Austin 2012

 This past weekend Eric and I traveled to Austin to convene with Chelsea and Steve, as well as my old roommate Brittany and Chelsea's new life-love Edwin Zee. It was a totally awesome time. We had so much fun- I don't think Eric was even ready to leave. Above is a pic of Eric, Brittany, Chelsea, Edwin, and Brittany's sweet Australian Shepherd, Sol, in Brittany's backyard with a cool abandoned satellite dish. The previous owners must have been trying to communicate with aliens or something. Which wouldn't surprise me, this is Austin after all. Also, Brittany lives in an awesome neighborhood near downtown, but poor sweet Sol is like the only non-Pit Bull around. And every other dog in the neighborhood threatens to kill him every time they go for a walk. It is crazy! He even had a big gash on his nose from a recent attack. Brittany did not seem too concerned, but I would be.

 This is Brittany's impressive backyard garden. She and her fiance are really into gardening and pickling.

 The first day we were there was like the first cloudy and cool day in Austin in about 6 months. Bummer! So we went to the LBJ museum on campus. Unfortunately about 80% of the exhibits were closed for renovation. Bummer again! So we took a pic with this life-sized statue and called it good.

Edwin is a great guy- we all loved him. He is from Yuba City, where we got Emily as a puppy. Chelsea is trying to get him to move with her to Austin.

Chelsea and I visited the old bench at school where we used to eat lunch every day. Memories...

 Finally the sun came out, and I let my huge hair down.

 Eric and I went to the Austin Book Fair, got some BBQ from a cart vendor and sat on the lawn of the capital soaking up the rays. It's been cloudy in MN for about 2 weeks, so it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

 It was the weekend before Halloween, which is huge in Austin, so Chelsea and Steve showed up partially in costume.

 Then we went back to Steve's office at Design Workshop Austin, to get them totally dressed. Here Steve is modelling his Genges Kahn getup.

 Chelsea and Edwin went as "Jake and Finn from Adventure Time." It's a show in Cartoon Network. Bonus points if you know who they are.

 We walked 6th street downtown that evening and saw some amazing costumes. I don't know who this guy is supposed to be, but he is about the only one I got a good picture of. We also went to a showing of Night of the Living Dead.

Here we are at the airport, ready to go home, taking in one last Margarita. Edwin took these on his phone with the "Menga-cam" app. Bye Austin! I'll miss you every day until I return again!