Sweet Adventures
April 5, 2011
This morning I really acted like a brat. I ordered breakfast in bed just because I could. Food tastes better when you don’t have to bother to get out of bed to eat it.
Sarah and Josh came to pick me up from the hotel and take me on a tubing excursion. It was actually pretty chilly this morning…and it only got up to about 77 all day. But anything is tropical compared to Philly last week.
We drove south on I-35, I think we ended up sort of near San Marcos…but don’t quote me. We stopped at a quickie mart and filled up a cooler with cans of beer, totally classy. Eventually, down a dusty pebble road lined with rusted trailers, we arrived at Don’s Fish Camp. (I encourage you to find them on Facebook and become friends.)
We were the first “tubers” of the day so the bus driver who normally takes people to the starting point hadn’t started his day yet. But fear not, a sketchy employee told us, Don himself would drive us over in his personal vehicle.
After more than a few minutes of waiting in nothing but our bathing suits, an extra dusty brown pickup truck made its way down the pebble road and its leather skinned, cowboy hat wearin’ driver presented himself as Don. Perfect! We threw Josh in the bed of the pickup to hold down the tubes and Sarah and I slid in next to Don on the bench seat. I wish I could have recorded the conversation as Don casually took sips of rum n’ cola from a Styrofoam cup.
We learned several things:
1. Don hates the cops as they always shut down his parties
2. Don has lived in several parts of the country working various construction-related jobs before settling down to open Don’s Fish Camp in Martindale, TX
3. Don has no place for so-called “political correctness.” While he doesn’t come across as a bigot in any way, he may startle you with his chosen nomenclature regarding non-white persons, just be aware.
4. Don is impressed that Sarah does not have a discernable Swedish accent even though she was not born in the US. (Note: Sarah has lived in Philadelphia since childhood so this is not really remarkable.)
5. Don’s main objective is to “have a good time” all the time. Hey, I can’t argue with that.
6. Also, Don has some of the most crystalline, sparkly blue eyes I’ve ever seen. He’s really just a nice old guy and I’m excited we had a chance to meet him.
We finally stopped on the side of the road, unloaded the truck and bid Don farewell; it was tubing time.
Josh was smart enough to apply liberal amounts of sunscreen. Sarah was dumb enough to only apply sunscreen to her face claiming she’s “not going to burn, Swedes get tan.” I was the dumbest applying sunscreen everywhere except my legs from the bottom on my kneecap to the tops of my feet. (Of course this resulted in a most unique sunburn of the shins and feet which is both embarrassing and painful.)
For 3 ½ glorious hours we drifted down a river singing songs, talking shop and sipping Budweiser; a true American event. It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable activities I’ve participated in for a long time; a perfectly pleasing afternoon. The river was quiet for us—we didn’t encounter too many other tubers but on scorching 100 + degree summer afternoons that river is the place to be. I absolutely recommend a tubing excursion if you find yourself in the Austin area, you deserve the relaxation.
Sarah and I had decided to commemorate the trip in ink. Ya know, the kind that’s permanently stuck in the skin. We’d sweet-talked our way onto Matt Morren’s busy calendar at Bijou Studio yesterday so after getting back to the city we went straight over to 6th street. After looking through his portfolio I knew Matt was the perfect person to give me my long desired sugar skull. Even though he was totally booked with appointments, Matt took a little time out of his drawing day to work on us (and we really appreciate it!) He drew me the cutest (and tiniest!) sugar skull and added it to my ever growing sleeve project. He said it was possibly the smallest sugar skull he’d ever tattooed. I absolutely love it—a little piece of Austin, with me always.
Matt at Bijou Studio Tattoos
Sarah at Bijou Tattoo
After an exhausting day of sunshine, brewskis, floating and tattoos, we ended our evening at Josh’s apartment drinking Korean Sake. I wish I could have stayed for the Korean dinner Josh prepared but my flight is at 6am and I need my beauty sleep.
Austin, you are wonderful.
San Francisco, watch out, I’m coming for you next.
http://www.bijoustudio-atx.com/
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