Tag Archives: living the dream

A Tourist in Austin

Every 6 months my doctors expect me to make an appearance to ensure that all is going well so I scheduled a trip to Austin in July. To my surprise, my sister and Aunt Donna volunteered to fly in from California to keep me company on this whirl wind adventure. Not only did I have several appointments, but I had lots of “honey do’s” on my list (since we had not been in the states for awhile). With our house rented, we opted to stay at a Home Away property called Corazon Apartments (our place looked nothing like the photos). But the first night, I crashed with Heather and Michael at their super swanky downtown apartment. Heather, is the best! She invited the girls over for a potluck dinner which allowed me to get caught up with everyone. It was so great to be together my pack of fabulous women!

Barbara, Amy, Kim, Heather, Tiffany, Missy, Marcie, Heather, and I.

View from Heather and Michael’s place!

First thing Thursday morning, I headed to my neighbor’s house as she is thinking about putting it on the market. She caught me up on the neighborhood gossip, what’s for sell, who is doing what and so on. Then it was off to the races! I wanted to try to accomplish as many errands as possible before my family arrived so I hit the bank, our P.O. Box (to pick up mail), and the market all before my hair appointment. I had not had my hair “cared for” in 6 months and it was due for a bit of color and a trim. Wendy at Deseo Salon is a rock start! In fact, she won “best hair salon” in Austin this year!

Wendy and I before she worked her magic!

Leaving with bouncy, shiny, perky hair, I headed to REI to pick up a new Spot Gen3 so that all of you can follow us and pin point our location, It allows us to send updated messages to our support team during passages. I also picked up a Flex2 as my Fitbit ChargeHR band decided to separate and stop working. Not wild about the Flex2 but it is water proof. I am thinking it is a stop gap until Fitbit comes out with a better display band that is water proof. One can hope. After REI, I headed to the airport to pick up Kimberly. Her flight was right on time and after many hugs and kisses we headed to the mall. I needed to pick up a few items at Nordstrom (girl stuff) and popped into Apple to make an exchange. Matt had purchased a brand new MacBook Pro and the fancy charger bank (which is a USB-C) decided to stop working As you know, we found an apple store on Curacao and were able to buy a new one, but we wanted to exchange this one as it is still under the 1 year warranty. However, I walked in and was sent to the Genius guys and was told I needed to make an appt. to see a genius just to make the exchange since it had to come from a different stock. Oh dear! I made the appt for the next day and we left to pick up my aunt from the airport. We were all starving, but decided to check in to our rental first. It was a royal pain in the butt and I will say that I will never use this property management company again. I won’t bore you with the massive disappointment of our experience. After we unpacked we headed to one of my favorite stomping grounds, Hula Hut for a sunset dinner.

Our waiter photo bombed us – too funny!

Donna and I enjoyed a HuLaLa that comes in a fishbowl.

Sunset at Hula Hut – spectacular.

Friday morning we went for a walk on the hike and bike trail around Lady Bird Lake. It was a beautiful morning, not too hot or crowded. We visited briefly with the ducks and turtles and continued on our way – short walk, maybe 2.5 miles, but got us out and moving. We then headed up North to a nail appt. My Aunt had never had her nails done – what? Yep, you read that right. So, I made an appt. to see CiCi at Lavish Nails. It was a great spoiling moment for sure! We walked out with gorgeous toes and had a true “lavish experience.” Hungry again, we headed to another one of my favorite places, Maudie’s to enjoy the best TexMex in town.

Mmmm, love me some Maudie’s!

We went back to the rental to pack a small overnight bag as we were heading to Lake McQueeny to see some friends. On our way south, we stopped at the outlet mall as I was hoping to find some summer dresses appropriate for the boat and perhaps some new shorts at LuLu Lemon. We stopped at several places, made a few small purchases, but my quest was still continued. Shawn, Sharon, Wayne, Sydney, Dylan, Kimberly, Donna, and I piled into the ski boat and headed to to the lodge for Wayne’s pre-birthday celebration. Shawn showed us around the lake, expertly backed in the boat and treated us all to a fabulous night! The next morning, the ladies went for a morning walk around the neighborhood and returned to enjoy a “big breakfast” tradition at the Melnar home! It was so fabulous to see our good friends!!!! We needed to head back to Austin, ran some more errands, hit the Domain Shopping center and had success finding a few summer dresses and new shorts! I was also able to exchange Matt’s apple battery bank with no appt. Yeah! Saturday night was dinner and dancing at the Broken Spoke. My aunt is an amazing dancer and my sister and I used to shake a tail feather in our day so I had to show them how we do it in Texas. The Derailers were playing and it was a true Texas experience. We quickly spotted the best dancers and to our excitement several asked us to dance. We took turns being twirled around the small dance floor and truly enjoyed the experience.

Donna, me, and Kimberly at the Broken Spoke.

We met the owner of The Broken Spoke, James White.

