Saturday I started my day at Lady Bird park. There are miles and miles of walking and running trails. The lake is filled with people on canoes, kayaks and paddle boards. I saw two people flip their kayak twice. I hoped they were practicing how to recover from a flip if not they were the clumsiest people ever. I thought best not to try that alone after I saw the difficulty they had getting the kayak upright and climbing back on. Not pretty. I walked ...

Verde Camp, my home for a few days, is a group of small cottages. I really liked this place. I had a living room, kitchen and bedroom. Verde Camp is in the SOCO district. I walked to Congress St. and kicked around the unique shops and many great places to eat. I picked up some groceries from Whole Foods - the pride of Austin. Amazing how little you get for $64 dollars. The downtown area is only about five miles away so easy to get to when desired. ...

Arrived in Austin after an all-night train ride. I asked Siri for a recommendation for lunch. South Congress Grill (SOCO). This turned out to be an excellent choice and somewhat makes me forgive Siri for calling me Kia all the time. Fully loaded with protein I headed to the Barton Springs Pool. This is a different kind of pool it is fed from a natural spring. The water is about 68 degrees but feels soooo good. The bottom is the natural floor. This ...

My first train ride with a roomette. The roomette is two recliner chairs facing each other. They fold flat into each other creating a single bed. You seriously do not want the bed put down until you are ready to sleep because there is no room once that is done. You can throw your feet over the side and stand up but that is about it. There are larger rooms that fit a full size bed however it is a bit too costly for one person. The roomette is actually for ...

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a United States National Park in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. Carlsbad Cavern includes a large cave chamber, the Big Room, a natural limestonechamber . When you descend into the cavern the first thing you notice is the coolness and the dark. Although the cavern is lighted it is sporadic throughout the cavern. They switched the lights off for a second and when they do you cannot see a thing. The Cavern...