Visitor From the East Coast

I finally had a visit from a friend back from North Carolina (where I lived before coming to UT)! She happened to come during the busiest week in the summer, but I think she was happy to be occupied nearly every moment of her trip. She flew in last Thursday and left a week later. Being fairly new to Austin myself, I was limited in my knowledge of what were the best places to bring visitors to. But I did my best. :)

So even in my limited time here in Austin, one thing I have learned for sure is that Austin has a TON of great places to eat! So I tried to take her to good food places they don't have on the east coast. We went to Galaxy Cafe where she got to taste their AWESOME sweet potato fries. She also had to try Freebirds because she is a huge Chipotle fan, so she needed to compare. (I think she decided that she still liked Chipotle better) And of course I had to take her to a Texas barbecue place, so I took her to Rudy's. And being the meat lover she is, she definitely enjoyed it. :)

excited to have some Texan barbecue :)

Some places in Austin she got to see included a more historical site, the State Capitol, and of course the place most relevant and known to me, UT campus. I showed her different buildings on campus and the turtle pond as well as some cool places on the drag like Cornicopia (a gourmet popcorn store), Juicy Tart, Tapioca House, and the Co-op where she got a trademark "Keep Austin weird" shirt.

a true Austinite :)

Though it was cool to show her what had become my world for the past year, the best part to me was visiting the families that she knew through connections to her parents. She actually was born in Austin but moved shortly after. So there were families that knew her as a baby and knew her parents as well. One night, we went over to a family's home that I knew through church to have dinner. I had to make a phone call so I went upstairs. While on the phone, I overheard the conversation between the wife of the couple's home we were in and my friend. She asked my friend what her parent's names were after learning that they had once lived in Austin. After answering, I heard a loud gasp of surprise! So apparently my friend's mother had helped out a lot in the wife's wedding because they were in the same home meeting (a Christians on Campus small gathering in an alumna's home). But by the time she had gotten back from her honeymoon and went looking for her to thank her, they had already moved. So what are the chances that her daughter would one day be at her dinner table 19 years later!

hook 'em horns

So all in all, I truly enjoyed having a piece of home come to Austin to visit! Please keep them coming :)