I'm back!

Hey friends-- Sorry about the unexpected absence! Two weeks have just blown by and life has been busy. We had some visitors in town, then I was traveling for work for a few days, and then I was battling a minor cold. But all is well, and I am back and ready to post some pictures. Finally! I know my readers... um, all 7 of you... have been clamoring for them. ; )

Two weekends ago, J's sister, Kristin, and her new husband, Dan, were in town and we had a blast showing off Austin. They have a few other friends in the area, so they were able to show us a few new spots as well. We went two-stepping for the first time at the Broken Spoke, and let me tell you... those people are serious about their dancing. At one point I mistakenly used the term "line dancing" (which it definitely is not), and I was informed that line dancing is a little "low brow," but two-stepping is where it's at. I raised quite a few eyebrows (and even got a couple dirty looks) with my two left feet and poor coordination. Apparently you don't just roll into the Broken Spoke to two step if you don't actually know what you're doing. Ah, well. A few beers eased my shame and then I wasn't too terribly concerned.

Brother and sister in front of the Broken Spoke

We also took another hike up to the lookout on Mt. Bonnel (which is really just a 750m jaunt up a hill from a parking lot, but the view of Lake Austin is spectacular.)

Saturday night was Halloween, and after cheering on the 'Horns (and the Ducks, who destroyed USC by the way), we headed out on the town. Only Dan dressed up, but we had fun checking out the scene downtown and some of the crazy costumes.

J and I in our not so crazy costumes

We finished up the night at the Club DeVille, which (who knew) has outdoor karaoke on this stage with a dramatically lit limestone backdrop. By the time we arrived (late in the evening), many of the patrons' karaoke skills had rapidly deteriorated, so a few members of our crowd were able to put on some pretty impressive numbers. Below, Kristin and Dan belt out some Meatloaf. Good times.

We ended the weekend on Sunday by watching the bats beneath the Congress bridge. Fun fact for you... Austin has the largest urban bat population in the world. Or maybe it's just the western hemisphere... Either way, there are a LOT of bats that live beneath the Congress bridge, and they fly out to munch on some mosquitoes every evening at dusk. Quite honestly, the bats freak me out, but anything to help keep the mosquito population down... And it's a pretty impressive site when you see millions of them fly out at once. I tried to get a picture, but it just looked like a big black blur, so you'll have to settle for me and J standing around waiting for the bats to make their entrance.

All in all, a great weekend! And it was so fun to have our first guests come visit. We loved having friends in town, and want to have as many visitors as possible. Hint, hint... you know who you are... start looking at plane fares!