Austin City Lights

These are a couple of pictures from our motel. The view is of Austin's downtown. You could take a cruise and see alot of the area. It was too cold for me. It is a beautiful area. We were told that Austin is the fasting growing city in America.

On Friday, January 18, 2008, I and several other teachers traveled to the NEA Convention. We traveled by US Airways with a connecting flight in Phoenix. I did just fine until I had some chicken salad on a cracker. I was sick from Phoenix until we arrived in Austin. It was horrible. Phoenix was absolutely warm and beautiful. Austin was having a major cold front. The temperatures were in the 30's. I was so looking forward to warm sunshine. Upon arriving at our motel ,the Hyatt Regency, our room hadn't been cleaned yet, so we had to stow our luggage in a special room. We attended the opening ceremonies that evening and was able to get into our room around 8:30 p.m. That evening they had a buffet that was wonderful. They featured specialities of Texas. After the buffet, I and my roommate from Tintic School District, returned to our room to find out that the heater wasn't working. To make a long story short, we didn't have heat the whole time we were there. It was very uncomfortable for sleeping. If you can imagine, the rooms were 158.00 a night with no heat.

We rented a Toyota Rav4 and toured around Austin after our meetings. We kept getting lost and having to make U-turns. We didn't see a whole lot of Austin, but what we did see was nice. It is a really clean city. I didn't see any graffiti anywhere. That evening we went to a fancy restaurant for dinner. I sampled sea bass. I was hoping for halibut, but it was out of season.

The cheesecake was to die for and so was the price.

Around 9 p.m. that evening, a bunch of the teachers decided to experience Austin City Lights, so we went to Antone's to listen to some rhythm and blues. The bands were really good. The interesting thing was they didn't have any chairs to sit on. You just stood and listened. The place was packed and you just hoped they didn't have a fire because you could have been stomped on. Kimi, our UEA president, accompanied us and it was really fun to get to know her.

Sunday, we had meetings until noon. We returned our car and headed home. We were delayed at the Austin airport for 45 mins. By the time, we got to Phoenix, we had 20 minutes to catch our next flight. We sprinted all the way only to be delayed on the plane because the air-conditioning unit needed a charge. The only time I was warm this whole trip was on that smeltering plane. The sweat was dripping off of our faces. Since I had such a horrible trip going to Austin, I decided on the way home that I was going to take some Dramamine to see if that would help my queasy stomach. It worked like a charm. We arrived in SAlt Lake City and drove home. We got home about midnight.

It was quite a trip. I loved the conference and I'm proud to belong to the NEA. Next year, the convention is in New Mexico. Maybe I'll get to go and see New Mexico.