So what's next on our itinerary?

We're heading to Europe!

What started out as a simple dream to help us survive the school year has grown into an incredible trip! Thank you to all of our friends whose post cards and stories from Europe over the past couple of years inspired our itinerary. We would also like to thank Rick Steves for his incredible travel resources. WWRSD - What Would Rick Steves Do? has been my mantra for the past 10 months, much to Eric's bemusement. And thank you to Continental Airlines for having a direct flight to Paris. If it wasn't for them, we would have focused solely on Italy. Now we have the opportunity to travel through France and Switzerland as well.

On the road again...

Our latest adventures took us to Austin, Texas, where record low temperatures and freak weather patterns threatened to ruin our weekend (and "they" say that Global Warming isn't a real phenomenon!) The highlight of the trip was having Willie Nelson walk into our restaurant while we were eating dinner.

So, why is Austin one of our favorite cities and why have we made it an annual tradition to venture to Texas' capital each Easter? It's simple.... the bats! We love the nightly exodus of Mexican Free Tail Bats from the Congress Street Bridge. Over one million of these little critters live inside the bridge. You can hear them squeeking and squealing when you walk under the bridge during the day. Just after twilight, over a million of these little guys take off to hunt for their dinner. They eat over 32,000 pounds of insects EACH night! I actually think that the fact that there are enough insects to equal 32,000 pounds each night is more frightening than the bats!

We also love the fact that Austin is a walking city. There's a beautiful trail around Town Lake that goes for miles and miles. People kayak and canoe on the lake, while others hike around it. And when you get hungry, there are plenty of fun restaurants, from the kitchy to the gourmet. Finally, there are so many fun places to go to in the evening. We loved Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, the entertainment was sublime! When we get our act together, we will add links so you can check these places out for yourself. Until then, consider Austin for your next cross country road trip or random weekend get-away.