Austin, TX, USA – Feb. 19-21, 2012

A couple more pictures

Texans will be the first to tell you that Austin is different than the rest of Texas.  So let me be the second; Austin is different than the rest of Texas.  It is a healthy lifestyle mecca for people who love themselves as much as they love the freedom promised (and fulfilled) in Texas. 

If you can imagine the active people of Colorado decked out in the freestyle clothes and hair preferred in Seattle but spending money like they do in Orange County (I have not seen so many Cayennes in one place since leaving Laguna) then you will have a good idea of the Austin folks.  Of course, all this comes with the friendly hospitality only found in Texas.    

So how did we come to spend three nights in Austin?  On the journey to get The Noses paperwork completed for the crossing, we needed the final documents to be stamped and signed by the USDA’s APHIS department certifying the dogs as being ok to export.  Don’t get me started on this incredibly ridiculous requirement particularly when it all needs to happen ten days before your flight and most states only have one local office.  (Oh no, I got started!) This means you have to visit your vet ten days before the flight, get the documents typed up, send them express to the APHIS office, they work on them for 24-48 hours before express mailing it back to you hopefully in time for your flight. As you can see, ten days goes very, very quickly.  (For more information on traveling with your pets overseas, please see my previous posting US2UK – Transporting The Noses.)  In any event, being only three hours from Austin and hunting for something to take our mind off the masses of luggage we are trying to pack, we opted to take the papers to the APHIS office ourselves.

With Salt & Pepper queued up for loading onto the freighter in Galveston, we really had no choice but to spend our three nights at the Four Seasons, Austin.  Although the building is old and the rooms are much closer to Manhattan size than Texas size, the property is gorgeous with lush grass leading down to Lady Bird Lake and the miles of walking/running/biking trails at hand.  To top it off, a friend of ours mentioned the off-leash area; just a quarter of a mile down the path and across one bridge starts what Rosco and River named Dog Heaven—miles of off-leash trails along the water. 

Upon arriving in town, two new to me (but not Alan) friends treated us to dinner at Eddie V’s where, despite the tempting steaks listed on the menu, we all enjoyed a variety of delicious seafood.  From baked salmon and sole to raw- and baked oysters and a delicious crab salad our table was a seafood sampler.  It was a lovely evening and such a pleasure to meet Jay and Oksana, who I have to thank for introducing my body to P90X.  All I can say is, “Superman Banana.”

Monday being a federal holiday we could not turn in our dog papers so we set about exercising our memories of how to spend money.  We were quite successful at Lululemon and St.Bernard Sports stopping just long enough to enjoy a delicious lunch at Lambert’s BBQ.   Although the menu boasted such lovely items as cold smoked trout, I opted for the house made charcuterie (featuring duck prosciutto) and cheese plate while Alan tucked into some BBQ brisket.  He just can’t get enough of this Texas BBQ.

We didn’t think we would be hungry again, but 7:00 found us out at The Clay Pit, for some tasty Indian food.   If you dine here, I’d recommend using their take-out option.  The restaurant is poorly lit (too bright) and noisy. 

Finally Tuesday arrived and we drove up to the APHIS office.  Summoning all my charm, I went to turn in the papers and beg for a 24-hour turn-around.  Did I mention this was a federal office?  I came out of the office in a charm deficit with no assurance that the papers would be ready any sooner than the 48-hours they promise.  Nothing more we could do with that so we stopped for a coffee and then set about finding some new athletic shoes for Alan.  After a nondescript lunch at Taco Cabana we let The Noses run free in the park for a bit before returning to the room for a quick nap and some long yoga. 

The time had come for our romantic dinner out; in over five months we had never once worn our “fancy clothes”.  We had each packed one really nice outfit but they had never made it out of the Thule compartment on the Pepper.  So we decked out as well as we could (both of us have lost more weight so the clothes were quite baggy—particularly mine so this outfit will need to be replaced in Paris, but really, what won’t?) and headed to the lobby bar for a martini before setting out for Congress.

