Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, in Austin, Texas ~ Part 2

Journal Day 2

Today was rather interesting.  We went to the Circuit of the Americas.  It’s a new race track for Formula 1 racing among others.  I am not a race fan, but my brother is.  He really enjoyed the view from the observation tower.  I have a rather irrational fear of heights, but I went up to the top anyway. I did get quite a few pictures (coming later to Facebook).  I will admit that the track looked really good.  There were all sorts of curves and different elevations.  

The guide was a young guy named Cameron.  My guess is that he was the son of one of the other guides.  He was rather knowledgeable about racing and the track in general.  He said that the track was built in under a year and had a price tag of $400-500 million dollars.  That seems like a lot to me, but then I know nothing about that sort of thing.  Cameron stated that this track is the best in the world according to many of the racers who have raced there.

There is an amphitheater at the base of the observation tower.  The red bars that come off of it serve several purposes.  The first one is to give stability to the tower itself.  During concerts there are different colored LEDs that can be set to the rhythm of the music or just glow steadily.  The bars are also a representation of a race car’s lights racing on a track at night.  

The tower itself is rather tall.  I forget how tall, but there are 420 steps.  Thankfully, an elevator was installed as well.  During races people can buy passes to go to the top to observe the race for ten minutes or so.  It isn’t limited to V.I.P.s which is really nice. During the last race several thousand people went up to the observation tower.  At the top part of the floor is made of glass that one can see down to the bottom.  I wasn’t thrilled about that, but I attribute that to the fear of heights.  Actually, I was getting dizzy and at one point I thought I would throw up over the side.  I could feel the building swaying in the wind.  Not a fun feeling for sure!  I did get several pictures from the top of the tower. The track is impressive and also massive.

Afterward we went home for lunch and I took a nap for a bit. I didn’t get very much sleep last night. I never seem to sleep very well.  I toss and turn all night long.  I’m not quite sure why that is, but I know at home it has a lot to do with the mattress I sleep on.  When I lived in Boise, my sleeping issues had a lot to do with the small twin size bed I slept on.  I am sleeping on a twin sized bed here, but it seems to be a bit longer as my feet don’t hit the footboard.  

Mom and I went grocery shopping after lunch.  I would really hate to be the one to count the grocery store we went to.  It was some place called H-E-B.  Needless to say we don’t have them in Reno.  The closest I could compare it to would be is Harmon’s in Salt Lake City only not as nice.  They had food tasting stations which reminded me of a Costco.  They also had a huge health and beauty section which reminded me of Walgreen’s.  

When we got home, I took a nap.  After a nap we went to the County Line, which is a barbeque place.  There will actually be a full review on my review blog, but suffice it to say that the food was good, but they lacked several key dishes that my mom and I thought should be there…like mashed potatoes and a green salad.  Perhaps that isn’t standard or traditional BBQ food, but it sure would have been nice.  I’m not a fan of potato salad or coleslaw. 

Mom had done a search of karaoke bars in the area in case I wanted to go singing.  After dinner we stopped by one to see what it was like.  She is not a fan of smoky bars which is not surprising although her disgust for cigarettes goes a little overboard in my opinion.   Texas has yet to outlaw smoking in bars so of course any karaoke bar we went to would be smoky.  If I had my own car I would have totally gone even though she offered the use of the truck for my brother and me.  

I decided against going because heaven forbid I come home smelling like cigarette smoke.  She even told me that if I did go that I would have to get undressed in the garage and put my clothes directly in to the washing machine.  Yeah.  Not really worth all that trouble just to go singing. I’ll save that for when I’m at home, on my own time.  In all honesty, the bar wasn’t even THAT smoky.  Believe me; I’ve been in much worse.

The rest of the week looks like it is going to be rather busy.  We are doing a lot of baking on Tuesday and riding on the metro tomorrow to downtown. I might even get to visit with an old coworker of mine from my days at Peterbilt.  That should be fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him.  He moved here before I left Peterbilt.  He plays in a band; in fact, the entire band moved their families down to Austin to play music.  It seemed strange at the time, but from what I can tell, they are doing well.  He plays extremely well.  I asked him about shows he might be doing this week, but the only one was in Houston which is about three hours away.

My stepdad and brother are playing video games again and I’m not a fan so I’m left to my computer.  I am SO glad that I brought it with me otherwise I might be totally bored.  I brought a few books to read.  I haven’t really touched them yet. I read one page of the Brad Thor novel that I brought.  My mom and I don’t have very much in common.  Not like she and my sister do, but we both like to read.  I believe we are going to find a bookstore tomorrow.  I turned her onto the Thor novels.  She read the first one.  I hope she looks for the second one if we go to the bookstore tomorrow.  It’s a used place, so hopefully they have a copy or two.  I am missing some books out of the collection although I don’t remember which ones. I really need to make a list in case I get the chance to look.  

So far this trip is going well.