Another cheap adventure with Mal

We're still about 2.5 months away from our big family vacation, and this past week, D was really having a hard time with noise. Meanwhile, of course, Mal is the source of all noise in the universe. 

We were already planning to attend free admission day at the Zilker Botanical Gardens today (Monday, Presidents' Day), and it turned out that I had a free night at a Wyndham Hotel. SO it seemed like a good time to get Mal out of the house for a bit, go to a hotel (which is his favorite thing in the world), and give D a good quiet 24 hours.

Sunday morning, we usually meet up with one of Mal's friends for them to play and have lunch at McDonald's, but his friend's grandmother is in town so instead, we went with James to his usual (except it was unusual, because we drove a ways and he usually stays pretty local) Sunday brunch.

We chose Garbo's Seafood ft. Maine lobster. 1) Maine lobster. 2) Small outdoor play area for kids. Everyone was happy, especially my belly.

We got one Cincinnati lobster roll, and one Main lobster roll. OMG.

Mal made a new friend, as usual, and they had us parents exchange phone numbers. Then James headed back home, and Mal and I set off for adventure.

Our first stop was the Tyler's outlet, which was having a huge sale. I was particularly looking for a pair of flip-flops to replace D's favorite shoes... they've had them for at least 8 years, and we bought them at Tyler's back when they had a storefront on The Drag and we could just walk over. Anyhoo, they didn't have the brand in stock Sunday. I figured I'd look for a cool tie-dyed "Keep Austin Weird" shirt for Mal, but he found another shirt he really wanted. It, of course, was not among the $5/$10 sale clothes, so we ended up getting a $5 t-shirt for me and a $20 t-shirt for Mal. Sigh.

Next on the agenda was to go play mini-golf at Peter Pan, which is Austin-famous. Unfortunately, on a holiday Sunday, it is PACKED, and we couldn't even turn in to its tiny parking area, much less actually park. We ended up skipping it and going down to South Congress to visit Big Top Candy Shop. That involved a lot of driving around trying to find 1) an available spot that 2) wasn't neighborhood-permitted parking.

I've been to South Congress on the weekend, but not in many years. It was packed. Once we got into the store, it was fun to look around. We both picked out a couple of things. But the sidewalk was just walls and walls of people. We were more than ready to check into our hotel at that point. We drove through a McDonald's because, of course, Mal hadn't eaten any lunch at the seafood place.

This is a weird stand-alone LaQuinta just off of Mopac, kind of in the middle of nowhere. I think I redeemed a free room there almost 3 years ago, after a few months of the pandemic "lock-down." We were going to visit my sister for the first time in months, and decided to sleep in a hotel the night before just because we were going stir crazy. 

After we got comfy and rested a bit, Mal was ready to go to Windmill Run Park, where we used to visit when we lived in the apartments in Oak Hill. Mal didn't remember it at all, but still liked it just as much as he used to.

We had a free pizza at Domino's, as well as a $3 "tip" from our last carry-out order. I used that to get a 2-liter beverage, so we had our dinner back at the hotel completely gratis!

We walked around a bit, defaced a poster that Mal got with his Happy Meal, and watched some TV before I fell asleep super early. Mal said he ended up going to bed about an hour earlier than usual, as well.

This morning, we had a free breakfast. Mal's "hotel breakfast" staple is Froot Loops. He also had a left-over slice of pizza. Then we checked out and went to the botanical gardens.

Zilker doesn't have any greenhouses, and it's just gone from being below freezing (last week) to over 80 degrees today, so there isn't much in bloom. But the grounds are pretty, and Mal really loved the Japanese garden. I did, too... especially the place where they had a bunch of native Texas trees pruned in the bonsai style. It was extremely beautiful and thought-provoking, even though most of the trees didn't have leaves.

We were going to play at Zilker Park for a few, but Mal said his legs were tired. So we drove around to the Austin Science and Nature Center. Admission there is always free (not just Presidents' Day!). Mal wasn't super enthusiastic about going -- "You lost me at 'science'." -- but he ended up having a good time. His favorites were playing with the small, smaller, and nano magnets; seeing the rescue birds and bobcat; and playing in the dino dig, which he took very seriously. He also was able to look into a microscope for the first time.

By then it was approaching noon and getting pretty warm. We were ready for the half-hour+ drive back home. The afternoon was pretty low-key. Back to our routine tomorrow, with our homeschool library/park meet-up. Then Mal is having a friend over to play after school lets out. 

