Days 7 and 8: Austin and The Wedding

Our crew at Mueller's Barbecue in Taylor, TX

Alexandria and Anais at the Rockabilly Shaved Ice stand

Aunt Lynn and Uncle Terry with the groom, our nephew Brian

The James ladies getting ready for the wedding

The James men getting ready for the wedding

T and G

Kids--they clean up real nice!

Our crew at Black's Barbecue in Lockhart, TX

The James Women

We finally were reunited with Tim and Anais on Friday at the airport in Austin, TX, after driving up from Galveston. It was so good to see them! A week isn't that long, but at the same time, when you are separated from the people you love most, it seems like forever. They were a little tired from having to get up at 4am to get to the airport, but they survived. Anais pulled a neat little trick on me that morning, in fact, by texting me to tell me that they had missed their flight to SEA. I believed her at first and panicked, but she finally let me off the hook. What a card.

Terry and Lynn took us out to dinner at the restaurant conveniently located next to our hotel in north Austin--Freda's. It was great--some of the best food we had on our trip, I think. On the other hand, I'm a firm believer in the idea that often our enjoyment of a meal has more to do with how much fun we have while eating it, etc., than with the food itself. Who knows. Suffice it to say that we all had a good time together, partly because we had a fun waiter, Michael, who kept us entertained with his stories of moving from New York City to Texas, complete with the transition of his accent from NYC to Austin. We all went swimming for a bit after dinner and then crashed.

Saturday morning we got up and went for a drive to Taylor, TX, and had some barbecue at Louie Mueller Barbecue. It was pretty good. Mueller's barbecue style fits into the slow-cooked style of barbecue without sauce. The only rub they use on the meat is salt and pepper. I had a brisket sandwich, which was served with pickles and onions on white bread. The meat had an excellent smoked flavor--not at all "tarry". The highlight of the meal for me, however, was the homemade German-style potato salad and the icy cold glass of sweet tea, a staple in most eating establishments in Texas, and one which makes me think that Texas is a good place to be. I'm holding back a little on my praise for Mueller's Barbecue because I thought the meat was a little too dry--pieces of it were impossible to chew because they were hardened like jerky. I recognize the different styles of barbecue for which Texas is so famous, however, and I realize that my preference here is more likely due to personal tastes than any kind of quality issue.

We took a little drive out to Lake Travis after lunch to scope out the route to the wedding later that night. I love Austin. It's a beautiful city, and it's full of interesting people doing interesting things. I can't say that I know a lot about the city other than what I've observed in a couple of brief visits and what I've read, but it seems like a great place to live. I hadn't seen Lake Travis before this visit, and it only added to the positive things on my list of reasons to like Austin. Beautiful. After that, some of the kids went swimming, and some of us spent some time relaxing before we had to get ready for the wedding.

We got to the wedding venue, the Vintage Villas, at about 7, in plenty of time for the 7:30pm wedding. It was so good to see Brian, Joanie, Andrew, Kylie, Drew, Jacqueline, Erin, Ryan, Sheri, and Al. Everyone looked wonderful, and the wedding venue was absolutely gorgeous. Brian's beautiful new bride, Casey, has excellent taste :) The ceremony itself was one of the nicest I've seen, primarily because the couple was darling, and the minister who did the ceremony took time to find out about them, their families, their lives, and their courtship before he did the ceremony. It was very personal, funny, heartfelt, and touching. I'm happy to have Casey as a new member of our family. The James, Wilson, Blessing, and Del Pozzi clans all behaved well at the reception, and we ladies had a wonderful time dancing together and just being with each other.

The next morning we organized ourselves enough to head downtown to Sixth Street in Austin to check out the shopping and anything else there was to see. For those who don't know about Austin, Sixth Street is the heart of Austin's vibrant music scene. On this visit, we were there at 10 am, much too early for clubs, etc., and most of our crew wouldn't have been old enough to explore the place anyhow. But it was fun to see just how busy Austin's nightlife is and to explore the little stores and see the architecture, etc. After everyone was tired of the sun and humidity, we drove to Lockhart, Texas, to try out some more barbecue, this time at Black's Barbecue. This place had the best barbecue I think I've ever had. I tried the same as last time--the brisket sandwich. This one was served on a burger bun (much easier to eat) and also came with pickles and onions. It was served with a side of a light barbecue sauce, and I grabbed some potato salad in the line on the way through. The sandwich was amazing. It melted in my mouth and was full of amazing flavors. The potato salad I sadly recognized, however, as Reser's. A little disappointing. The meat made up for it, and I've decided that I'm going to have to do some research and experiments at home to improve my status as the "meat queen." After lunch, we had quite a lot of time to kill, so we spent some time looking around for a cowboy hat for Miss Anais. We were unsuccessful in this endeavor because it was Sunday, and everthing was done closed.

By then, it was time to take Anais and Tim to the airport. It was a sad goodbye since we won't see them until next Friday, but so it goes. And next, San Antonio!