To Do: Babymoon Day 2 (cont)

I promise every day won't be so lengthy.  I guess we were just ambitious to start!

We made it to Austin Sunday afternoon.  Again, not really knowing where to head, we ended up going to the Barton Spring pool. 

We've shown everyone who visits us Hot Springs, but this was a cool spring.  Sounded nice on a hot, steamy day.  But...we discovered you had to pay and we weren't there to go swimming.  This place was pretty awesome--70 degree water every day and crystal clear.  Not to mention HUGE!

We drove downtown to see the enormous capital (yes, everything in Texas is big!). 

Then after finding a parking spot big enough for the ole' RV, we put that baby in park and looked to Trip Advisor for what to do. 

One of the "things to do" suggested we watch the millions of bats emerge at dusk from a bridge that was just a few blocks away.  We figured since it was 7:00 we could walk that way.  Apparently, the bats are popular.  The bridge quickly filled up, as well as kayaks and boats in the water.  Who knew!

 We waited, and we waited.  Did I mention these are Mexican bats?  And just like we tease our Mexican friends Lynda & Itzel for always being late, these bats didn't come until it was quite dark. 

After all the suspense, we saw maybe a hundred bats fly out.  Not quite the swarm of million that the pictures show.  Oh well.

We walked a few more blocks to go grap some Texas Barbeque.  (No, us party animals didn't make it to 6th street even though I really wanted to check out The Bachelor's bar there---I didn't figure my swollen ankles and mamalicious belly would have fit in either).  It was past 8:00 and we were hungry.  But, we found a quant little place that only had seating left at the bar.  Not only was dinner great, but it was at the bar that we had one of the highlights of our trip.  Sitting all alone, we met Bill.  93 year old Bill. 

Bill had an interesting life. He had a law degree from Duke and went on to manage a band.  He had been a conductor of an orchestra at some point too.  His wife passed away from breast cancer 5 years ago, so he sold the house they had built in Conneticut and he moved into a condo in downtown Austin.  This old man was sharp as a whip!  I just can't imagine my 90+ year old grandparents living in downtown Austin!  He was a regular at this restaurant and I bet they just love him.  We sure did!  We talked to Bill for hours.  As we got ready to leave, we told him that we had to go find a campsite for our RV.  He was so insistent that we use his garage, that he begged us to walk home with him just to check it out.  I think it made both of us feel better to see that he go home.  We graciously declined the garage, but when we asked to get a photo, he was just tickled. 

Oh Bill.  What a man!  If he would have went with us,  I think we would have brought him along for the ride!

That night we learned another lesson: campsites aren't open 24 hours like hotels.  Oops!  So we slept alongside the truckers in the Cabela parking lot.  Thank goodness for a generator!

Day 2 complete.