Around the first part of August Terry and I went to Austin over a weekend with some friends. A good friend of ours invited us to stay at her sisters house on a lake in Austin. I think we just assumed that it was a little cabin by a lake outside of Austin, nothing too crazy. So we loaded up 2 vehicles, and 3 fun ladies, and 4 crazy guys (That's me and Terry and Todd and Bill) headed down south to the capital of Texas. Well much to our amazement this is her sisters house!
Turns out it's a multi-million dollar house on a cliff overlooking Lake Austin, and a view of downtown. 
We were so excited when we saw the back deck and pool that are on a cliff with million dollar views.
Of course we wasted no time in jumping in the pool, and just enjoying living it up in style for a few days. We had so many laughs, even though it rained a little bit. 
Here is all of our group waiting for breakfast at a fun restaurant, the Magnolia Cafe in Austin. It's funny but Austin is exactly opposite of Dallas. It is a college town (The University of Texas, the longhorns) and it just has this really laid back, live and let live, quirky vibe to it. I was impressed, and it's really a beautiful city in the Texas hill country. 
Here is another fun feature of the house we stayed at. It also had an electric lift that took you from the house at the top of the cliff to the lake below, and a nice grass area and boathouse on the lake. Man you get in this thing and it felt like and amusement park ride as you went down these tracks down the face of the cliff. It sure beats stairs!!!
Here is Todd and Terry standing at the lake house. We didn't take the boat out but had fun hanging out by the lake.Saturday night we all decided to go have ribs. Well off we went to some restaurant about 30 miles south of Austin called Salt Lick in the town of Driftwood Texas. It was a big place and FULL of people. It was just a bunch of picnic tables in 2 Huge log-cabinlike buildings. They are in a dry county there too, but they let people bring their own drinks, so naturally everyone drags big ol coleman coolers there full of drinks. What was even funnier is that the local sherrifs were there directing traffic and makin' sure it didn't get too out of hand. They didn't seem to care one bit about all the coolers and everything. They had a southern blues band playing in the waiting area and people were just drinkin' and havin fun Texas style!! I tell you what though it was some DARN good ribs. They are smoked and cooked in a huge pit right there. We ate way too much. I can see why people are overweight in this state. Man the food is just SOOO good, but so bad for you. A great time was certainly had by all.
It's a vegetarians worst nightmare!!! Yummy ribs and sausages cooking and smoking on the pit.
At the restaurant, with all the people and their coolers (it was as redneck as it looks.) Anyhow Austin was a blast, we lived it up in Style and were sad that we had to come back home to the daily grind. I hope we get invited back to Austin.
Terry and I also did something fun in August. We went and test drove a Smart car. We saw them in Europe and thought they were so cool. They are tiny little 2 seater cars made in Europe by Smart (Which is owned and built by Mercedes Benz). They actually have a great crash test rating, which is amazing for such a tiny car. They get 40 miles to the gallon, cost 13,000$ and really are for city driving (Perfect for driving around Dallas and going to work.) Astonishingly enough Terry, 6'2" and all, fit just fine with room to spare. It was crazy driving around in this little car that takes up 1/2 of a parking space (you can park 2 back to back in a single parking space. ) I tell you what we got looks the whole time we were test driving the car. If you ever see one you can't help but stare, and smile. They drove great and we just loved them. Now that gas prices are so crazy the demand for these little cars is out of this world. In fact they have no inventory on the car lot, just test drive cars. The waiting list is now and amazing 18 months long because of the sheer demand. We put our names on the list and maybe in a couple years we might have a blue one in our garage!!
I know this blog is long but I just had one final note:
This month also was a hard one. One of my cousins on my mom's side committed suicide. I will admit that I am alot older than he was so I only knew him when he was a little kid and didn't know a whole lot about him. I just felt so bad for my Aunt and their family. What a horrible thing for them to have to bury one of their kids. I do not have children, but I can imagine that would be one of the hardest things you ever would have to do. When things like this happen it always makes you think about your own life. If there is one thing I've learned is that every family has issues. Every family is going to go through alot of crap in their lives. You just hope that you and your family can just make it to happier times. I'm sure my aunt and her family will eventually find those good times again. It just helps me to remember to cherish the good times you have, the friends you rely on, and the family you love, whatever that "family" you have is.
