4:30pm: Gabby & I have been sitting in a plane on a tarmac in the Orlando airport for the last two hours. The baby in front of me is crying and we haven’t eaten since 11am. I am very very grumpy. I am about to steal a mickey shaped cookie from a 2 year old when we finally take off for Houston.

6:00pm: We arrive in Houston and I literally run across the terminal to our gate to get a seat on the next available flight to Austin, since the delay caused us to miss our connection. I have never been so thankful for the moving sidewalk conveyor belt things.

6:30pm: Crisis averted we have seats on the plane! We celebrate with two margaritas each at the airport bar. I feel nothing. DAMN YOU AIRPORT BAR AND YOUR WEAK WEAK DRINKS.

8:00pm: Arrive in Austin! Never have I been so excited to be in a Red State. Gabby’s boyfriend Chris, and her friend Emily, pick us up from the airport. Chris lives in Austin. Emily does not, she is also visiting for Austin City Limits.

9:00pm: We all go to the Shady Groove. We are seated in the large outdoor area of a shady groove under a tall tree. Outside there is a vintage aluminum trailer that serves as the bathroom and above the trailer they are projecting old movies. The movie tonight is the 1997 Disney version of Olivier Twist with Elijah Wood. I am not sure this really fits the trailer park/tex-mex/southern theme of the restaurant but maybe a staff member just really like Charles Dickens?

9:10pm: We all order something called the Texas Martini, which is a very strong, very large margarita. It is served in a full dink shaker with a clean martini glass and olives. I would guess it’s about 3 drinks worth of alcohol. WELCOME TO TEXAS!

9:30pm: For dinner, I get the seasonal veggie plate with a jalapeño twice baked potato. If you’ve never had a twice-baked potato then you’re really missing out on a great potato preparation. Do you like mashed potatoes? Yes? Do you like baked potatoes? Yes? Then it’s the best of both worlds with this baby. First they bake a potato then they scoop out the inside. Make the inside into some sort of delicious mashed potato then they put those mashed potato back inside the potato skin and bake that in the oven. I love them but I never make them because they take a really long time and are super bad for you. BUT if you want to make them - here is a bomb recipe via Bon Appetit for a sweet potato version.

10:00pm: 2 Texas martinis later I notice that the bar is playing very sad weird country songs with lyrics such as “don’t let your daughter use your truck” “you’re like a cactus with my heart. ” The lyrics are so silly they seem like they might be parodies of country songs, but no, they are real country songs.* I still sort of like them though. I mean it does sound sensible to not loan your daughter a truck – like maybe she’ll wreck it or most trucks still have bench seats and everyone knows bench seats mean road head. So really you should the song should be let no teenagers or sexually active adults drive your truck.

I know most people don’t like country music, but I like a lot of country music both past & present. I love Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton. I mean I don’t love the truck riding, gun-shooting, male dominated country rock because it all sounds like the same non-sense (please watch the demonstration in the video below by Grady Smith). But once you get past the super mainstream stuff, there are a lot of great country artists out there.

11:00pm: Arrive back at Chris’s house. Chris got us (mostly Gabby) flowers and card saying he’s excited for us to visit! He’s so thoughtful. In addition to the lovely flowers, Chris has about 30 succulents. He had about 5 the last time I visited. Pretty much every time Gabrielle visits they go to this really fun plant store and she buys a succulent or four. She visits a lot. Sadly a few of the plants she brought him are dying. Hope she isn't upset about it...

*Although I can’t be entirely certain.