Wandering Through: 2011.11

Christopher and I arrived in Austin on Friday. We originally planned to stay with a couple of couchsurfers in southwest Austin. However, after walking around downtown for a bit, eating lunch, and trying a local beer, we got into contact with the couple and they were not at home. Instead of inconveniencing them, we decided to get a hotel room...which was the most difficult thing. Every hotel in downtown was at capacity. So we drove and called, drove and called various hotels until finally the Hampton Inn about 5 miles north of Austin had a vacancy. Clearly, I haven't stayed in a hotel in quite some time because I was kind of taken back by how much a room is. University of Texas wasn't even playing football at home this weekend. I don't know why all of the hotels had no vacancies.

Thank God for iPhones. Saturday we searched for a local breakfast spot. This is quite important to both Christopher and I since breakfast is our favorite meal. Urbanspoon directed us to a very small and friendly place, the Counter Cafe. After fueling our bodies, we began a search for a collar pin to complete Christopher's ensemble. The search was futile. Apparently, not many people have heard of a collar pin, except for Brooks Brothers for $60. It wasn't quite worth that much.

Aly's wedding was about an hour away from downtown Austin at a beautiful venue called Vista West Ranch. She timed the ceremony perfectly with the sunset, the music selection was amazing, her dress was beautiful as were the bridesmaids dresses. Almost everybody there was crying. You could see the love between Aly and Mike - it was gorgeous. At the reception, some delicious BBQ was served and lots of dancing commenced. Everybody had remarked about Christopher's mustache and later there were some fake mustaches being given out. So all the girls wanted a picture with him and their fake mustaches. It was cute.

One thing I noticed whilst driving and walking around Austin - the trash. It just seems to be a dirty city. There is trash all over the banks of the roads. Grocery bags float along the highways. The sidewalks are dirty. I liked Austin, but in comparison to Charlotte...it's dirty.