Texas and Cycling

Hi all! Much to report!!!

Zach and Lauren went to Houston and Austin a couple of weeks ago. In Houston we took a tour of NASA and played in the interactive museum. The tour was very cool we got to see where the astronauts train. We also took a drive out to Galveston which was interesting. A hurricane had hit Galveston a couple of years ago and the town has yet to recover.

The next day we drove to Austin (Lauren's favorite US city). We walked around the UT campus, the state capital and ate Tex-Mex! Day two in Austin was really fun! In our attempt to go to Whole Foods for breakfast (Austin is their flagship store which is 3x the size of a normal store) we happened upon a triathlon! We had to park far from the store and dodge cyclists. What a wonderful town to shut down for a triathlon. We also went to Mellow Johnny's which is Lance Armstrong's bike store in Austin. Mellow Johnny is play on the french words "Maillot Jaune" (yellow jersey) for the leader's jersey in le Tour de France. Mellow Johnny's is by far the greatest bike shop either of us had been to. The staff was highly knowledgeable and helpful trying to sell Lauren a $3500 bike! We only left because we had to feed the meter and felt like kids in a toy store :)

Other highlights from the Austin trip were our visit to Barton Springs and the Salt Lick. Barton Springs is a pool which is fed from underground springs keeping the water a cool 68F year round. 68F is even too cold in 100F weather but it was amusing to watch people adjust to the water temperature. The Salt Lick is a famous BBQ restaurant that serves family style portions of mouth watering BBQ.

Zach didn't much care for the heat but Lauren was quite sad to leave Austin. Where else do you find a toy store that serves Vegan soft serve? :)

Most recently we attended two cycling races in Arlington VA. Northrup Grumman and the USAF sponsor these annual races. Miss America was in attendance and presented awards alongside Lauren's Dad.

We got to ride in the pace car during Saturday's race which was thrilling. The driver wanted to get us near the action and was passing cyclists who had been dropped by the peloton.

Looking forward to seeing everyone this coming weekend,

Lowie and Zach