We heart Texas !!

And this summer we were lucky enough to indulge ourselves again….

Unfortunately the first 2 days were somewhat stressful:

First: KLM managed to leave my suitcase in Amsterdam, it arrived 24 hours after me and then they were only going to deliver it 24 to 48 hours after it arrived (can you believe that…L?!), so we went to pick it up ourselves from the airport the day after our arrival.
Second: Hertz totally messed up our booking for a rental car, which took 2 days to sort out, requiring a third trip to the airport 2 days after our arrival to sort out a new, correct contract & new car.

But after that…………….

 

Any trip to Texas the cowboy comes with me (that man in the suits stays back home) J !

There was a wonderful trip to Austin, driving there we saw this:

 





(more on old/antique quilts in a later blogpost)

Austin was great, laid back, clean, green and fun, we loved the outdoor café’s

Austin is the state capital, so it has the State Capitol building

 



Always interested in history we visited the Texas History Museum, Texas has such an interesting history, did you know it was an independent country once, the Republic of Texas, from 1836 - 1845? And the city of Austin was named after Stephen Austin who founded the Republic of Texas.

 







We really enjoyed our hotel, The Allandale, I booked a room but we stayed in a suite, more like an apartment, with a complete kitchen and the whole thing was in retro 60’s style, even the kitchen appliances and they all worked!

 

So for during our stay at The Allandale we bought our groceries at the Wallmart and HEB and stayed in for dinner & after dinner: relaxing in the hot tub!

 



Perfect was the Oasis Restaurant, with terraces at several levels, all overlooking Lake Travis. When we arrived and they heard we came from The Netherlands, the people there were kind enough to open up a private balcony for us (reserved for special occasions like anniversaries or wedding proposals), so we were higher up than the other terraces and had a perfect view..

 

 





After Austin we spent one day in Dallas to visit the Bush (43) Presidential Library that opened in May. Interesting but to be honest for several reasons (none of which political) I was more impressed with the Clinton Presidential Library we visited last year. But….. we had lunch at the Café 43 at the Library and I had the best eggs Benedict ever (I always have that when it is on the menu), they were perrrrfect!



 

 



After Dallas on to beautiful Jefferson. We stayed here last year, but only to spend the night and did not have the chance to see anything more than Jefferson itself, which is gorgeous enough. But also the area around Jefferson is beautiful. So we thought we’d go back to spend a few days there.

 

 

 

From a lovely lady, Belinda, who lives here



 

we rented a cottage

 



So pretty, come and have a look inside…..

 

 

 

Belinda also arranged a special tour for us on Caddo Lake with Byron, a true Texan if ever we met one! We had a wonderful time with him out on the lake, Caddo Lake is just beautiful……..so quiet and mysterious………

 



 

Byron kindly let the cowboy and the teenager steer the boat, they loved it!

 

 



Lots to talk about with Belinda, she was sweet enough to treat us to breakfast at the local bakery on our last morning in Jefferson

 



Oh, those American breakfasts!

After Jefferson a short stay in The Woodlands Resort and Conference Centre  just for some relaxing, love that pool!

Especially at 8 am when nobody else is there yet!

And because the grounds of the Resort are rather stretched out they do not expect you to walk to the pool or the main building, no, you just call from your room and they pick you up and bring you where you want to go in one of these….

And after all that back again for a week in wonderful, exciting, diverse, super friendly Houston!

The food & the drinks (well, my drinks…. “visjes moeten zwemmen..”)

The people



 

The views

 



The economy

Yep, that is 3 Ferrari’s parked in front of that jewelry store….

The (specialty) shopping, this is the cowboy’s kind of store:

 

 

Even love the busy traffic! (But we must be the only ones)

 



Words cannot express the great time we had or how much we miss H-town & the wonderful people there! Thanks to everyone who made our holiday such a memorable one!

Hope you as fabulous a time this summer as we had!

Phyllis