Texas Trip

As you all know, Nate and I were in Texas for a little over two weeks. I want to tell you all about our trip.

Clopsy really wanted to come with us, but he had to stay home with his sister.

We drug our suitcases through the snow and then took an hour-long bus ride to Midway. I guess the bus ride made Nate a little grouchy.

We flew into San Antonio the week before Christmas where we were greeted by my parents, sister, and brother. Our first meal home was enchiladas and fajitas at the Alamo Cafe.

We went to the market downtown. Of course, the weather in San Antonio was drastically different than what we had been experiencing in Illinois.

Trevor made a friend that later ended up in Dad's stocking.

Mom, Nate, Lydia, and I volunteered at HEB's Feast of Sharing. We really did a fine job on trash/recycling detail.

Then, Nate and I went to Austin for a few days. Since I spent most of our time there hungover and thinking that I had lost my camera, here are some pictures that I have stolen from other folks.

Our first night in town, we met up at Shelley and Jeff's place (formerly our place, too, as we used to live on the other side of the duplex). Then we took the bus downtown. Here are some of the loveliest people I have ever known. And two creeper Hensley eyes!

At Emo's we saw a bunch of people that we like a whole lot.

Then we watched this guy play guitar and Rich Cali (pictured above) play the drums. Great show, guys!

The next day Alicia and I met up for a three and a half hour brunch. Alicia and I have now been friends for over a decade and it was very, very nice to spend some good time catching up. I don't have a picture at brunch, but I do have this lovely picture of her from our wedding to show you (I never get tired of wedding pictures).

We then met up with some of our wonderful activist friends at Dog and Duck. It was very good to catch up with those fine folks.

We also went to the Epoch Christmas party. This was a ton of fun for many reasons: 1. We got to see many people who we love a lot. 2. We ate a lot of delicious food. 3. We participated in a super-fun white elephant gift exchange where I won Taco Bell bucks! 4. Ben, Nate, and I joined forces to create the greatest trivia team known to mankind. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but we won first place and received a $200 prize! Super Awesome!

After the Epoch Christmas party, we crashed the Eastside Pies party, too.

It should also be mentioned that the wonderful Caitlin Cagle (who, unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much time with) let us stay at her apartment while she was out of town. It was very, very nice to have a bed to sleep on and a place to go home to while we were there.

Stay tuned for Texas Trip: Part 2 tomorrow!