Peaceful Protesters!

Much is going on here in Texas.....mostly the government is in a budget crisis and cutting education is at the top of the list.  It is ridiculous, honestly.  Most recent news is that they cannot even pay school districts for the rest of THIS year.  Don't you wonder how they can do that?  "You have this much to spend this year.  Oh wait.  Never mind."  How can they DO that?  At this point we are trying to get through this year, let alone worrying about the BILLIONS of dollars in cuts proposed for the next congressional budget session (which lasts two years).  Anywhoo, a rally was organized to speak out against these cuts--it was called Save Texas Schools.  It took place on the steps of our Capitol building in Austin, and Kendra and I put our bo-hineys in the car, drove the three hours, and protested peacefully against this atrocity. 

Here's my peaceful little protester with our friends, the Rodgers's kids Reagan and Reilly:

The volunteers handed out stickers to count the people, and they ran out at 11,000.  Everyone was very nice--no grumpy-pants people to be found, even though many of them stand to lose their jobs if something doesn't happen to fix the mess.

After the rally, we took a stroll through the Capitol building...none of the session rooms were open to see, but it was neat showing the Rotunda to the kids

View from the fourth floor in the Rotunda area--a few in our group got the queasies from looking down (not me!)

Cute girlies hesitant to stand near the rail

After we toured, we headed out to find some dinner.  There are many awesome food options in Austin and the surrounding area.  We decided to do the Salt Lick BBQ in Round Rock.  We had beef brisket, smoked turkey, slaw, beans, and potato salad.  My mom will be happy to know that her slaw, potato salad, and beans are WAY better, but the meat was excellent, as was the sauce.  But the piece de resistance?  The blackberry cobbler!  I swear to you the bowl weighed 10 pounds!  Best. Stuff. Ever.

We stayed overnight and went to the Texas History Museum in downtown Austin.  You can't take any pictures in the exhibit areas, so I just took one of Kendra with the gimongous Texas star out front.

The museum was cool for the adults, but had more reading than stuff so the kids just tolerated it.

After the museum we went to the Holy Grail of good Austin food:  The Hula Hut.  We actually tried to go there after the rally, but it had an hour and a half wait, so we went mid-afternoon after the museum and walked right in. 

This beast is what they call a Tubular Taco. 

 I had eaten half of it by the time I took the pic.  It contained the most delicious chicken and cheese goodness and was nestled into a bed of guacamole heaven sauce.  And the chicken?  I have never had a taco in which the chicken was more delicious.  No dry, shredded chicken here, folks.  They slow roast their birds and hand pull the stuff.  To. Die. For. 

Every single person said it was the best "insert food ordered here" they had ever eaten.  Even Kendra.  She orders chicken fingers and fries pretty much everywhere.  She said these were the best.

So yeah, we ate our way through Austin.  Not really great for my calorie-restricted self right now---clearly abandoned that ship this weekend.  And it was worth every bite. 

Rally, great friends, fantastic hotel, and amazing food.  Can't ask for a better weekend for a bunch of peaceful protesters!