And when I say weird, I mean awesome! Because let’s face it; we’re five (with the addition of our native Texan, the Queso Queen) teachers on summer vacation and if we want to see 1.5 million bats then we’re going to do that. But before we get to it, let me just quickly mention we had a little of a slow start yesterday morning (might have to do with that late night kick-line karoaking situation we had going on on Day 9).
We mostly spent our morning/afternoon meandering around Austin where we
1) ate taco cabana
2) found all the jamba juices in Austin
3) and saw a Hawaii license plate, which resulted in this conversation:
We are now only missing 3 license plates and if you guessed any of them are Alaska, either of the Dakotas, or Guam, you’d be wrong because we have seen all of those! So, if you happen to have a Utah, Vermont, or Montana license plate please feel free to come by Tennessee cuz that’s where we’re headed.
After wandering around, the other ladies walked over to the capital where I’ve heard there’s a tour guide with the greatest voice of all time. It’s also the place where more statue mimicking happened, included below (Hey Walsh!):
Along the way, we heard about the bats of Austin and figured since we were in the city with the largest urban bat population in the world, we had to go. We tried to find out how to see them but found the Austin bat hotline completely unhelpful so instead signed up for a boat tour. We were latecomers so there was only one boat tour with room for us. You can see our fellow bat watchers in the following picture of the sunset:
Yep, we ended up on a boat with the Texas Leadership Camp… We can’t escape them! However, we really enjoyed listening to their questions and comment and talking river tubing with their teachers.
We also saw the best bat emergence this season (at least according to our guide). Unfortunately, we have no pictures because the bats move too fast but it was an amazing experience.
More pictures from our boat ride:
After our amazing bat boat ride, we ate at a delicious comfort food restaurant called Moonshine. Then, we split up so that some of us went to see blues on 6th street and some of us went to rest up for river tubing.
Day 11 is river tubing, BBQ, and a trip to Shreveport, so stay tuned. Here’s a preview:
Yummy!
Till next time,
Techtalkin’ and walkin’ (and to Bookie –>;; miss you)
Addendum:
Techtalkin’ and walkin’ failed to mention the SECOND time I was lifted into the air by a drunk person in a Southern bar. This time was far more dangerous as my head almost collided with a ceiling fan. Luckily my road trip partners screamed in protest and I was returned to the ground (mostly) unscathed. This incident, like the first one, resulted in an immediate return to the hotel.
She also left out Steven, our photographer for the above picture and my new favorite student from the University of Texas. If you’re reading Steven I hope you find your way to Paris someday. ❤
-the Gringo Gaucho
Teacher Road Trip 