Day One: Sunday Depart Redington Beach at 5:45 via I-275 to I-75 to I-10 (I thought). As we are tooling for hours - no traffic, good roads and Ginger asleep. I was fixated on Scott Adams audio podcast, I suddenly saw "Welcome to Georgia" WHAT? Although Ginger was asleep, I found a way to blame her for the mistake (lol). Travel time added was 40 minutes and 30 miles but captured the steam engine photo below (all was not lost). Phew. Two stops: Falling Waters State Park (pouring rain - minor water fall) and then Old Towns Milton and Bagdad ... St Mary's Church, old Bagdad Post Office and Old Town Milton. Arrived Scarlet Pearl at 4:15 pm Central Time, Dinner at 5:30 pm.
Day Two: We departed for San Antonio at 5:30 am, going directly to San Antonio and night photography (the Alamo, the Riverwalk and dinner.) No surprises, bug free windshield, but do those Texans travel fast on the Interstate and backroads! Our lodging for the evening was near downtown San Antonio. We were able to walk to the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk was beautiful, brightly lit with pubs and dining all throughout the walk. Photos at the Alamo required long pauses in order to capture the Alamo alone ... but we did. One hiccup with the camera settings but resolved. We (I) did get disoriented on the walk after shooting the Cathedral, but with a marked location in Apple Maps all was good. 10,000 steps for each of us.
Day Three: Today was a multi-stop photo journey with our end destination being Austin. Stops included: Gruene Historic District for shopping and pics, Caverns and Kyle Texas. Great little historic town of Gruene with shops and eats (just avoid feeling the baby cactus growing from the cactus leaves !!!) We are still removing needles from our fingers after 2 days. Kyle Texas was the highlight (so far) of the trip. Upon arrival I went to City Hall and asked to speak to the City Manager and/or City Hall Manager in Charge with a request to 'recognize' our Kyle Visit. After being rejected by the receptionist ... "they don't use the phone you have to send an email and schedule a meeting", I sent an email and voice message requesting contact. To our surprise 30 minutes later (while at lunch at the Texas Pie Company), I received an email from the Kyle City Chief of Staff with a "hey, Y'all come on by". When we returned to the Town Hall, the Chief of Staff, the City Manager, and the Executive Assistant were available for photos, an award certificate and Kyle T-Shirts ... They were soooooo nice and asked for permission to recognize that the Kyle's from Florida drove all the way to visit Kyle Texas ... Woo Hoo! PS: they also invited us to the Kyle Balloon Festival in September (ha ha). Next Stop - Austin.
Day Three (cont.) Austin: We arrived in Austin after Kyle Texas, still a little excited about the Kyle ceremony. Our accommodations in Austin - in a word were perfect. We checked into the Beverly - a luxury apartment complex located only a few blocks from center city. The suite was spotless with a kitchen, refrigerator, washer, dryer, (overkill since we were staying a couple of days and weren't cooking or doing laundry!) living room with master bath, parking garage and top security. We decided that we would push ourselves and photograph the State Capital Building (interior and exterior) at night so that the next day we could return in case we missed anything. Timing the sunset, building closure and timing for photos, we found a nice Italian restaurant know for Gourmet Pizza - perfect! and just 5 minutes from the Capital Square. (Ginger's note: it was good pizza, but Bob's is better)
Day 4: Wednesday We call this a mixed-multi day and night. Our morning started with a nice uphill walk to the Capitol to have breakfast at their Capitol Grill (in-house cafeteria in the Capitol building open to the public). Everything we heard was it had great food and good value ($$). They were on point. We had breakfast (after breakneck walk to be there before 10:00 am breakfast close. Made it - worth it. We next spent time touring the halls and taking photos both on the inside and on the grounds. Returning about 1:00 pm - we decided "chill" and since the TV didn't have FOX News, we (no Ginger) watched the old Match Game. BORING! After a short 30 minute siesta we planned our evening activities: Dinner, Mount Bonnell, Cityscapes from the Lamar Street Bridge and then a visit to the 6th Street Pub walk.
Day 5 and more: Austin to Biloxi (really D'Iberville MS.) to the Scarlet Pearl. Table play, people watching, great dining, photo processing, blogging and a night photos. Oh, you ask 'How di we do at the tables' Let me just share this Bob: "How are you doing Gin?" ... Ginger: "having fun". ... Bob: "No really, are we winning or losing?" ... Ginger: "I am having a great time". End of questions.
Closing Comments (keywords to remember events) before heading home;
Kyle City Hall Welcome to the Kyle's / Texans Drive FAST / the Capitol Building at Night / Meeting and Talking to Folks at the Capitol Square and on Mount Bonnell / Pizza near The Capital / "Shaking in My Boots" / Lamar Street Bridge Austin Cityscape Photo / Crazy Millennials on Electric Scooters at 20 mph / Gruene really is pronounced Green / Sony Camera Settings Failed CRISIS - then Fixed / Losing Way in the Dark on Riverwalk / Welcome to Georgia - What? / What Day is It? / the Beverly was awesome BUT TV Sucks / Mount Bonnell Hike and "they aren't breathing hard" / Mosquitoes on Mount Bonnell / the old Iversville Mill and 1853 Church Photo Ops / ~ 2750 miles 33 mpg / Great!
See Trip Itinerary Plan
Kyle City Hall Welcome to the Kyle's / Texans Drive FAST / the Capitol Building at Night / Meeting and Talking to Folks at the Capitol Square and on Mount Bonnell / Pizza near The Capital / "Shaking in My Boots" / Lamar Street Bridge Austin Cityscape Photo / Crazy Millennials on Electric Scooters at 20 mph / Gruene really is pronounced Green / Sony Camera Settings Failed CRISIS - then Fixed / Losing Way in the Dark on Riverwalk / Welcome to Georgia - What? / What Day is It? / the Beverly was awesome BUT TV Sucks / Mount Bonnell Hike and "they aren't breathing hard" / Mosquitoes on Mount Bonnell / the old Iversville Mill and 1853 Church Photo Ops / ~ 2750 miles 33 mpg / Great!
See Trip Itinerary Plan