Incidentally, for those of you following more of The Noses than The Bryants, in order to enjoy a cocktail in the lobby bar (where dogs are not allowed) we had the valet pull up Snowball, our white rental Escalade, and we stored the dogs in there, parked just outside the front door, while we imbibed.

Dinner at Congress is an experience.  The exterior promises an edgy contemporary environment that is not fulfilled by the off-white chairs and booths of the interior.  However, the seating is warm and comfortable with only a dozen or so tables.  The wine list is extensive but the restaurant lacks a sommelier.  Left to our own devices, we opted for a wonderful Margaux.  The food, however, was unbelievable.  French in size and sauce, American and Asian in ingredients with a presentation worthy of Michelangelo, it was a real treat.  Sadly, I was too full to try the egg cream dessert—the one item that drew me to the restaurant in the beginning.

But back to work!  Having not heard from the APHIS office by 9:00 on Wednesday morning, we thought we might have to spend another night in Austin.  As Wednesday dawned warm and getting warmer, the thought of lazing by the pool all day sounded quite nice.  So I only half-heartedly walked up to the APHIS office to check on the progress of our papers.  Turns out, the papers would be ready by noon so I returned to the room in time for our P90X workout and a quick shower before being pulled away from the peaceful Four Seasons.

We are now only days away from The Crossing.  All the papers are in, flights are booked, even Salt & Pepper are loaded on the freighter. 

Really?  Isn’t anyone going to stop us?

-K 

Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) - Jan. 22-24, 2012

More pictures here!
Concerned that we were getting too soft, we decided to start doing mini-Salt trips in between Alan's knee treatments.  Since he has to have a shot once a week for five weeks, we have a lot of opportunity to explore the Gulf coast of Texas, three to four nights at a time.  


Truth be told, we were a bit anxious about how we would feel living in Salt after three weeks (yikes!) of luxuriating in a condo, but it felt wonderful.  Our adventuresome spirit was in high gear as we navigated Salt onto a ferry and began the short drive out to Padre Island National Seashore (PINS.)  True, PINS is only about an hour's drive away, but we still felt like we were "back at it."  


PINS is a remarkable place:  A 60 mile long, skinny piece of land, with a near empty beach on the east and the calm waters of the Laguna Madre on the west. It, like a lot of the areas around the Gulf, is heaven on earth for fishermen and bird-watchers.  


There are a lot of options for RV'ing, from the full hook-up sites found at Mustang Island State Park (on the way out to PINS) to camping right on the sand at PINS (courage not included.)  We opted for a middle-of-the-road solution; Malaquite Campground which does not offer any hook-ups but has potable water, cold showers and a dump station on site.  


Having returned to relatively warm and sunny weather, we are back on solar power (yahoo!) so we were good for 3-4 nights.  Sadly, not everyone loves solar like we do and the campground allows people to use their generators all day and until 11:00 p.m.  I can't figure out what these campers were doing all day (watching TV?) but it was irritating to listen to the generators.  (I am sure our P-90X work-out was equally irritating to listen to, not to mention the wonderful views offered by our contorted bodies, but at least that was over in 60 minutes.)


We drove over and fished in the Laguna Madre without any luck.  Clearly, the fishing to be done is right in the surf of the Gulf where multiple fisherman were pulling out multiple fish (and one over 20 lb Grouper!  )


There are two great highlights of the Malaquite Campground:  The number of pitches and the access to five miles of "No Vehicles Allowed" beach.  Many of the campgrounds we have seen in Texas are enormous and one, on South Padre Island, boasts 400 spaces.  That is not what we are after, so finding Malaquite with only two rows and maybe 40 spaces was refreshing.  Topped off with morning walks down the beach with The Noses and we too were in heaven.


-K

Local Lessons: Filleting & Netting - Jan. 19, 2012

As I have mentioned, here in Ingleside by the Bay hospitality is a way of life.  So when Captain Joe offered his help with "whatever we might need" we knew just where to go for our fish filleting lesson.  


