We Don't Freestyle Texas Fight

To understand that reference, click here.

We're back, after a nothing but awesome weekend in Austin. Aaron and I are both having a bit of withdrawal today, but it just means it was THAT good. It was a whirlwind time and yet we didn't feel rushed at all. Me, being a first timer in Austin, really felt like I got a feel for the famous city.

We left LA on an 8:30am direct flight to Austin. My co-worker and our sweet friend, Nicole, was on our flight as well so we met up with her at the airport. We arrived in Austin a little bit after 1 and picked up our rental car. With Aaron's GPS in tow, we made our way to our first stop:

Rudy's BBQ

So, I'll say it..."BBQ" doesn't mean a thing until you've had Texas BBQ. I've never seen anything like it! You get in line and grab some cold sides (potato salad, cole slaw, dill pickles) and dessert (banana pudding with Nilla wafers or chocolate pudding with Oreos and LOTS of whipped cream), if you so choose. Then, you order your meat which they weigh. They put that on a piece of wax paper and you can order your hot sides then (creamed corn, beans, etc). Next comes the white bread, and finally, the piece de resistance, the waxed paper "fine Texas China". When we sat down at the table, Nicole and Aaron walked me through making a sandwich on your wax paper and then we chowed. down. It was amazing! One of my favorite moments had to be when Aaron, mid-conversation, let out a noise and we watched his eyes roll back as he ate his beans. Guess they don't make beans like that at Wood Ranch here in LA.

After our pigout 2009, we headed to Nicole's parents house. They were such kind and gracious hosts to open up their home to us during our stay. Not only that, Aaron and I got to use 2 of the 4 season tickets they have for the game! The seats were SO fantastic...read down for pictures of the view from our seats. After visiting a bit, we decided to go to the Co-op (school store) and see campus before it got really crazy on Saturday for gameday. Austin is a lot like Berkeley and I can see why people love it, but especially why Californians love it!

I am so jealous that they have a Chick-Fil-A and a full sized Starbucks on campus!


ESPN Gameday was broadcasted from Austin on Saturday. They were setting it all up on Friday when we were walking around campus.

Us in front of the famous tower on campus. They light it orange after a victory and light it with a "1" if Texas is the national champion!
After walking around campus, it was about dinner time so Nicole took us to Maudie's, a tex-mex restaurant that was very good. It was really crowded so we knew she had brought us to a legit spot in Austin! After a delicious dinner, we ducked into a grocery store to get some stuff for breakfast. Who knew a little glimpse of heaven existed in a Texas supermarket?

Blue Bell ice cream. If you haven't tasted it, Go Texan, and TRY IT.

You will not be disappointed.

After a great night's sleep, we were up and at 'em on gameday! Aaron wanted to get to the ESPN gameday broadcast so we dropped him off and Nicole and I went to try to find some good parking. He took some great pictures amidst the madness!


This is funny since Tech is always telling Red Raiders to "get your guns up"!

I think Lance looks pretty good in burnt orange

Bevo made a cameo

Aaron got such a great picture of the Capitol in the background
After gameday finished up at 11am, we walked around campus to see a little more of it. We saw the tower from another angle and kept walking until we hit the stadium.


From there, we headed back towards the Co-op and that area to check out the little shops before Matt and Courtney and Mark and Brenda (Matt's parents) arrived from the Dallas area.

Tyler's, famous for the "Keep Austin Weird" t-shirts
We had Austin's pizza for lunch and then did some damage at the Co-Op.


Aaron went to stand in line behind the Co-Op for an autograph signing with Earl Campbell. He sure earned it, it was so hot and humid out there!



Aaron getting his autograph
Mr. Campbell wasn't the only legend people were excited to see...


BEVO!
After that, we headed towards the stadium, passing lots of tailgaters. On our trek, we met up with Aaron's high school friend, Evelyn, and her fiance Collin. I've heard so much about her, but with her living in Austin, I hadn't yet had a chance to meet her (or Collin!)

Can you pick out who didn't get the "no sunglasses" memo? Awesome.


Parking garage tailgate, you don't see that every day.
After a quick clothes change in the car (we didn't want to be in the same sweaty clothes all day and all night for the game), we headed to the stadium entrance to "watch the boys get off the bus".

Mack Brown in his burnt orange blazer.

The big guy with curly-ish kind of blond hair is Garrett Porter, a freshman redshirt from ODESSA! Terrie works with his dad and the Porters are good family friends.
I spotted the proud Porters in the crowd out there--it was so fun to see them!

Because we were going to be sitting away from the Bryans, we took advantage of no people in the background and got these great photos! Courtney is the cutest pregnant girl out there--not that you could even tell she's pregnant! Houston Clark is scheduled to say hello on Valentine's Day:)


We just loved getting to see y'all!

Here's me and our sweet hostess:)
We then entered the stadium. It was awesome to see the field up close before the game started.



Aaron got a phone call from some friends from Abilene that we also hoped to see while we were there. Lyle Leong, Jr. is a junior at Tech and if you watched the game, you might have noticed that he scored the 2 Tech touchdowns. Aaron went to church with him and his family in Abilene when he was at ACU so it was great to meet them.

They insisted on taking our picture and I'm so glad that they did because it's one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

I love my blinging Longhorn pin...Aaron's Grammy sent it to me for the game!
It was then getting close to gametime, so we headed to our *awesome* seats and got ready for all the fanfare (my favorite part). Nicole noticed a cute looking family on the sidelines. Can you read his jersey?

McCounaghey & Co.
I sure love when the band comes out and all the Texas traditions take center stage. It's hard not to get chills when a stadium of 100,000+ people are singing "The Eyes of Texas"!







I'm always a sucker for the little fans and their little horns!
The game had me nervous almost the whole time, but I'm glad the Horns eked out a victory! It was fun to watch the tower go orange after the win. It was a long day and a long night, but it was totally worth every minute to have had such an awesome experience in Austin.

After some much needed rest, we woke up in the morning and headed out to a nice brunch in town with Nicole and her parents. We really were overwhelmed by their generosity. After brunch, Nicole's dad took us to see a view of the lake...one of the many reasons I fell in love with Austin this weekend!





After downing some Blue Bell (literally, Aaron ate out of the carton), we were soon on our way to the airport. With this pretty view to guide us home, we were back in LA before we knew it.


Such a great trip!

Hope everyone had a GREAT weekend! Also, big JOB news for the Echols...tune in tomorrow for that story...

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:20