P.S. If this is Austin...

Then I have a crush on Blake Shelton. Nice that he won the Country Music Award's Entertainer of the Year. I'm not even going to touch on who won what just yesterday.

This morning I'm sitting in a cold living room because I can't figure out why the heat won't go on. We have two furnaces, thus two thermostat "zones" in the RV.  We also have two propane tanks, and when one runs out we have to manually switch over to the other. When I got up this morning I noticed it was cold inside, meaning that the propane had run out. So I switched over the tank and the heat won't come on in Zone 1, the living room.  Zone 2 is heating up fine, where Rick is still in bed. He stayed up late last night watching the election results and I don't want to wake him. When he gets up he'll probably figure this out.  Burrr....

We've been in Austin for 5 days now and we're getting ourselves caught up. Kona's been groomed, the laundry hamper's been emptied, Ms. Subaru had a major ($$$!) check up, local friends and relatives have been contacted, we've scoped out the local grocery stores, refilled the pantry, found yoga classes, and the carpet has even been steam cleaned. Boy, when eight feet walk around in the same 400 sq. ft. everyday, over the same three pathways, the carpet really takes a beating. We may replace it next year.

Driving around Austin is almost like being in southern CA, or suburban Chicago. The traffic can be pretty heavy if you accidentally find yourself driving at rush hour.  The roads go every which way because of the hills, canyons, rivers and reservoirs so if I didn't have Google maps I'd be pretty disoriented.

I have a friend here in Austin from over 30 (!) years ago when I worked at a small private school on Long Island (my first real job). We haven't seen each other since then. I can't believe it could have been so long ago. Carol was a student and I was just a little older than her, and a dance teacher/dorm parent. We got to know each other pretty well in that small, intense and closed system. So it was really great to catch up with her now after all this time.

We started our visit with a nice breakfast across the street at Los Pinos Mexican Restaurant. Then Carol, her dog Molly, Kona and I went out to Windy Point on Lake Travis for a walk. The dogs took a swim.  The water is very low, so it was a long walk down to the lakeside. This is the boat ramp and what's left of the lake.

After tiring the dogs out we drove nearby to a place called the Oasis on Lake Travis.  Looks like an MC Escher creation doesn't it?  We went into a nice artsy boutique/gallery called Blue Genie. 

Oasis kind of an over-the-top, postmodern outdoor mall with several huge restaurants with tremendous views of the lake, and I imagine the sunsets as well.  Some of the views are reminiscent of the Mediterranean.

I say it's postmodern because it combines many styles and materials without worrying about one consistent theme. The walkways and balconies go every which way. The developers have spent a mint on sculptures and placed them kind of willy nilly around the space.  Somehow they pull it off. 

Here's my favorite:

Rick's up now and informed me that you have to turn the furnace off and on again to reset it. We're warm and toasty now.  Soon it will be 80 degrees out and maybe we'll go swimming in the great pools they have here at La Hacienda RV Park. 

P.S. There are SO MANY butterflies here in Texas!