2-day Stay-Away

James had Friday off of work; D was asking, "Is there any time you're all going to be gone for a while?" because of projects that require spreading out in the common area of the house; and it was supposed to be 100 degrees all weekend, and Mal and I were ready to SWIM.

Magically, last week, I got an email from Omni Hotels that all stays were 30% off through early September. I booked us a two-night stay at the downtown Austin Omni. My thought was that we could just hang out there, swim in the rooftop pool, and walk to a few places like B. D. Riley's Irish Pub for take-out meals. Then COVID-19 cases in Austin started reaching new records daily. I canceled that reservation and moved us to the Southpartk Austin Omni, which isn't really anywhere. It's located at the southeast corner of the intersection of 35 and 71/290, which I guess makes it moderately convenient to travelers needing airport and downtown access, kind of? Anyway, seemed likely that there would be fewer people to bump up against.

Friday, James went out to a late breakfast while Mal and I got stuff ready to go. On the way through town, we stopped at QT for a caffeine-free Diet Coke for Malcolm. All of the stores and the Sodastream website are out of the caffeine-free diet soda Mal likes, and all of the grocery stores are out of name and store brands, too. Yay, pandemic! (I know, these aren't true problems. Just and inconvenience. I DO have perspective.) Happily, I was able to get a free fountain drink with the Quik Trip app!

They have a lot of sauces. I put none in Mal's drink.

I had called earlier and knew our room was already prepared for us, so we checked in around 1:40. Of course, the first thing Mal wanted to do was SWIM!

He had a straight face in the first picture, so I said, "Can you try to look just a little happy to be here?" This was that.

The pool is large and winding. It also has a smaller indoor portion, which you can access via a swim-through hole. We stayed mostly outside because the inside is well air conditioned, and the water itself is cool enough that it felt a bit too chilly in there.

As you can see, there weren't a lot of people. Everyone was being mindful of the distancing requirements.

After our first swim, we explored the hotel a bit, played hide-and-seek, and then got some late lunch/early dinner. James and I had Taste of Ethiopia II and Mal had McDonald's, natch. Our dinner was so tasty, and the portions were ridiculously ample. Needless to say, we had left-overs.

Bread, baklava, shiro wot, lentil sambusa, zimamabojat, and tomato salad. 

Full up, we were ready for another swim! James went with us this time.

Mal and James heading under the bridge.

We had some nice down time after that, and a quiet night's sleep.

Saturday, we got breakfast from Hideaway Kitchen and Bar. We got takeout as with the rest of our meals, but they had such a neat patio and it was empty, so I kind of wish we'd eaten there. Anyway, the food was absolutely delicious and Mal still has a pancake and scrambled egg he hasn't deigned to finish.

James got the queso and chips, and then their bacon jalapeño cheddar Benedict.

It was either chicken and waffles or their peach pie pancakes. I made the right decision. Perfectly-fried juicy chicken, fluffy waffles, and a pecan bourbon syrup.

Hey, want to guess what we did after breakfast?

Yup! More swimming!

After an hour or so, we dried off and took a short break from the hotel.

It was hot, and Mal was NOT interested in going, but he ended up having so much fun! We were a little early for our appointment, so we got him Chick-fil-A on the way, then we took him to see the Cathedral of Junk for the first time.

When we first arrived, Vincent came out to greet us and Mal said, "I'm sure you recognize my parents." He said, "Oh, yeah. Those guys." Then Mal kept saying, "I read about your place in a book we have at home!" It took me almost until we left to realize that he meant the photo album of our wedding.

After a few, he realized that there are themed "rooms" and kept offering us tours to see the red room, and the yellow room, and the green room.

We haven't been since our wedding 7 years ago, I believe, and a lot has changed! The ladder we used to get up to the top has been closed off, but there are two new(ish) staircases to access the third floor. He also built a tile slide.

We were super sweaty but so very happy when we left. I'm glad Austin has this gem and highly recommend visiting if you're in the area. You just have to call to make an appointment. That's always been the case, but it also sounds like he's just allowing one group at a time in order to maintain social distancing.

Here's a picture of James and me yesterday in the same spot we took a picture when we first visited almost 8 years ago (when it was a lot colder and much less sunny). Haven't changed a bit, right?

July 2020 vs. November 2012

We had planned to hit up Soursop for more take-out, as it's very near the Cathedral, but we still had so much food left over, and were still super full from a big breakfast, that we couldn't justify it. We ended up eating the stuff we had in the room for dinner.

Then guess what we did after that?

