A different kind of hike

The past few weeks I have been busy getting acclimated to my new job and schedule, but I'm not one to be all work and no play. And since the weather has been a-ma-zing, we've tried to spend as much time outside on the weekends as we can.

A good representation of the trails.

Yesterday, we went with a friend of mine on a hike in the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt is just southwest of downtown and has amazing hiking and biking trails; there are even cliffs for those who want to go rock climbing. This was my first experience do anything outdoorsy in Austin. I'm still amazed at how green this area is. Hiking in Austin is quite different than the hiking I've done in the Utah mountains, but it's still just as much fun. Next time, we want to hike on the other side where there's a waterfall and we can go swimming. 
 
We have some other excursions planned for the next few months, especially since I've been told that now is the perfect weather to do all the outdoor activities (I believe it since yesterday was around 90 degrees with a nice breeze and what I would classify as a perfect day). It feels wonderful to know that all these activities are so close.

BBQ on a beautiful day

To celebrate my new job and getting into grad school, Adrian and I decided to celebrate by trying out the all-you-can-eat BBQ we had been hearing about at the Salt Lick in Driftwood.

Enjoying the beautiful day while waiting for a table.

The open pit where all the meat is cooked. Mmmm.

We arrived two hours after they opened and already they had a wait. This gave us a little time to check out the grounds and the open fire pit where all the meat was cooking. Before we knew it, we were seated at a picnic table and ready to order. The all-you-can-eat menu included sausage, brisket, pork ribs, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad and bread. Our favorite is the brisket — it was so tender and the smoky taste was amazing. Next time, we want to try out the beef ribs and chicken. 

Our first plate of food.

After stuffing ourselves, and getting some blueberry and peach cobblers to go, we headed across the street to a park to take a nap and walk around. Driftwood, in addition to offering some great BBQ, is also a scenic and beautiful area. You can see the rolling hills, a river and even some stone cliffs. After waking from the perfect, relaxing nap, we decided to drive through Driftwood a little more.  Not much farther, we ran into one of multiple vineyards in the area.

The wine tasting building has an Italian feel.

We stopped by the Duchman Family Winery and learned that central Texas weather is comparable to Italy so some of the same grapes are grown in both areas. We were walking around the grounds just as the sun was setting behind some of the new grape vines. Since this first trip into the country was such a success, we're thinking on the weekends we just get in the car and drive. Who knows what we'll run into next.

And now for the bad news

Apparently with good news there also has to be some bad. Adrian's temp job that he was supposed to have for the rest of the month has ended (oh, Utah and it's crazy right-to-workness). It brings up money issues again. We're both trying to work temp jobs till we leave but, obviously, they are unreliable. It just overall sucks because it's money that we needed and were halfway depending on. More stress to add to the pile. I wish that we could head to Austin now and start looking for jobs. I've heard that right now Austin is one of the top places to find jobs. We've already been browsing online and it seems to be true. This situation of job or no job seems to have been a constant in Utah for the past few years. I'm not going too crazy about it because we've been here before and somehow gotten through it. Sometimes you just wish you could fast forward to a solution; the solution being moving. Right now we just have to continue on our schedule and be extra tight with money; and hope that tomorrow brings another job.

And for a little pick me up, here's a video with a perfect message for anytime you're feeling down or going through something.