The day we caught our first edible fish, we jumped off the boat and into the Pepper, me driving while Alan held the iced-down Spotted Seatrout and Flounder.  Unfortunately, Joe was out on his aforementioned 30-mile bike ride and, as it was getting dark, his wife Polly told us to put the fish on ice and leave them until the morning.  Bright and early the next morning Joe stopped by (bright and early for us is 8:00 a.m. -- remember, we are not working anymore!) but Alan was still in bed, so Joe and I made plans to meet him at his house at 9:00.


Leading a life of the leisurely unemployed, it doesn't take a lot of appointments in a day to feel fully booked -- one or two does it.  This day we had planned a day of really important errands like visiting the UPS customer service office in Corpus, picking up our mail at the post office and going to Starbucks.  So I was a little anxious to get the filleting lesson completed and get on the road.


Joe met us outside and led us down to his fish cleaning station conveniently located next to his dock.  He proceeded to sharpen his fillet knife, something that has to be done quite often during this process.  He then gave us an expert lesson on filleting both fish.  I can see the benefit of filleting the flounder as it has such fine bones however, the trout?  I would have just cleaned the insides and put the entire thing on the grill like we did in California.  (If--I mean when--we ever catch another we will give this a shot.)


When the lesson was done, Joe offered to get us some mullet to use as bait for our next expedition.  Being now a little pressed for time (see?) I thought to myself, "We don't have time for him to fish the mullet out of the channel."  But what can you say to such wonderful hospitality?  


So we walked over to his dock and Joe proceeded to pull out a big net with weights on the end.  Never missing a beat of his story telling, he tossed the net into the channel as I thought, "How long will we have to stand here?  We have so much to do today!"  


Less than a minute later (yes, less than a minute) he pulled the net up and lo and behold there were six mullet flopping around!  


You can't get a tall, non-fat, extra-foamy latte from Starbucks any faster.


-K

DITL - Fishing Ingleside, TX, USA

Finally a look at our fish!  A Day in the Life of Salt & Pepper Adventures brings you to Ingleside Cove in Texas for some fishing (and catching!)

Hope you enjoy - it is a bit long, but covers three days and three fish!


-K

(More) Fishing Ingleside, TX, USA - Jan. 8, 2012

"You won't go hungry in Texas", Captain Joe said as he hauled six netted Mullet onto his dock; and we sure won't.  Between our newly acquired ability to actually catch rather than just fish and the Texan hospitality evinced when our neighbor introduced himself by bringing over two pounds of freshly killed wild boar loin, not only will we not go hungry, but we might get a little hefty while we are here.  (Don't forget it all started with Michelle's rum cake!)


Our host, Clark, was concerned that our lack of catching was going to give his bay a bad name.  So despite being on a cruise ship, he asked Captain Joe to  stop by and see if he might be of some assistance.


Captain Joe is one of those people who inspire you to live a healthy life as long as possible:  A former marathon runner (raced all over the world) he has taken up bicycle riding (to the tune of 30 miles at a pop) in order to help his 74 year old knees last longer.  He is also the local fishing expert (and gardening expert--I warned him that when we were done with the Aventura, we would be back to have him teach us how to farm) so when he stopped by with an offer to give us some pointers, we paid heed.


We headed off in the boat armed with Joe's instruction and our own learning experience with regard to large freighters (see previous posting.)  Both came in handy.


We headed to a part of Ingleside Cove that I call the "pretty area".  Any fish in their right mind would want to live there.  After about 20 minutes Alan landed a barely legal (14.5") Spotted Seatrout.  We plopped him in the bucket (see how much we are learning?  We brought a bucket this time!  No more smashing the fish into the live bait box) and kept on fishing.  


A storm was blowing in and it was getting quite rough so we decided to head back across the cove to an area that Captain Joe had mapped out for us, using his oar handle, in the dirt of our driveway.


As we were turning around, I noticed a large freighter coming right toward us.  We were quite sure we could outrun it and cross in front but we had to get a move on! So we put the pedal to the metal and headed across.  We did make it, although it was a bit close for my comfort (plus, with the choppy water Rosco and I got drenched again.)