One final swim before calling it a night.

We're on the 11th floor, facing south, and we were able to see a good dozen separate fireworks displays from our room. I was surprised that there were so many, given that right now there's a statewide order banning gatherings of more than 10 people, even outside.

Hard to tell because of the lights, but James is looking at at least 4 different explosions right here.

After that, Mal and James both fell asleep pretty quickly. I had run out of Gatorade and drank some soda late in the day, so I was kind of wired for a while longer. And I woke up at 7 AM, so I'll likely go to bed early when we get home tonight.

We've had a fun little break, and I'm sure D has, too.

Next up: watering the fruit trees at home. It's been a sunny and hot couple of days!

Long Weekend in the "Woods"

About a week ago, James found out that his company was gifting the employees Friday off as well as Memorial Day. Normally, I do. not. travel during high-occupancy times, but this seemed like the perfect time to get a little break from the monotony of everyone's being in the house and in the neighborhood 24/7.

At first, I booked a cheap room in Port Aransas, which we love. We haven't been there since Mal was newly two years old. But then I thought about how many people would likely be there, and how enjoying the beach when it's empty is so much fun. So I canceled that and pulled up the "camps" I'd saved earlier this year when I was doing research for "staycations."

It just so happened that I was able to book a lodge room a Jellystone Hill Country. A lot of the activities and amenities were curtailed due to CDC guidelines (the arcade, indoor activities like dance parties and crafts, etc.), but the park was open, and, importantly, so was the pool. Yes, rain was forecasted for the whole weekend. But, whatever. It was a chance to get away for a few days, so we went for it.

In a couple of days before the trip, I received a call that the lodge room I'd booked was still undergoing refurbishing, and would I mind being moved to a Cindy Bear Cottage? MORE room, a private fire ring (rather than a common one for all 4 lodge rooms) and a covered patio? At the same price? Yes, please!

This is Lodge Room 17, still very much in progress.

On Friday, we drove to my sister's, which is a little less than half way between our house and the park. Sarah fractured her wrist and likely a rib when she got into a (very heavy) bicycle accident, so we took them some lunch and they lent us their marshmallow-roasting skewers, then we headed out.

We got to the park two hours before check-in, but they let us go ahead and get our golf cart, and even though it was HOT, we enjoyed looking around and getting familiar with the park until we could get into our cabin.

In order to maintain "social distancing" at the pool, they were only allowing 43 people to swim for a two-hour stretch, after which they emptied the area for fifteen minutes and did a complete cleaning of all surfaces. Knowing this, we reserved the 5-7 slot as soon as we got checked in. Then we were ready to check out the cabin!

It was nice. There was "room" for 8 people to sleep: a queen-sized bed in the "bedroom," a full-sized futon, two mini-twins in a bunk room, and two twin beds up in the loft. We've stayed in a cabin with a loft before, in New Braunfels, and Mal and I almost sweat to death. In these cabins, there's a separate window unit upstairs. We didn't sleep up there, and probably couldn't have because the a/c was on its way out and quite noisy, but it did keep the cabin much cooler during the day (and we turned it off at night). I wouldn't recommend traveling with 8 people and staying in one of these cabins, though, because it was tight just with three of us. Still... more room than I'd paid for, so, yay!

We swam for nearly the whole of our two hours, and, man, it was NICE only having to share with a few dozen people!

They were limiting guests at their bounce pillow to 4 at a time, with blue taped squares on the pad to space people out... but two brothers left as soon as Mal got there, so he was able to enjoy it all on his own.

We went back to the room and ate snacks we'd brought (James ate gas station food because he realized that everything in town shuts down as soon as people can't rent tubes anymore), watched TV, and took a few golf car rides to see how the campsites looked in the dark.

Saturday morning, I got up and went into town to get breakfast. I left the park right before 8, when the restaurant was opening, and noticed some people sitting outside of the ranger station... we'll get to that in a few minutes.

I had read about the Wildflour Artesan Bakery and Grill before we left, and it did not disappoint. We got: Hill Country Tenderloin Hash (crispy hash browns topped with pan-seared tenderloin tips, onions, bell peppers, 2 eggs your way topped with hollandaise and green onion), Hill Country Omelet (venison sausage, duck bacon, tomatoes, sautéed onions, and smoked provolone), and for Mal a pancake with scrambled egg.

