I hadn’t been to Austin since college, so I was very excited to plan our next investigators’ meeting there, and to throw in some fun as well. We had a two day meeting scheduled for Thursday and Friday, so we flew in Wednesday, got in early enough to take in some fun, worked the next two days, and then I stayed an extra day to spend time with one of my most cherished friends.
Wednesday we checked in with the busy hosts, and they were occupied prepping for the meeting, so Jenny, Amy, and I set out to explore downtown, walking distance from the riverfront/lakefront Hyatt right near the bat bridge. We got a little pocket tour of some highlights from Jenny’s engagement, and had drinks at a couple of bars before lighting at the Iron Cactus for a rooftop dinner. Then on to another bar, with an accidental stop at the sex shop. These two MADE ME go in…..laughing at Jenny mistaking it for another bar….
The band kept going and we all had an early morning, so we had to call it quits before they did.
Thursday was a productive day at work, followed by lakefront drinks.
We then headed out to Esther’s Follies, to hear Linda’s fantastic laugh. Jerry surprised us with a horse drawn carriage ride to the Madison Club, a newly refurbished chic bar where Mary’s famous DJ son sometimes spins.
Friday night after a long day of hashing out data issues and plans, discussing possible approaches for publication, reviewing some of our plans for phase 2, and drafting some abstracts (deadline: today!) we all headed out for Indian food at the Clay Pit. I enjoyed my small table with Kirk and Lynn and we devoured the spinach paneer bread and I ate nearly every drop of my Veggie Korma—delectable!
Here was the tired crew after several days of hard work!
Next a smaller group of us headed to UT and caught James McMurtry at the Cactus Cafe. I knew James slightly in college and he’s changed physically and in guitar skill–but still has the same laconic wit. He played songs from a number of his records, focusing on the last couple.
After the first set, he brought out his son Curtis to play mandolin. Curtis seems cut from the same cloth, joking that if you play mandolin, you will never make money, and you will never be in tune.
While we all enjoyed the show, it was so blazing hot (man am I glad I left my jacket in the car!) that we finally had to leave before the end of the second set. It was good to get into bed just after 1 a.m. because Mary and I had a hard day at the spa scheduled for the next day!
Saturday I dragged myself out of the very comfortable B&B like guest room, threw on some workout clothes (not that I intended to work out–no!) and went downstairs. After a little fruit and a diet coke, (Mary had a healthy oatmeal and rice milk breakfast!) we got into her luxurymobile and meandered over to the Lake Austin Spa, the “Conde Nast #1 Destination Spa” and wow I could see why. It’s tucked into the hills, a Frank Lloyd Wright style exterior with a view down to the lovely small section of the lake….
We arrived, were instructed to get into robes, got a brief tour, then had a delicious and lite lunch heavy on locally grown herbs.
Then it was time to wait in the “blue room” for our treatments.
My first was a ginger and lime sea salt scrub and infused oil treatment that was very like a massage except that all of your dry winter skin gets sloughed off then anointed with herbed and limed oil……I glowed afterwards.
Then back to the blue room to await my real massage….a 50 minute extremely thorough one, second best in my life!
Afterwards, we sat by the fire, drank tea, talked, then dragged ourselves to get our suits on for the hot tub and pool where we took some luxurious laps….
Finally, we rejoined the world and Jerry and had my last “Rex Mex” meal at Maudie’s before I had to prep for catching a plane the next day…..
Looks like a blast!!!