Balcones Canyonlands NWR, TX

Last weekend we drove out into the Hill Country to visit the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is about an hour's drive northwest of Austin and is one of the few nearby places to go hiking outside of the city limits that we have discovered so far. Given such a grand name- CANYON LANDS!, I was hoping for something dramatic, like the real canyons we saw at Big Bend National Park last year, but what we found instead was mostly small rolling hills of dry prairie landscape. We spent most of the afternoon hiking and driving around the refuge and didn't see a single animal. The park is revered for its bird watching opportunities, but I can't even say we saw any birds of particular interest. Maybe we will bring our binoculars next time?

Becoming Austinites

I can't believe we've already been in Austin for over two weeks! We've fallen into a routine here, made up of running, mountain biking, soccer playing, hiking, and city exploring. We've had amazing, GLORIOUS weather as well, holding steady in the mid 70s and lots and lots of sunshine. (70 degrees in January...EPIC!) It's hard to complain when everything comes together so well and works outs. In other words, life and Austin have been good to us.

Recipes From The Road- Thai Stir Fry

On our last day in Houston we followed a tip from our friends Mark and Lianna and went shopping at the Canino Produce Market. The front portion of the market resembles a regular grocery store, but there is an adjacent area in the back of the market where local farmers set up booths and sell their produce directly to you. In this section of the market you can bargain on the prices and there is quite more variety to be found. While there we stocked up on a bunch of fresh vegetables and fruits, so we needed a recipe that called for what we'd purchased. Given our love of Thai food, we did a quick search on the Thaifood.About.com site and quickly found a stir fry recipe that hit the spot. That night we made a super delicious meal and I thought I would share it with you!

Greetings From Austin!

Saturday morning we made the drive from Houston to Austin (and got a little lost along the way on back country roads with height limitations..yikes!). Since we'd decided that we'd be staying in Austin for a month we weren't ready to commit on any one RV park and were hoping to get a look at all of them before we made our decision. We were really hoping to not repeat the bad RV park experience we'd had in Houston. So, we reached out to our fellow RV blogging friend Yair, who by the way is now calling Austin his permanent residence. Yair had a nice long driveway and invited us to come stay with him over the weekend. Life was looking up and everything was kosher!

Houston, TX

Houston is the fourth largest city in the US, right after New York, LA and Chicago. Last time we'd visited Texas we were just hours away in Austin and didn't make the drive to see the sprawling cosmopolitan city, so this time we decided to head there first. We had high hopes for Houston and were super excited for it to be our very first destination on this leg of our trip. Unfortunately, bad weather, bad RV park choice and LOTS and LOTS of traffic added quite a negative tone to our Houston experience.

Galveston, TX, The Third Coast

A friend recently asked us why we hadn't visited the Third Coast. I was momentarily thrown off by the moniker, but then realized that he was referring to the Gulf Coast. We'd visited the West and East coasts on our trip so far, but had yet paid a visit to the Gulf, so last Sunday we took a trip down to Galveston, just 40 minutes outside of Houston. We'd called up the visitor's office in Houston before going and asked for some tips on what to see and do there. The lady offered up some recommendations, but ended the conversation with "Well, don't expect a nice beach. Galveston has a beach, but its surrounded by commercial ports and it's not very clean." Oh boy, we were super excited to visit the Gulf then, especially after seeing the pristine beaches in California and Cape Cod. Thankfully, Galveston and its beach turned out to be much nicer than promised and we ended up with a pretty interesting day.

11 Year Dateaversary

Today is our 11 year dateaversary (the yearly anniversary of our very first date). I'm almost more giddy about this anniversary than our wedding anniversary. In May we'll have been married for six years, but six years sounds so less serious when compared to eleven...Plus, I like any excuse to celebrate, so celebrating our dating anniversary is one of my most favorite days. I can't believe it's been a whole year since I posted about our 10 year anniversary! I guess time really does fly when you're with someone you adore...and having fun. :o)

On The Road Again

Friday morning we said goodbye to Fayetteville and once again set off on the road. The night before I had a hard time getting to sleep because I was so excited about our departure. I was really looking forward to being on the road again, and the freedom and the possibilities that come with that. We had packed everything up and had gotten the travel trailer and truck all set to go the night before, so when morning rolled around, all we had to do was eat breakfast and do a last detail cleaning of the guest room we’d stayed in. Once we climbed into the truck and were on the road, it felt like we had never paused our travels. How is it possible that we keep switching life styles and it always feels like nothing’s really changed?

Inspiration For The New Year

So how is everyone doing on following through with their New Year's resolutions? Me? Not so good. I didn't really go into the year with specific resolutions, but I did have some general life goals in mind. So far: eating healthy, Check! sticking to a regular running schedule, Fail....Well, in case you've been looking for some motivation on getting in shape this year, look no further than this epic blog.

One Year Without A Job

December 31 was exactly one year since I quit my job. For the last year both Skyler and I have been unemployed or as Skyler likes to call it FUN-employed. Before going on this adventure I used to often wonder what being unemployed would be like. I've been employed to some degree since I was fifteen years old, so it was hard for me to imagine. Would we have gobs of time? Would we get bored? Would we worry about money? Would I worry that we made the right decision? After all, we did quit our lucrative jobs in the middle of a deep recession…most people gave us the “you must be crazy” look when we first told them about our plans. Well, I gave it some though these past few days and I've come to the following conclusions.