Wednesday 5 August 2015

USA 2015 Part 6: Austin SQUIRREL! Edition

Oh my, what a week it has been at home. My mum fell down the stairs (a full flight of 15!) last week and broke her wrist, along with other injuries, so there was a lot of hospital visits. She is home now, thankfully. On Monday I had an anaesthetic for my next round of vein killing (don't get varicose veins kids, it is a pain to get treated), and now I am off work for the week. Which is actually good so I can fuss over my mother! Anyway, lots going on in the home health-wise.

I did just want to do a special shout out before moving on to the next city of my trip to the SQUIRRELS! of Austin. I love SQUIRRELS! We are SQUIRREL!-free here in Australia, so whenever I am travelling overseas and I happen to see a SQUIRREL! I always get super excited. And yess, one must always spell and say SQUIRREL! all in capital letters and with an exclamation mark.

Austin's SQUIRREL! game is strong. I saw many SQUIRRELS! on my journey, including at Central Park near North Lamar and the park that was in between my AirBnB and the AT&T conference center.

SQUIRREL!!!


SQUIRREL!


However by far the greatest number of SQUIRRELS! was found on the grounds surrounding the capital building. Look closely at the photo below.

SQUIRREL!


Lots of tiny little SQUIRREL! dots! Some of the business people walking around on their business were clearly bewildered by my running around taking SQUIRREL! photos. But guys, SQUIRRELS!

SQUIRREL!


SQUIRREL!


SQUIRREL!


SQUIRREL!


SQUIRREL!


Yay for SQUIRRELS!

I did just want to finish this post with a few thoughts on Austin. I did really like Austin, the food was great. There is a lot I would like to eat there again or try for the first time! Rabbit Food Grocery is probably my favourite vegan shop ever. It was just really cute and had a great range both of food but also some awesome non-food items. Austin also seems to have a pretty fun vegan community. I didn't get to see too many other touristy things, but from what other people have said there seems to be lots to do. However, I feel that without a car Austin kind of sucks. The public transport is not great (sometimes to get to places you would need to walk for longer than you would be on the bus because there wasn't a handy interchange), and it is quite a spread out city so you cannot easily walk between a lot of places. For maximum Austin enjoyment, I think a car would make things much better. Or a big budget for taxis/Uber. I am eternally grateful to the people who gave me lifts home after late events! I haven't ever driven in the US because the whole wrong side of the road thing freaks me out, but if anyone would like to volunteer to drive, let's go back and hire a car! But Austin is definitely awesome, and if you get the chance you should go to there!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Dim Sim and Sahara in the sun


Here are Dim Sim and Sahara, the day after I got home, enjoying some sunshine in the sunroom. A rare two kitty photo! Though note they are actually no where near each other.

5 comments:

  1. Lots of healing love to you and your mum xx
    P.S. The SQUIRRELS! are so cute!!

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  2. Rough week! Sorry to hear about your mum! Hope she is ok, and wishing her a speedy recovery. (My dad fell down the stairs just after Christmas and fractured a vertebrae. He was off work for months and is still healing. Pesky stairs!).

    Yay for SQUIRRELS! I adore those little tree rats! Hubby an I liked feeding them on campus, back in our uni days. They would bury the nuts and pack them down with the cutest little pouncing motion! It never got boring. I still share your SQUIRREL! excitement even though I see them all the time (would LOVE to see a Red someday though, with the beautiful tufty ear fur *Dreamy Sigh*).

    Hope you and your mum feel better soon! xx

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  3. That's so scary about your mum!! I'm glad she's recovering well.

    I totally understand your hesitation about driving on the other side of the road. When we were in England several years ago, we rented a car, and it took a while to get used to it. Ultimately, it was really fun, and I'm glad I challenged myself. However, whenever we got to a roundabout, I had a big lump in my throat! Also, any time I made a left turn, I had to remind myself to go to the other side of the street and not into oncoming traffic.

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  4. Hope you and your mum recover quickly. Squirrels are cute. We have some woods at the end of our street so I see quite a lot and they always bring a smile to my face.

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  5. SQUIRRELS! We used to have lots of SQUIRRELS! in our old back yard, but we only have two SQUIRRELS! that visit us a few times a week here. We do have plenty of DUCKS! though. Lots of those! :)

    Ouch! It sounds like you're going through a rough week! I hope both you and your mom feel better soon!

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