When I got back, there were many MANY more people at the ranger station. It was 8:30. I had breakfast with James, then went over at about 5 'til 9, when the station opened. By the time I got to the front, the only swim times left were 9-11 AM, or 6-7:30 PM. I booked us for 6, and we spent the whole day listening to Mal ask when we were going swimming.

Well, not ALL day. We also did a scavenger hunt.

We had a picnic with food from the Pic-a-Nik Basket on-site... at our covered patio seating! That's also not something we would have gotten if we'd rented the lodge. As you can see from the scavenger hunt picture above, there are tables, but they're just out on the lawn. It was VERY hot when the sun was out, and super nice to have a shady place to eat. Oh, we got a fabulous pulled pork southwest "salad" (I guess the salad part was the beans and corn? Anyway, it was GOOD), a "grown-up" grilled cheese with tomatoes and bacon, and loaded waffle fries.

We also played with the Plus Plus set Mal had picked out from the ranger station, and we played a few rounds of Slap Jack and the Matching Game from a set of 6 different kids' card games we bought just for the trip.

We were told that we could check in at the pool to see if anyone had left and there was room for new swimmers. We tried 4 times, but no one was heading out early. Mal wore his bathing suit a great portion of the day, though, and we did get ourselves wet at the sluice, which was refreshing in its own right.

Finally, it was almost 6! We went down to the ranger station to watch for the cleaning crew to take off. Then we crossed the street and Mal ran ahead, eager to be the first in. He somehow tripped over or slipped on or lost his balance coming off of a speed bump and landed face-first on the concrete. He scraped his nose a little and his philtrum a lot. He also scraped up his left elbow, and his top teeth gouged a hole inside his upper lips. He was bleeding from the gums, and he said that his teeth were loose.

The staff was great! One guy ran into the restaurant to get us an ice pack (which I knew Mal would refuse). The other ushered us into the restaurant bathroom so I could clean up the blood and assess the damage. Turns out he was an EMT, and looked at Mal's lip when we were calmed down and back outside. He said that it was all superficial and he'd be fine.

Meanwhile, I was super hoping he'd maybe knock those two front teeth out. One of the caps has come a little loose so is wonky. I think we had the worst dentist, and I'm ready for the work she did to be out of his face hole. It's almost time, so it wouldn't have been more than a year or so until new teeth grew in. Oh well. I'm glad he's fine.

And we were off to the pool, where he quickly forgot that he'd gotten hurt at all, even though his upper lip was swollen for the night.

The next morning, guess who walked up to the ranger station at 8:15? While I was waiting, I learned that, although the ranger station opened at 9:00 AM, they were taking reservations starting at 8:30. I got us a prime spot at 11:15. So far, the thunderstorms predicted for the whole weekend hadn't panned out, though it did rain heavily for about 2 minutes twice before we swam. It just made the water even cooler, and we got plenty of vitamin D.

I left a few minutes before James and Mal did, so I could take a shower in the comfort station. We had a shower in our bathroom, but it was small and I also didn't want to steam up the cabin. At about 2:00 PM, we went...

... right back to the Wildflour because their food had been so amazing. This is the first time we've eaten together inside a restaurant since the middle of March, when it had seemed a little weird that IHOP was dispensing syrup via your waiter rather than allowing customers to touch the containers and risk contamination. It was very spaced out, and there were only 4 tables inside the dining room. We had been willing to sit wherever, but were indoors.

James got Geraldine's Tomato Pie (puff pastry filled with layers of tomato, white cheddar, parmesan cheese) with a side of white cheddar poblano soup, I had the salmon burger (house-smoked salmon blended with onion & bell pepper complimented with chipotle aioli, lettuce, tomato on a toasted cheddar jalapeno bun), and Mal got chicken tenders with fries. We ended up taking home, respectively as above, blueberry cheesecake, cheesecake, and chocolate cake. James and I had ours for breakfast before leaving Monday morning. Did not disappoint.

Back at the park, we got some wood and planned to have a campfire. It was the coolest day so far, and thus seemed an appropriate time to try to make some s'mores.

Shortly after James roasted his second marshmallow, the promised deluge arrived, and we slept to the tune of thunder and downpour all night.

This morning, we took our time clearing out, drove around one last time, and turned in our golf cart. Then we drove over to Canyon Lake Dam to check that out. Mal was not happy to have to walk around at all, but it was pretty nonetheless.

Dam side.

Back side.

Beach. We did not make it down there. See above.

Finally, on our way out, we stopped at a hydroelectric station on the Guadalupe. It was gorgeous, and we were chased to our car by heavy rain. Perfect ending to a great little getaway!