Sunday we headed to church as I had not seen my church friends in a long time. It was a new priest, but a good sermon. Always good to reconnect and recenter! Afterwards, we swung by the bank and Walgreens and then I had to stop by our house to meet our property manager. It was a bit odd seeing our home with renters in it, but all looked ok. Feeling awkward being at my home, we left as quickly as we could and got breakfast at Maudie’s (some things are just too hard to resist). We decided that today would be a relaxing pool day. Even though the pool was only 3′ deep, we enjoyed the atmosphere while we chatted with my good friend Michelle. We cleaned up and headed to head Shady Grove for dinner, another Austin landmark. We happily consumed a hippie chick sandwich and a Shady Thang outdoors under the big, beautiful tree!

Donna, me and Kimberly at Shady Grove

It was still light out and I thought I would surprise Donna and Kimberly by stopping at the South Congress Bridge for the nightly bat show. Over 1.5 million Mexican Free Tail bats come out at sunset to feast on 10-20k insects per night!

Start of the bats coming out to eat.

A new piece of art popped up in the last few months at 5th and Lamar – and we had to stop for a photo shoot.

ATX Art at 5th and Lamar with Donna, Kimberly, and I.

Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with some Amy’s Ice cream (Mexican Vanilla should be a staple in everyone’s diet) which is always a fun experience.

On Monday, my Aunt Donna had to head back to California and we had a day full of doctor appointments. We met with my oncologist first who gave me the all clear and told me to start working out again. Not because I had gained 6-7 lbs since I saw her last but to build bone strength. I know, I know it is so hard to get into a work out routine on the boat – but I will! She also told me to consume 4-5 drinks per week, max! Eek, I am not a huge drinker, some weeks I won’t drink at all and some weeks I have more than that – so will make a conscious effort to watch it. Then we hit the bank again, the P.O. Box, and the pharmacy before meeting with my plastic surgeon. He too gave me the thumbs up – good day to be me! We headed back to the rental, packed a bit and enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Moonshine Grill, for my favorite trout dinner.

Kimberly and I out Moonshine Grill.

Even though I did not get to see everyone I wanted to see or relax as much as I wanted, we were able to squeeze a lot in 5 days. I was ready to go back home to Matt and the boat.

I left for the states with a small carry on and returned with two overstuffed bags! Errands complete, returning home with boat parts necessities.

Little tired, ready to be back – I scan the crowd for Matt.

Check, Check, Check

Visit friends
Enjoy family
Shopping
Fine dining
Country Dancing

Day at the Museum(s)

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Feeling a little “jiggy”, I decided to take the dinghy out again. Matt was still buried deep inside the starboard engine and had plans to stay on board doing boat projects so off I went.

On the 2nd day out, the dinghy ride to shore was uneventful until I got to the dock. Just as I arrived, the shopping bus dropped a bunch of people off and the dock was packed. I decided to circle outside the channel to avoid any collisions. 20 minutes later, I was able to head in with little to no issues. I locked her up to the dock, chatted with a new couple who said they were going to Punda and offered me a ride (sweet). Unfortunately, I realized I had forgotten my phone (aka camera) and had to go back to the boat to retrieve it. More practice driving I guess. Somehow, I managed to get my phone, tie the dinghy up, and still catch the 10 am bus into town – of course I had to run a block screaming, “hold the bus” and they either saw a crazed woman running toward them or heard my cry and let me on. I was a sweaty panting mess when I boarded so I picked a seat in the back to cool off and recuperate.

I had a lot of places I wanted to see, but my first stop was the bank to get change for some large dollar bills into smaller dollar bills. After being buzzed inside, I spoke to the armed guard, told him my business and he was not pleased that I didn’t have my passport, but he said I could make a transaction – even without my passport (who walks around with their passport? I waited for about 15 minutes before it was my turn to ask for $1k in small bills which had to be calculated using my brain and not my phone as no phones are allowed inside the bank. Good think the old hat rack still works! The way they handle money is so strange, they fold the bills in half into certain denominations with heads facing all different ways, under their little desk – not in a locked anything – just there. Wowza.

Anyway, mission accomplished. Off to the Synagogue Mikve Isrtael-Emanuel (or commonly referred to as “SNOA”) which is the oldest continuously used synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. There are only 200 members of this synagogue (out of the 160,000 residents on island) and the structure is over 285 years old! Imagine that! It was a lovely synagogue, but truth be told it was the first one I had ever visited. They had sand on the floor for 3 reasons: 1) modeled after many traditional Spanish synagogues; protect the secret Jews who were not supposed to pray and had to muffle the sound of their feet on the floor; and to symbolize what God said “I will multiple your seed as the sands of the seashore and the starts in the heavens.”

I don’t know the names of the parts of the synagogue, so please forgive me for not titling , the photos – but as you can tell the synagogue is meticulously cared for and is stunning.

