Conference in Austin.

Back in March, we went on a trip to Austin, TX for a work conference for Don.  It was really fun, and we got to explore the city for a couple of days.  Don went to the conference in the mornings while I explored the city by myself.  Then, we would meet up for lunch and try to see as much as we could together in the afternoons.  It was such a fun trip, and we tried to do every "Austin" thing we could!

Don had never been to Austin, and I had only visited a couple of times before.  Mostly, I have memories  of Austin from running back in high school.  We used to race Texas Relays at UT Austin, which is one of my favorite track meets of all time!  I really wanted to go back and see the track where I raced so many times.  That was my first stop on my solo morning adventures.

As I was making my way towards UT, I ran by the Texas State Capitol.  It is a beautiful building!

Mike A. Myers Stadium!  My heart was so happy to see this track again!  This is where I ran a 5:04 mile in high school, which was my mile PR until college.  It was one of my proudest moments and definitely one of my favorite running memories.    

{Exploring the city}

{The famous "I love you so much." sign}

Austin has SO many food trucks.  This is just one of the food truck parks that we walked by.  

{TEX MEX.  All. day. every. day.}

{View from our hotel}

{Visiting Erin Bedell...Pickwick and Thackery forever :) }

{Running along the Colorado River.  It was so beautiful!}

Don and I went to lunch at the 1886 Cafe and Bakery, which is in the Driskill Hotel downtown.  This is the oldest operating hotel in Austin.  The architecture was amazing.

Even down South...you're still in STEELERS COUNTRY.  Our Pittsburgh pride was beaming just a little.

{Live country music.}

One of the coolest things we got to see were the bats under the Congress Avenue Bridge.  Over 1.5 million bats live under the bridge, and it is the largest urban bat colony in the world!  At the same time every night during the summer, the bats fly out in huge waves to eat.  It takes almost an hour for all 1.5 million bats to fly out from under the bridge, and it is so crazy to watch!  You can't really see the bats in the photo, but you can see them in the video.  

The trip was really fun, and I can't wait for our Don's next conference...wherever that might be!