The out-of-towner

This past weekend and a bit of this week we had a visitor in from up north. Sam's niece joined us for a long weekend. I don't think she was totally prepared for the scorching heat (it was a high of at least 100 every day she was here), but we managed to have some fun. She's a budding photographer, so she took most of the pictures while she was here. It's funny how much her photography skills take after Sam. Both of them will photograph a beautiful view only when prompted but love taking photos of interesting signs or little details. I feel like looking at their photos at the end of the day, I always notice things I wouldn't have picked up otherwise. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get any photos off of her, and because I'm less the consummate photographer, I only have a few to share.  

Sam was working the first day she was in town, but I took her to Barton Springs, to get ramen, and to the shops of South Congress. Sam joined us after work and we got tacos and went up to Mount Bonnell to watch the sunset. I managed to capture a rare photo of Sam as well.

On Saturday we sent stand-up paddle boarding on Town Lake followed by horseback riding. We went horseback riding in what was unfortunately the hottest part of the day. There was a bit of a breeze for some of it and I always enjoy riding, so it didn't turn out to be as miserable as I thought it would be. Sam was riding in the back, so naturally he took a million photos, much like this one, of us riding in front of him. 

We kind of overdid it on Saturday, so Sunday and Monday we took it very easy. Monday we visited the graffiti walls of the Hope Outdoor Gallery and the downtown Whole Foods as well as a few shops and sites downtown. Our guest had no interest in touring the capitol building, which is a position I quite respect, although we did glance at it from afar. She also had no interest in seeing the bats of the South Congress bridge. This makes her officially the third visitor we've had that said they were scared of bats. I guess I need a better way to market bats to people.

All in all, it was an enjoyable visit. We'd welcome her back any time, although I have a feeling she'll opt for the more reasonable October to March months next time. Austin summer is no joke.