I woke up Saturday morning, feeling extremely unrested, couch sleeping is not comfortable.. We also woke up with an air of uncertainty; we knew that we wanted to do fun things with Carolina all weekend for her birthday, but we hadn’t decided what those fun things would be.
Earlier in the week I had created, if I do say so myself, a wonderfully detailed list of things going on around town that would be fun. Museums, movies, water parks and fun restaurants were all represented on this list along with pros and cons of each option. I had expected Isaac to go over the list and cull out a few of the things and then we’d present the final list to Carolina for her to pick what activities she wanted to do. However, he’d had a busy week at work and was not been able to look over the list until we pulled it out Saturday morning; all this to say that is how we ended up having Sunday dedicated to the Volente Beach water park. More on that later though! The big item Carolina picked for Saturday was a viewing of Tangled at popular Austin pool, Deep Eddy. This was not until the evening, however, so we had several hours before then to fill. Carolina decided she wanted to visit the State Capital, go miniature golfing and then go to the pool.
We knew this would present some challenges due to the intense heat we have been sitting in for about 3 months now. It’s been over 100 degrees for over 60 days now and it shows no sign of letting up. The capital wouldn’t be horrible, the building is air conditioned, but it would require a walk from parking to the building. The pool wouldn’t be awful either due to the fact that well…it’s a swimming pool, but miniature golf was going to be the test. Peter Pan Putt Putt is an Austin institution, but it sits in an urban area and that place gets HOT. I’m sure there’s some scientific reason as to why it always feels 10x warmer there than everywhere else in town, but it is a place best visited in the evening after the sun goes down. We would be there about 4 in the afternoon, the most hellish part of an Austin summer afternoon. We accepted the challenge though and donned our lightest clothing and an assortment of sun screens and set off on our adventure.
We hit the Capital first, and we had been surprised when Carolina asked to go here, it wasn’t on our list and we had gone back in June. That day though, we had gone later in the day when many of the rooms had been closed for the day and Carolina had been very disappointed so we had promised to come back again when rooms were open and we could poke around more. I just didn’t think she’d take us up on that so soon. We parked in our awesome downtown parking lot where we always find a spot and walked across the street to the Capital. Normally when you visit the capital you walk slowly across the grounds taking in the statues, fountains and beautiful lawn. On this 104 degree day we barely looked twice at the lawn and set our sights on the entrance and the AC. It was a busy afternoon, but we headed straight for the rooms we’d missed out on before, the Texas Senate and Texas House chambers.
We’ll stop here for a brief civics lesson: the Texas state legislature mirrors the US government in that it is a bi cameral legislature split into the House and the Senate. The state Legislature meets every other year unless the Governor calls a special session, which only he can do. The State Capital building looks very similar to US Capital but its 7 inches taller. And they say size doesn’t matter… ;)
After viewing the Senate chamber we stepped out and saw someone exit a room I had never noticed before. We decided to be nosy and see what this new room was all about and found ourselves in a senate conference room complete with a podium and microphone. Isaac was the first one to pounce on the microphone which, thank god, was turned off, but he none the less had fun “playing” West Wing and so of course Carolina had to play as well. I finally drug them out of there and we continued our tour. Carolina had wanted to go back to her favorite part of the building which is the newer annex that happens to be located all underground. It’s nice and modern, but there’s not much to see besides a center atrium that lead back to ground level and was used in a Spy Kids movie. Other than that it’s just long hallways and office. (And a gift shop, but we’ve made sure that Carolina hasn’t found out about that yet, I can just imagine what they would charge for a stuffed armadillo that says Texas.).
It was getting late and we need to move on so we said a sad good bye to the AC and headed back to the car. Along the way I insisted that we stop to see one of the Art Cows that is across the street from the Capital. The Art Cow installation is project where different cows were decorated and then placed around downtown to remain there until October when they will then be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to the Children’s Hospital in town. I had heard about but had not seen for myself the cows and I was excited to see a Lifesaver (the candy not the… item) cow across the street from the Capital and made us take photo stop before hopping in the car and heading a little further south to the Peter Pan Putt Putt.
Besides the heat, my biggest concern about the mini golf plan had been the crowds. I’ve had to wait up to 30 minutes to begin playing before and it’s a pretty popular place in South Austin. Apparently not when it’s 104 out, the place was deserted. We had our choice of parking spots in the shade and were one of about 3 group’s total. We practically had the place to ourselves! I warded off heat related whining by immediately getting Carolina a cherry sno cone and heck for the $1 it cost I should have gotten myself one as well!
None of us excel at the game of miniature golf, but we managed to move swiftly enough through the 18 hole course and I believe much of this was heat related. We wanted this game over as soon as possible. I for one there were a couple holes where my ball mysteriously moved a little closer to hole than where it had originally landed. By the time we finished we were drained and ready for some food. Isaac had requested we get dinner from P. Terry’s a burger place that only uses meat from you know…organically fed cows and what not. They’re supposed to be healthier and they taste pretty good but best of all they are right across the road from the putt putt place. It’s a drive through only place so we relaxed in the car while we waited to get our food. I, of course was desperate for a Coke and when Isaac handed me my drink I had the best surprise of the day waiting for me; it was the best Coke I had had in quite awhile.
What makes a good Coke you might ask? A good coke has almost too much carbonation and not too much syrup. It’s sweet, but has a bite. This Coke had all of that and I made sure we all had some and could experience this rare find. The Coke alone totally made my day!
Once we got our food we drove over to Deep Eddy park to eat lakeside before hitting the pool. The burgers were fabulous and devoured quickly and then we were more than ready to hit the water. Deep Eddy is a spring fed pool so it maintains a constant temperature of about 69 degrees year round and it’s not chlorinated. The pool sits in a mass of old oak tress that provides large areas of shade over the grassy hillside next to it. The main pool is pretty shallow never getting deeper than about 4 feet, but there is also a large lap pool next to it that Isaac was eager to take advantage of that evening. This evening there was also a large inflatable movie screen set up on the side of the pool across from the grassy hill and we were able to snag seats high enough on the hill to give us a great view of the screen for later. Then we dove in, well Isaac and Carolina dove in, I inched my way in as I am not a huge fan of the cold water and generally sit out when the water is colder than my liking, but on this long hot afternoon even I couldn’t resist. We splashed around for awhile and then Isaac went to swim some laps. During one of the 5 minute rest periods as Carolina and I perched on the edge of the pool she noticed a couple school friends and ran over to say hi and ended up jumping in with them. I was fine with this, I had almost had my fill with the pool and was happy to lounge on my towel for awhile in shade and enjoy the evening and Carolina loved splashing around the pool with her friends. The movie didn’t start until 9pm exactly but the sponsors of the event, Carinos, handed out fans and bug spray as well as raffle tickets and very soon the place was packed!
I really enjoy the movie Tangled, the Easter Bunny brought Carolina the movie in her Easter basket and we’ve watched it several times. It’s a very fun, fast moving story that has some great songs, which is something you don’t see much anymore in animated movies. I admittedly tear up during the “Now I see the Light” song and at the end when **Spoiler Alert” Rapunzel reunites with her parents. Carolina’s friend Gabby joined us for part of the movie and Carolina went back and forth between the pool and her towel and a great time was had by all!! We got home after 11 and put an already sleeping Carolina straight to bed. Isaac and I were up another hour preparing for the next day and unwinding and dreading the water park the next day. We were to be surprised though…
No comments:
Post a Comment