In Joe's spot, just before we were going to call it a day, I landed a (also barely legal at 14") Flounder!  Again with the ugly looking fish, but this time I knew it was going to be tasty:  I had seen it many times on fish house menus.


Feeling quite proud of ourselves, we headed in for our celebratory sun-downers.  As we were passing by the marina, a dog ran out to bark at us and River, who we all know isn't the sharpest terrier on the boat, decided to chase him.  Right off the front of the boat.


Everyone was startled, including River as she plunged under the water and came up sputtering.  I was trying to stop the motor before she got sucked under the boat and (ahem) suggested to Alan that he jump over to rescue The Roo.    I'm sure being in thigh-high water helped with his quick decision and over he went gathering up the dripping 30 pounds and plopping her back into the boat.


And we thought life in a 19' Airstream was a challenge with two terriers!


-K


P.S. Due to the aforementioned drenching of the Nikon D90, there are no pictures of our first edible fish.  But they will be in the Fishing movie, coming out soon!

Fishing Ingleside, TX, USA – Jan. 3-7, 2012

More Pictures Here!

I believe there are boating people in the world; people who have an innate knowledge of the wind, tides, the steering of a boat and don’t seem to mind the lack of control. We are not two of them. But since that didn’t stop us from renting a boat in Switzerland and boating across Lake Lugano into Italy (by the way, there is a universal language and you don’t need to hear it to understand—but that’s another story) why should it stop us from taking out a flat-bottomed outboard for a little fishing in Corpus Christi Bay? We were hesitant at first but after two days of fishing from kayaks we did what any self-respecting almost-fisher-people would do and blamed the lack of fish on our vehicle. So off we went in the boat.

The first day went well enough, we even managed to dock at what we thought was the bait shack and pull up onto a small island for the dogs to stretch out a bit. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, lots of fishing but no catching.

The second day, however, became one of those times that, although I am thrilled to have Bloggie to record our Day in the Life videos, I am grateful we are not being filmed all day long.

It started out nicely enough, floating around Ingleside Cove casting out and drifting our lines along. I even saw a fish follow my line once, so that gave us hope. Then a stand-up paddler came by and said he had seen all kinds of fish just outside the bay in the Corpus Christi Channel and suggested we head that way. Off we went, stopping briefly on the island for a quick dog run.

We got out into the channel and enjoyed watching a giant freighter cruising out of Corpus Christi—not close at all, but I did admire the giant white-capped wake it was leaving far behind itself. He blew his horn a few times as he headed up the channel but, just like in Switzerland, we did not recognize the sound as something that mattered to us. So we continued fishing.

Soon, however, it became apparent that the freighter’s giant wake was about to overtake us. So Alan turned us back toward the cove and we tried to outrun it. No such luck, the waves were approaching too fast. So we slowed down, turned around, and faced the on-coming waves as bravely as possible. I had a dog in each hand as we went over and down the first wave. Not too bad. Unfortunately, the nose of the boat didn’t quite make it back up before the next wave hit us, so it came right over the top. Oh. Yes. It. Did.

Our backpacks (including our fancy Nikon HD camera) and the lunch cooler got washed to the floor of the boat where they were floating (and sinking) into 12” of water. The dogs and I got drenched. River, who was becoming quite a good boat dog before The Incident, retreated underneath Alan’s legs. Rosco hung tough with me in the front as we rode out the next few waves.  (Sometimes I imagine Rosco on a talk show where they are showing Stupid Human Tricks – he would certainly trot out this as an example.)

Eventually the waves lessened to the point where we could turn and high-tail it out of the channel. I made my way to the back of the boat where I unplugged two holes so the water could drain out. (For the life of me, I cannot understand the two holes at the back of the boat: If left unplugged, the boat fills with water when you aren’t moving forward. So I MacGiver’d them with some dog bags to keep the water out.)

And this was only the first time that day I had been thankful we weren’t constantly filming the Aventura.

