Triple Works - The New Jeans World Tour
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How do you start your day? I go with a breakfast of champions- random energy drink and semi-nutritious bar. Meanwhile, Benjamin gets an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba and yogurt.
Then it was off to the Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary. It's a bit different from a standard zoo, in that all the animals there are rescue animals. Nonetheless, there are still some fairly exotic creatures roaming around, like the most impressive peacock I think I've ever seen. Clearly unconcerned with people, too.
A few massive tortoises; I tried their method of keeping cool, but it didn't really work. Worth a shot…
Probably should have tried the red kangaroo's technique- laid out in the shade looks pretty comfortable.
Not really sure how this fits in with the zoo/animal sanctuary, but it's kinda fun.
The interesting part of the day ended with lunch at the world famous Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas.
Mmmmmm, brisket…
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Peacocks are the most annoying animals in the world… There's a "cock" in there for a fucking reason... My neighbour had some, when I was a young boy living in the country... Those bastards are loud, and it gets worse when there's a couple of them... After a short while all you wanna do is set those beautiful feathers on fucking fire... I swear if anyone 'd sell peacock meat, I'd eat if out of spite...
I love the "Kickstart" breakfast though...
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Not cold enough for you, Seul. Besides, they'd make you drink Fosters.
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As a nation we are rather lazy, yes. Having worked in San Francisco (2 yrs), + bits of Asia, Australia's the only country I know of where open bludging on the job is seen as normal. Work ethics are very laid back/weird.
To the point, round about, 2 of my last 3 jobs have asked me about what I like to drink in the interview. Both have well stocked fridges that staff are encouraged to drink from. 1 of the places used to go through a few cases of exotic beer every day of the week (from about 11am).
Australia has some of the most public holidays & holidays in the world. 4 weeks annual leave (20 days), and there's all the normal and a few extra holidays (Queen's Birthday Long Weekend is such an example, thanks UK!)
Fosters' is Australia's joke on the world, no one drinks it here, but I'm sure you're reversing the cultural play anyhow
/endhijack may the tour continue :).
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I've decided that this post will include some interesting and little known Texas history. Suck it up and bear with me.
Texas was originally part of Mexico; a very sparsely populated and poor part. The Mexican government decided that it would be productive to give land to settlers, hoping to change that. Immigrants were promised up to a league of land (4,428 acres or 1792 hectares) to relocate into the area, which drew lots of people from the neighboring United States. That led to the Texas Revolution in 1836 (Mexico didn't learn from Great Britain's lesson- you just can't trust Americans).
Meanwhile, the lure of free land was getting attention far from Texas- in Germany. The first German settler had arrived in 1831 and his letters home convinced other Germans that moving to Texas was a good idea. The first German town in Texas, New Braunfels (named in honor of Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels), was founded in 1845 and over the next couple of decades, tens of thousands of Germans settled in the “German Belt”, a stretch of Texas from Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico, westward to San Antonio. As late as 1880, the population of San Antonio was one-third German. Even today, census data shows that approximately 18% of the state's population is of full or partial German descent. Perhaps most interestingly, there are still about eight thousand Texans that speak ”Texas German”, an amalgam of many of the dialects spoken in what is now Germany but was, until 1871, a collection of independent states.
All of that is to say that the German influence in New Braunfels is strong. It's home to one of my favorite events, WurstFest- The Ten Day Salute To Sausage. It also has a couple of German restaurants, one of which we decided to check out for lunch.
Der Friesenhaus!
I had a black lager
and Currywurst
Julie had some sort of schnitzel soup
and the kids got potatoes and sausage
Sadly, the pastry shop wasn't open yet, otherwise I would have come home with one of these
Afterwards, we went to play in the park. We rode a train. That's about it for the day.
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Yep, that was a good one. I'll have to try and track some down a little closer to home.
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Friday was a travel day. Pretty dull overall.
Started the day off with breakfast tacos. Egg and chorizo on fresh tortillas. Damn, that's good stuff.
Saw a lot of this
Oh, and for those of you who are considering partaking in the gastronomic joy that is Texas barbeque, the Salt Lick is big and famous, but my vote goes to this place for best BBQ in the state:
City Market in Luling, Texas. Get a half pound of brisket, a hot sausage ring, a side of potato salad and extra sauce, then wash it all down with an IBC root beer. It may be the best meal you'll ever have. -
Been a while since my last post; sorry. Getting slack, I guess. OK, so this weekend we went to a camp for Benjamin's school. Camp For All is outside Brenham (home of Blue Bell Ice Cream!). While there, we did camp-ish stuff, like make s'mores over a campfire, sleep in cabins, paddled canoes, etc. I didn't take pictures of any of it, except when we went to the petting zoo and Benjamin made friends with a donkey.
That's all you're gonna get…The beginning of springtime in Texas is marked by the blooming of the Official State Flower of Texas- the bluebonnet. This is one of the prettiest times of the year, as far as I'm concerned. Since it's a wildflower, you can see them all over the place- in street medians, along highway overpasses, in fields, basically everywhere. I love them.
Random side note- I love truth in advertising.
I'd say this is spot on; it's an OK energy drink- not great, not bad…
