to the airport and said goodbye. Overall, it was a very good and they're already talking about when they can come back next. I expect Tiffany will be posting pictures soon. Stay tuned!

-Jon