After many deep breaths we gained enough control to start fishing again. So we started in an area that looked quite promising, keeping a look-out for any more freighters. We weren’t having any luck so Alan suggested we try another spot. As I reeled in my final cast, I fealt a dead weight at the end and said, quite despondently, “Well, I have something – probably a piece of wood.”

As it got closer, it looked almost round and quite white so I thought it was a shell. As it came up to the boat, Alan said, “You caught a fish!” and sure enough, there was a fish at the end of my line. His many, many fins were spread out as far as possible making him appear almost round. He had the ugliest face I have ever seen on a fish; a large, fat head with bulging eyes, bumps and little horns out the side. He was so unsightly I whined, “But I don’t want to keep him, he’s so ugly!”

And that’s the second time I was glad we weren’t filming all day.

-K

P.S. The local expert reports that the fish is a Searobin, “either big head or barred.” I couldn’t decide if “big head” or “barred” fit him better, he has so much of both.

DITL - Sailing Corpus Christi Channel

Starting 2012 right with A Day in the Life movie!  Sailing in Corpus Christi Channel with Clark, Michelle, Mark, Christi & Bart.

-K

Ingleside on the Bay, TX - Dec. 31 - ?, 2012

More pictures here!

One of the great pleasures about traveling across the U.S. before heading to Europe is that we get to meet up with friends around the country. (And one of the interesting parts of our former careers: They enabled us to connect with people well beyond the local office.) You know we headed here for Clark's birthday, but I am not sure I reported that they offered up their water-front condo for our use "as long as we want it". (Note those quotation marks, Clark and Michelle!)

It is delightful - not only the ability to spread out and stay still for a week but the sun is shining, the air is warming every day (low 70's today), there is a tennis court and a Lowe's in town. What more could you ask for?

As for our hosts, they took us on a great sailing trip on the first day of 2012 (what a way to start!), introduced us to their friends Bart, Christi, Deb and Mark (the latter two hosted us for dinner after the other four had left--have to love this Texas hospitality!), gave us a quick lesson on fishing in the bay then had to return to their lives in San Antonio. The worst thing I can say about the Haleys is just before driving away they had left half a (delicious) rum cake in the condo. You see what I am talking about.

So here we will rest for awhile. This stay might be a Trip Saver as you all know I was getting close to having enough of Salt. But being back in the sunshine, with the dogs tied up outside and all kinds of outdoor activities to entertain us, Salt's not looking too bad anymore.

Particularly when I view her from the sun deck of the condo.

-K

Crossing Texas – Dec. 27-30, 2011

More Pictures!

There is nothing quite like receiving an invitation to a birthday party in Corpus Christi, Texas (sunny and 72 degrees) to make you jump up, dig yourself out of eight inches of snow and skedaddle out of New Mexico!  It was for this reason that we skipped our drive down to the Carlsbad Caverns and, instead, headed directly to Forney, Texas for a couple of nights.

Forney is a nice little suburb of Dallas (22 miles east) and we enjoyed staying at the Plantation Place RV Park for two nights while visiting family.  The RV park is on a 40-acre parcel (complete with a southern plantation mansion) but you wouldn’t know that from the lack of space between pitches.  More on the park can be found here on RV Parks.

Other than visiting our dear family members there were two other highlights of this area:  The Hole Thing Donuts and 4T’s BBQ, both family-owned businesses located in Forney.   The donuts are simply amazing with varieties like Maple Bacon (yes, you read that correctly) and S’mores as well as your old favorites.  While there, I sampled a pulled pork roll made from 4T’s barbequed pork and The Hole Thing’s dough which was a taste sensation.  The Hole Thing is thinking about adding this to their menu and I hope they do.  The meat was so delicious that I stopped by 4T’s on my way home and picked up some brisket for dinner.  (Both restaurants are reviewed on Yelp!, click here for The Hole Thing and here for 4T’s.)

In other news:  A slight update to our General Plan (map on the tab above):  We have decided to leave for Europe out of Miami rather than NY, thus saving us a trip up the eastern seaboard in the mucky spring weather.  This also gives us more time to enjoy the sun and sea around the south and down into the Keys.

-K