Evacuation Vacation!

Well, we survived our first hurricane evacuation, and luckily New Orleans was spared major damage. We got back from Texas on Sunday night, and our power was back on and the house was just fine. There are tree branches down all over town, but that seems to be the worst of the damage. We got lucky with this one -- let's hope the rest of hurricane season is quiet (I'm talking to you, Ike).

Being in Austin was fabulous (or, at least it was once Gustav passed and we didn't have to worry anymore about our city and home). We saw so many people, introduced Elio all around, ate a ton of food, went swimming, played with our friends' kids, and just generally enjoyed being there. All of it was made possible by the generosity of Nancy and Rodney and their kids, Atticus and Clara, who set us up with a wonderful place to stay that made things so much easier to manage. Thank you!

We decided to leave New Orleans early, evacuating on Friday before the mandatory evacuation was ordered. We caravaned to Austin with our friends Edie and Justin and their son Mose, plus dogs and cat. On our way out of town, there was a steady stream of national guard trucks headed into town the other way. See -- that's Edie and Justin on the road ahead of us, and national guard trucks on the other side.


Once in Austin, the Captain seemed unsure of things. She seemed ready to go home from the start.



We were fortunate that Kathryn was in town for Labor Day weekend. We met her at Chango's for yummy tacos. (Check out the fresh tortillas being made on the grill in the background! Soooo good.)


One of our first outings: Austin Books and Comics, the best comic shop ever. Elio stared down The Hulk.


Another important food stop: Ruby's BBQ. (This post is going to turn into a catalog of all the meals we ate... sorry. But y'all should go to Austin and eat some food.)


Awesomely, while we were at Ruby's we ran into our friends Molly and Scott and their adorable daughter Tillie. Yay!


We spent a really nice afternoon with our friends Steven and Becky and their new little cutie baby, Elsie.




Elio rockin' out with Steven.




At Nancy and Rodney's, we didn't have a high chair, so we improvised, feeding Elio his morning yogurt in the sink. A new tradition was born: bathfast.



Walking the ramp obsessively at Foodheads.


Tooling around the neighborhood in Atticus's wagon.


Atticus, Elio, and Mose and the wagon.


Elio, tuckered out from all the fun.


Encountering a gnome!






Chewing on a finger. Big development: Elio's fifth tooth has finally arrived and number six seems to be on its way as well!



No trip to Austin is complete without a trip to Allen's Boots.


I couldn't resist buying Elio the cutest little pair of cowboy boots!


Lunch at the Vespaio Enoteca with dear friend Katie.



Dinner at El Chile with Maria, Stephanie, and Leora. Maria's son, Roman, was the sweetest thing ever!


We ate so much other good food and saw so many other good people that I didn't pester with the camera. I took so many pictures and yet it still wasn't enough...