Cyber weekend in Austin, Texas

I went to Austin , Texas during Thanksgiving on my next venture to explore for  a couple of days.  I was visiting my friend who bought a nice house there. I as well wanted to see some of the spots from one of my favorite Telugu movie 'Fida' :).

I reached on Thursday evening and i enjoyed the ride to city of Leander which was like country side of Austin and out of the city. Since it was Cyber weekend people were all on shopping spree all around. I also enjoyed some street food which was quite tasty ..chips on a stick.



On Cyber Friday, we went to IKEA, Walmart, some of the outlet malls as my friend wanted to do some shopping. Looks like i cannot skip the ritual of shopping anytime soon:). In the noon, i went to a fantastic movie 'COCO' with my friend's kid which was released for Thanksgiving. Its an amazing animation movie which is really very well made and show Mexico in a very authentic way. 

All along i explored the malls of Leander with a sun dial in the middle of a small courtyard enjoyed the sunset time in Texas.

 

Saturday was an awesome day ..right places at the right time that’s what makes a trip worthwhile 😊

Visited the Natural Bridges caverns in San Antonio which is the cave formations around 260 ft below ground level.



I saw amazing formations created by Mother Nature. This was real art created by Dripping rain water, flowing river , compressed calcite, lime, erosion etc are the main characters. Chandelier, drapes, beads, coral reefs, high and wide dome, cracked ceiling, thin sheets like marble art, whole stretch of stone towers, throne, jelly fish like, Ziggurat style (Pyramid) of formations spread across the place. Some of them were so delicately placed and were hanging like chandeliers from the ceiling. There were thin strips of rock which had the look and color of Bacon:) and they had named them so too:).










I was really mesmerized by the cave formation known as Hall of Gods which was a wide space with domed ceiling with all the stalactite formations spread across in interesting patterns. They also had a display of Bat Guano:) (Bat shit) which seems to be another touristic factor of Austin. It is famous for its Bats.





Steep slippery walkways with dripping ceiling and uphill walk with reduced oxygen can make people claustrophobic... many people did . As soon as we came out of the caves I saw lot of butterflies in varying colors. Monarch butterflies fluttering around were a delight to see.



After we recovered with enough oxygen once we came out I took the zip line over a canopy of trees😊 which was around approx 100 feet above ground level.

I also tried to cross the explorer bridges made if wood and ropes..I tried to cross a few but got a bit scared and had to get off soon😄 as it was all wriggling and shaky. My friend's son was much braver than me. Instead of adult taking care of kid, he had to see I got back safely😄.



In our way back we headed towards Mount Bonnell which was one of the spot in my list. It was the right time for sunset when we arrived . Just like the movie scene in Fida..I saw the river bending across the stretch with the beautiful sunset. Also the building in the downtown was lit up by the sunset. I relished every moment.then we reached home.







We then went for a stroll around their community in Leander. On the whole it was a fabulous day!

As I was heading back to Seattle I came across a series of incidents . I started at around 4.15 am to catch my flight at 6.30 am. I reached airport by 4.50 am . There were many people traveling back so long lines in security gates. Interesting thing I saw was that they had displayed wait time data in all gates with comparison..that was a cool thing.

Then at the gate we had new comers at the boarding counters. A guy and a girl were helping out people. The girl was all enthu and energetic and confident. The guy was a bit meek.. he was going around and requesting people to checkin the bags as it was a full flight ..the way it was done was bit funny..it was like holding hands and praying 🙏🏻 . He again did not announce any boarding started and just started sending in people. There was competing announcement in neighboring counters do he was overwhelmed or something..he was not announcing anything properly 😄. Other co passengers had similar thought.

On the whole we started the 4 hrs journey back to Seattle. As I came in my neighbor asked me if I can give up my window seat for an aisle seat as there was a kid. I could’nt as the seat in exchange was not great and I don’t sleep while travel so preferred to stick to my seat.

As we started sunrise just started and was lighting up the sky. As we were flying towards Seattle it was like we were the chariot pulling along the sunrise to Seattle. The entire area behind and sides with orange hues and light. Being two hours ahead it was like we were taking sun along with us 😊.








The flight route was so amazing with such a variation in scenery.

Started with sunrise ..it was almost clear sky and I could see the farmlands with pie charts and large plots .

Thin stretch of clouds making me feel like I’m looking at the bottom of a clear pool..canyons stretching out and lit at the edges with the rising sunlight.

Further ahead I saw the Rocky Mountains powdered with snow and edges again lit like Christmas lights .



I felt like I was flying the night fury in Training the dragon and I’m just soaring like a bird.

I saw a ring of rainbow among the thick carpet of clouds..I also saw the shadow of our plane within this ring which was amazing to see.



It was quite bumpy ride and there were several times the plane was shaking and bouncing.felt like coming down the giant wheel ride where you have a tumbling sensation 😊. There were kids in the plane and they were enjoying these bounces . One of the kid was humming the song  'I love you Just the way you are!!' It was incredible.



By the time we landed it was full cloudy and some areas just clearing up . I was welcomed by the sighting of the bald headed eagle soaring majestically near the airport as though it was welcoming me back😊.

On the whole i had a great time:)!