Austin Shenanigans Part 3

Go UT Austin from the Wandering Berkmans!
(sorry if you're an A&M alumnus... they get no respect here and we're bowing to peer pressure)

Our final weeks in Austin ramped up with a visit from our friend Page from NJ.

Backstory-- we met Page back in 2016 on a flight to Cartagena, Colombia.  Page and her sister Elisabeth were on their way to Page's daughter's wedding.   Well, we at LAR have a bucket list and crashing a wedding was top on it so as soon as we found out where Page was going, we quickly warned her we may just show up at the wedding.  Silly Page....she invited us to do so!  Little did she know in our book, that was the equivalent of an engraved invitation. 

Short story-- we waited until everyone was good and happy after the reception meal and ended up dancing with the mother of the bride and meeting the extended family at this beautiful wedding.  And since then, Page and her siblings have embraced us as sibs from another mother.  Our gatherings include conversations on politics, travel and the debate as to the best Entenmanns donuts (there is dispute here-feel free to chime in).

Here we are with the bulk of the group- we missed you, Elisabeth!

Page had a short list of to-dos:  Texas BBQ and find her a cowboy.  We wish we could say we were successful on both points but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Everyone in Austin has an opinion as to the best bbq.  We decided a 5 hour line for dinner wasn't for us and other's swore  Terry Black's BBQ was better so there we went.    https://www.terryblacksbbq.com/ .  And Blacks did not disappoint.  (apologies in advance to our vegetarian friends/fam).

Who knew bbq was like celery-- negative calories!

Sticking with our "don't know a stranger" theme, we met a group of UT students there from South Korea who kindly gave us recommendations for Korean BBQ. Chi'lantro?  Noooo... Chosun Galbi!  We tried it-- it was delish! Thanks, y'all!

See Page and Don eat Korean BBQ!

See Page and I take an ankle-deep dip at Barton Springs swimming hole on a beautiful day! 
And lo and behold-- we found a cowboy for her!  Sans his hat, of course.  He didn't want to get it wet, apparently.  We yelled out Page's phone number numerous times.... we can only assume he was hard of hearing.

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See the three of us get our cowboy on!

See Page feted as the birthday girl with a serenade at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar! 

This is Page's face when she realized the song was for her (her bday is actually in October).  Buttery Nipple shots on the house.  Yeehaw!

See the three of us take in current events! 
Esther's Follies came recommended by the ultimate authority-  our Uber driver.   Zero expectations turned into non-stop laughter.  Saucy, political humor was right up our alley.  Here are McConnell, unidentified red head, Trump, Pelosi and AOC amiably discussing the impeachment trial. 

We met one cast member, Billie, and he and Don bonded.  Billie, of Ethiopian Jewish descent, wowed us with his Hebrew and his Jewish mother impression. 

See Page and Don ride a bucking bronco and then looking pretty bad-ass afterward!

 

We had a wonderful time hosting Purty Page and we hope we planted the travel bug in her.   Just don't forget the matches, Page!

We're off to Lisbon this Friday for 2 months.  Yeow! A month in Austin has been great but it's getting real, y'all!  As expected, we're paring down again-- clothes we haven't really used (Don really thought he's wear the chaps more.  oh well..), larger items that fit in the car cross country but not in our suitcases (bike helmets, large umbrella, etc), and speaking of car, Don's car.  Carvana treated us well (highly recommended for an easy process and good price) but it was sad to see the VW go after 7 years.  She was a great car ):

As we say farewell to Austin and the US for a while, we leave you with this beautiful Austin skyline at dusk and Lulu, our neighbor's pup (she wandered into our apartment more than once, the sweetie.)
 

Thanks for following along!
Don and Monica

texas