Jennifer Plesko

Three of my girlfriends and I spent Memorial Day weekend at a resort on Lake Travis near Austin. We’re all so busy it was like herding cats to get everyone there at the same time. But we did it, and I am so glad we did.

It had been a stressful week, so we were ready for a break. I was the first to arrive. I got into Austin just in time for rush hour, but I actually enjoyed driving slowly on 620 because I got to enjoy the amazing view. With all of the rocky hills, blue water, and gorgeous houses, sometimes it looks like another country.

About an hour after I arrived, friend number one arrived. Our other two friends were still a couple of hours away, so we decided we’d have dinner at the swim-up bar in the pool and watch the sunset. When we got to the pool, we heard someone playing live music. He sounded familiar, and he was playing covers of Jerry Jeff Walker and Robert Earl Keen (two of my favorites). But no one really seemed to be paying attention to him. Then I saw who it was. It was Django Walker, Jerry Jeff’s son and a singer in his own right, sitting on a stool in his swimtrunks playing his guitar and people walking around like it was no big deal. That’s Austin for you. I’m not from Austin, so I took a stalker picture of him.

As I imagined, the view of the sunset over Lake Travis did not disappoint - especially when you get to watch it while sitting in an infinity pool eating a brisket sandwich.

Friend number two arrived and she still hadn’t eaten dinner, so we got dressed and drove to the Iguana Grill where friend number three met us. Although two of us had eaten, that didn’t stop us from inhaling chips and queso and cocktails. Nothing has calories on vacation right?

After we shut down the restaurant and the waiters started not-so-subtly sweeping and stacking chairs around us, we decided that each of us needed something from CVS pharmacy. You know what I learned this weekend? With the right people, a midnight trip to CVS can be an adventure. We must’ve spent an hour in there. One friend was buying cheap wine and powdered donuts. One was buying Sour Patch Kids, coloring books and crayons…for herself. One was buying wine and sweet tarts. I bought Pepto and a 5 Hour Energy shot. I managed to talk myself out of a giant bucket of cheeseballs with a shovel. I think we provided entertainment for the staff at what is normally a pretty lifeless part of their shift.

The next day, we spent the entire day at the pool. I mean, wouldn’t you?

I did manage to go inside long enough to get a pedicure so my toes matched my bikini, but most of the day, we were sitting in the water talking and laughing with a beverage in one hand.

That night, we decided to go to Hula Hut. We had big plans to make it there early to beat the crowd, but by the time you get four women showered in one bathroom, well we made it there by 7:30. So the wait was an hour and a half. But we did manage to find a nice table on the patio where we could wait. And since it had been about 45 minutes since our last meal, we could get more chips and queso, cocktails and shrimp quesadillas so we wouldn’t waste away. And, of course, we could watch the sunset. (Do you see a theme here?)

After we finally left Hula Hut at about 10 PM, we headed to Speakeasy downtown. There, we saw a cover band posing as musical superheroes called The Space Rockers and they rocked! We were up in the mezzanine right above the stage and when I started taking pictures, I got the attention of Captain Cosmos.

First he photobombed this one (he’s the one in the red)

Then he waved at me in this one

The next day, half our party had to leave, so the other half did what we do best: lay around at the pool stuffing our faces. Adjacent to the pool was a rocky staircase leading down to a patio on the water with two chairs. But for some reason, it had been padlocked the whole weekend. So later that night, after a movie and a couple several glasses of wine, my friend decided we should head back out there. Sure enough, it was still padlocked. But that wasn’t enough to stop her. “Here, hold my wine.” she said. And she scaled the fence and hopped over. “Now it’s your turn,” she said. Okay, first of all, she is about three or four inches taller than me and she was wearing jeans. I have short legs and I was in heels and a maxi dress. But she doesn’t take no for an answer. So I said, “here, hold my wine,” and I hiked up my skirt and gingerly scaled the fence in my 4-inch heels. We made it down the bumpy stairs and settled into the metal chairs overlooking the water. You could hear a blend of music coming from the wedding reception on the upper deck, the guitarist at the pool, and the band across the lake. We sat out there for two hours watching the boats and talking about life and death. It was one of those moments you know you’ll remember a long time, so I’m glad my delinquent friend talked me into it.

I was sad when the weekend ended. It was everything a girls’ trip should be. We ate too much, talked too much, slept too late, stayed up too late and spent too much money. And I can’t wait to do it again.