Surprise! Surprise!

Picture this:

It's your daughter's 26th birthday. It's time to celebrate. In our family the birthday person chooses where we go to dinner, followed by gifts, totally out of tune singing of the Happy Birthday song and finally birthday dessert.  When we asked Lauren where she wanted to go to dinner, she suggested Sherlock's Pub off Research Blvd.  I love their fish and chips but it's not really the kind of place I would have expected her to choose. But she made some kind of statement about choosing a restaurant we hadn't been to in a while.  Ok, that makes sense. 

Enter us arriving at Sherlock's about 10 minutes before 6. Lauren comes out the front door and meets us.  Hmmm...says they just got there too.  I step inside and my little buddy Rex comes running up to me. I'm so excited to see him and Lauren says something about running into him and his family at the restaurant. Hmmm. Ok but there's a Sherlock's (Baker Street) down closer to their end of town.  Ok, whatever. But then Lauren kind of makes me wait near the door for Lester who is parking the car.  Still I have no clue.

Once Lester comes in we head into the restaurant and SURPRISE!  She has orchestrated a surprise Bon Voyage party for us. Neither of us had a clue this was happening.  Here are so many of our good friends, come to wish us Bon Voyage and safe travels.  The Ryan's, the Karlins, the Georges,  Nicole David, the O'Daniels, Bill Bechtol, the McCornacks, Jane Wold, the Bankstons, Ambree Stone, the girls from Lester's office: Laurie, Nicole, Jessica, Melinda and her boyfriend.  (Hopefully I have remembered everyone.) We were so surprised and honored by this outpouring of love. We enjoyed visiting with everyone. We'll miss all of you.

This child of ours gave up her birthday dinner and celebration and planned this event with the help of her husband, David and her brother, Michael. How selfless is that?

Thank you to all who came out to spend a little time with us tonight. Thank you to David and Michael for their role in pulling off the surprise and huge thanks to Lauren for sharing her birthday with us and planning such a great surprise.

We did eventually celebrate Lauren's birthday with our fabulous singing voices, gifts and mini cupcakes for dessert.

It's Almost Time

With eight days left before we leave, we were sitting in our Extended Stay hotel room on a rainy Sunday thinking about our upcoming adventure.  There is some truth to the notion that there are ties that bind..we've lived  and worked in the Austin area for the last eight years.  There are places and things, and of course people, we will miss as we travel.

As one chapter in our life closes...a door opens...opportunity knocks, etc.  We'll be documenting our experiences and thoughts over the next year as we travel around the country.  Maybe this can help others reaching this stage of life.  Or if nothing else, if the stars align, we might get some ideas for a book, take some amazing photos, learn a few things, try something new and live to tell about it, get to know each other better/again, survive close quarters...such will be the days of our retirement life.

We are not going to promise how often there will be a post.  It will depend on what we are up to and what the internet access is like.  Sign up to follow us so you'll be notified when we do post.
If you live near where we are traveling, contact us and let's try to meet up and catch up.

Here's to a few more days before the adventure begins!

Day Tripping to Corpus Christi

Usually when we come to Port A it is for 2-3 days max and I want to spend as much time as possible at the beach.  But this time, we will end up being here for 2 full weeks. So we have decided to check out a few other things.  We took a few day trips into Corpus Christi.  First we went to the USS Lexington and the Texas State Aquarium on Tuesday.  Both of these places are definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. Here are a few pictures from those two sites.

Walking the plank

Walking the plank

I touched this!

And this!

Shark eggs

Dolphin show was great fun!

On Wednesday we went to Padre Island National Seashore to picnic, enjoy the sun and beach. It was not very crowded, there were covered picnic tables and we got to use our America The Beautiful National Parks Pass for the first time.  But alas, no shells.

Thursday night we rooted for the Corpus Christi Hooks minor league baseball team as they took on the Frisco Roughriders. But sadly they lost.  However it was a beautiful night to watch baseball and we had a great time.
Now we wait...for Lauren to arrive and spend a few days enjoying the beach with us.

Port Aransas...The Beach...

For those of you who know me, you know the beach is my favorite place to be.  Something about the sand, the sun and the surf calm my spirit.  I feel more centered.  I feel as if everything will be ok. Walking the beach, looking for shells and other interesting items or lounging in my chair could go on all day if allowed.  The beach is my happy place.  But it doesn't have to be Port A, although I do enjoy this small town.

Over the course of the next year, you'll see that beaches and water will play a significant part in where we go and what we do.  So here's a toast to my love of the ocean and the beach.  (A new drink...Big Red margarita)

First Stop...San Antonio

Saturday morning, being newly "home free," we headed out for a two week stay in Port Aransas. We decided to make a stop in San Antonio to check out their zoo and have lunch at Casa Rio on the Riverwalk. Here are a few of my favorites from the zoo.

On to Port A....

ummm...this happened today

Well, here we are...move out day.

On Thursday we moved our remaining belongings into storage. First we donated and gave away things we did not want to hang on to any longer.  Then we stored the things that we wanted to keep for the future.  We stored some of it in a storage closet on Michael's deck and the rest went to a 5 x 10 climate controlled storage facility.

Today we cleaned the now empty apartment.  It looks almost as good as when we moved in one year ago.

Then we went downstairs and turned in our keys.  Goodbye IMT @the Domain.  It has been a great year!  We might be back in a couple of years.  (If you are looking for a great place to live, we would highly recommend this place.  Tell them we sent you.)  Now we are officially "homefree."

Tomorrow we head to Port A for 2 weeks of beach time.  I can't wait!  We'll be back in Austin at the end of July, until we "officially" begin our journey August 24th.  In the meantime if you need to send us any mail, contact me and I'll give you our new mailing address.

Later....

Three Weeks and Counting

In less than 3 weeks, we will move out of our apartment and become "homeless" or as I have heard others call it "homefree."  Soon we will begin our golden gap year, our year to explore and travel the world, our year to be senior gypsies...although I'm not sure "golden" and "senior" are words I feel best describe us at this time.  Or maybe they do and I am in denial. I like what  Jo Carroll, author of Over the HIll and Far Away, says:  A grown up gap year is a glorious interruption in life's predictabilities. That's how I wish to view this.  And so here are a few reminders for the two of us as we get down to our final preparations before setting out.

• The quality of the journey will depend on our ability to be spontaneous.
• Positive attitudes are required.
• I/We will allow for periods of free time.
• We will take our time getting to our next destination.
• We will stop at points of interest.
• We will check out cafes, pubs, or other places locals hang out.
• We will do things we have never done before.
• We will get off the beaten path.
• We will live less like a tourist and more like a local.
• If given a choice between something safe and something we've never done before, we will take a risk and go with the new adventure.

(Actually these sound like good snippets of advice even if we were not traveling.) 

As I reread this list of reminders, my teacher mode kicked into gear and I had to go back and change all of the statements that had "won't, can't, don't" in them to positive statements. I guess you can take the teacher out of the classroom, blah blah blah....

Must go for now...boxes are waiting, memories to pack up for now while we go out and make more.

Stay tuned for more updates...