I do not know what this represents, but it was so beautiful I had to include it in the blog.

Between the synagogue and the museum is a little courtyard where they had these very detailed carved tablets (for lack of a better word).

My next stop was Fort Amsterdam. We had actually walked by this fort many times as it is in the heart of Punda and had no idea it was actually a fort. No, we are not dense, we just did not recognize the rebuild of the fort into a government complex. Sure from up above it is a little more obvious, but we are looking at it from the street and it just looks like yellow buildings.

Fort Amsterdam in the heart of Punda

Fort Amsterdam was built in 1635 by the Dutch West India Company (DWIC) immediately after they had taken Curacao from the Spanish. They built it on the point (Punda) of the eastern finger of land at the harbor entrance where the territory’s colonial masters lived safely within its confines and throughout the centuries. It served not only as a military fort but also as the headquarters of the DWIC. Currently it serves as the seat of the government and governor of Curaçao. The fort is named after the Amsterdam chamber of the DWIC and was considered the main of eight forts on the island and is included in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites.

Walking entrance into the fort.

My next stop was the Fort Church which was established in 1769 and is currently a Protestant church. The Fortkerk, or Fort Church, was built to withstand siege and has survived in remarkable shape. The only visible bit of damage is a small cannonball embedded halfway into the facade. It was fired by the Captain John Bligh of England, who was attacking Curaçao from his famous ship, The Bounty.

Can you see it in the photo?

Cannon Ball wedged into Fort Church wall

The church is of modest size, but quite pretty. The roof, painted a deep sea blue, has a clock right in the middle of it.

Fort church ceiling with clock in the center.

Fort church organ which was donated a century or so after it opened.

Fort church organ up close – just because it takes your breath away.

Fort Church pulpit.

Another curiosity is the Fortkerk’s cistern, found between the church and an alcove that houses a small museum. In the days of siege, a large supply of water was vital, so the church was built in such a way that rainwater would filter through the walls, and collect here.

Fort church cistern.

The church’s adjoining museum is small but packed with history, mostly old maps and portraits. The best piece is the antique clockwork, dating from 1788, which ran the original clock tower.

Beautiful stain glass window in the museum, not tagged so I am not sure who did it or where it came from.

Old clock and bell tower

It’s easy to imagine invading pirates stationed at the mouth of Saint Anna Bay, laying siege to the island, while from the fort, the Dutch defended themselves and their valuable new American property.

Just across the parking lot is the governor’s palace which is both a residence and a place of work. I was not able to go inside but here is a nice website of the history of the governor’s palace.

Governor’s Palace which had no entry, used as working and residence.

Cannon to keep unwanted visitor out of the Governor’s Palace.

My last stop for the day was the Kura Hulanda Museum in Otrobanda which just meant I had to cross the Queen Emma floating pontoon bridge to get to it – a short hop and a jump. The Kura Hulanda Museum is an anthropological museum that focuses on the predominant cultures of Curacao. It offers a world-class chronicle of the Origin of Man, the African slave trade, West African Empires, Pre-Colombian gold, Mesopotamian relics and Antillean art. They had beautiful sculptures, skeletons, artwork, educational information. I was heartbroken at how we treated our fellow man, especially when I saw the KKK outfits – I could not even take a photo of it as I know they still exist today and I am horrified.

Entry to museum – greeted by a pretty sculpture.

Ancient tablet

There was a small sculpture garden with not much written about the sculptures, but they were fascinating.

I liked these ones in particular – not sure, but they inspired me – especially the one in the front right looking up at the heavens.

This was horrifying - a slave ship dungeon where they kept hundreds of slaves, side by side in 3x3 space for months. It broke my heart at the cruelty of it all.

This was horrifying – a slave ship dungeon where they kept hundreds of slaves, side by side in 3×3 space for months. It broke my heart at the cruelty of it all.

Evolution of man exhibit as man is a descendant from apes.

I don’t know the meaning of this piece, but it moved me.

Large sculpture in the center of the courtyard.

After my busy day at the museums, I decided to reward myself with an ice cream from Champs where they state “You are 1 minute away from an ice-gasm (see right window). Well, let me tell you it was no Amy’s Ice cream but it was pretty darn good.

After I got back to the boat, we cleaned up and Matt made is amazing pork chops! I love him so much!

Accomplishments:

Great day exploring
Learned a lot
Got a bit of exercise
Beautiful sites

Dinghy: Foot Loose and Fancy Free

Why Didn’t I learn to drive the dinghy before?

Matt normally drives, even with cars
It can be confusing moving the steering in the opposite direction
A bit afraid of drowning

The Adventures of Sugar Shack

– Sailing Aboard a Catana 471

Tag Archives: living the dream

A Tourist in Austin

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Day at the Museum(s)

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Dinghy: Foot Loose and Fancy Free

Why Didn’t I learn to drive the dinghy before?

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Why Didn’t I learn to drive the dinghy before?

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