Sunshine and Blue Skies

After a rainy start this morning, the sun came out in the early afternoon for the first time since Tuesday.  Oh, what a glorious sight.  By mid afternoon temperatures were once again back in the high 60s.  Tomorrow, we’ll be near 80.

We started getting ourselves in order today to move.  Our next destination is Big Bend National Park and it is located in what seems like the edge of the world.  Therefore, we wanted to get in a good supply of food and anything else we might need for the week or so we plan to be there.  Our medications were also ready for refill, so we chose one-stop shopping at Wal-Mart.  I also spent a good deal of time at the laundry this morning.  This is the first laundry I’ve been to where the dryers actually run for an hour.  It is so nice for everything to be really dry, especially since we have been wearing turtle necks and blue jeans this week.  Those never seem to get fully dry in one dryer cycle.

Gene spent much of his time today planning our route to Big Bend.  I had to spend a few minutes with the hiking map we purchased at REI yesterday.  I could stare at a hiking map for hours.  There must be something wrong with me.

A sunny, warm day seemed like a good time for hamburgers for dinner.  It is times like these that I miss a grill.  I like my George Foreman for chicken, pork chops, and salmon, but it can’t come close to a grill when it comes to hamburgers and steaks.

I have one more observation about our trip yesterday.  Austin is a large city, as are most of the state capitals.  Generally, the capitols are located in the heart of the downtown area, surrounded by state office buildings and parking garages.  Traffic can be a nightmare, one-way streets a headache, and parking next to impossible.  Because of the rainy weather, we decided to go on Saturday.  That turned out to be a wonderful time to go.  There was hardly any traffic, the parking garages were empty and they were free.  There were several tourists in the capitol, but not thousands of state employees.  Saturday was the day to go to Austin.

A word of caution, however.  What is good for Austin may not be good everywhere.  True, government offices are closed on Saturdays so traffic should be light, and parking easier (but maybe not free).  Some capitols are closed on Saturdays.  Others may be open, but not have tours.  We called ahead of time and learned that there were indeed tours on Saturday (and Sunday).  In fact, we learned after we got there that we would not have been able to tour the Senate and House chambers on a weekday because they are currently in session.  We really lucked out there.

Tomorrow we’ll continue our preparations to move.  It will also be our last chance to try the baker on Main Street.