Our First Excursions

So, I officially moved to Austin on June 26, 2010…I’ve live here for a month and a half now. We have done quite a bit for just having moved here…but not so much that there isn’t anything left for us to do!

The first thing we did was see the fire works out at Lady Bird Lake. We meant to see them where the symphony was playing but not knowing much about the area we got the location wrong and were on the opposite side of the lake. But, we had some great family time playing uno and watching the fireworks from where we were…plus, that way traffic was easy to get out of too! The second thing we did, the day after Independence day was go to Schlitterbahn Water Park. This park was so very cool! It is about 45 minutes from us in San Marcos, TX, just outside of San Antonio. Now, if you’ve never been to Schlitterbahn it can be a bit confusing. There are actually three parks to the park. There is the main park that has all the original stuff and most of it is fed by one of the local rivers (the Guadalupe I believe). Thewater though, even on one of the hottest July days, was cold! But, that definitely doesn’t ruin the fun, it just makes it way more memorable! So, once you finish at that first park you actually have to take a shuttle over to the other two, they are right next door to one another but to get to them you do have to exit the parks. These had some great lazy rivers to ride in, and those are what we really enjoy!

Next, my daughter and I had to check out what is called “swimming hole”. Now, let me tell you, I am from Florida if it isn’t a pool or if it doesn’t have a shore we don’t swim in it! Here however, it is a whole different story. So, we went to Twin Falls off of Mopac & 360. There is a lot of hiking to be done here and you would actually have to hike to the areas where you can swim. Now, the area we like to go to actually has a spot that is 15-20 feet deep where you can jump & do tricks and stuff. The bottom of the river is covered in stones, we did it barefoot our first time but after that I would definitely recommend wearing some sort of water shoe because we were slippin’ and slidin’ all over the place! But, it was a fantastic experience and a place we will definitely be visiting again!





Then, we went to visit the Children’s Museum downtown. This is on 3rd & Colorado. Every Wednesday they have a community night, this is from 5-8 and admission is by donation only, it is a fantastic deal! Their big exhibit is the Big Game and they had really large versions of classic games! It was a ton of fun & of course they have your classic milk a cow, super market, interactive kitchen, and building area. It was a great time & with all the picnic areas it was extremely economical entertainment! (My iPhone acted up and I no longer have the pictures I took here, boohoo :( )

Then, just a couple Saturday’s ago we went downtown to see the famous Bats! Unfortunately they didn’t do the awesomely fantastic flying out from under the bridge thing they do most nights. I guess that is the unfortunate thing about nature, you can’t make it cooperate! But, we still had a really enjoyable time; we could see them fluttering under the bridge and boy were they a sight to behold! Truly amazing all of those animals live under that bridge! We parked down by the Austin-American Statesman (parking in their lot is free I do believe after 6) and there is a grassy area to sit and watch the bats, next time we go we will bring a blanket and a game along with a picnic and bunker down for the evening!

We also went to Zilker Park. This isn’t what I would think of as a park. It is HUMONGOUS! But, we went over by the Barton Springs pool, on the other side actually and my daughter got to play on the playscape there and then we rode the train around the park. It is a beautiful park; there are many running/hiking trails, places to rent kayaks & go out on the lake, plus the pool that is fed by an underground spring! Truly an enjoyable place to visit and beat this Texas heat!

Then, last weekend while my hubby was out of town I took my daughter all the way up to Round Rock to go to the Rock’n River “water park”. Technically, I suppose this is a pool but there wasn’t really an area just for swimming. It had two big slides (one open air & one enclosed), a lazy river, and two great areas for the little guys to swim. My daughter and I had a blast on the lazy river and the big slides. We were there for four hours. My recommendation is to get there early though because it gets packed fast!

The last thing we did here recently was check out the South Austin Recreation Center & Park. This was so much fun! I looked it up and previously it was owned by AISD, so I would assume it was a school at one point. It is off of Lamar in a neighborhood, I would never have found it had I not been looking for it! But, it has tennis courts, soccer fields, basketball courts, a beautiful plasycape for the kids, & lots of picnic tables and grills & plenty of places to lay down a blanket under a tree if you prefer to picnic that way! We spent a good hour there on a hundred degree day because there was so much to keep my daughter occupied!

So, as you can see we’ve been pretty busy here…trying to discover all the treasures Austin has to offer us newbies!