Too much fun!

A dear friend and I trekked to Austin to visit another dear friend. We were like the 3 Muskateers until we were split up by the move.

On the way to Austin, we talked and talked and talked. We had been friends since 1989, and our lives have been so busy lately that we don't get to visit as often as we used to, so we started catching up from the moment we got together.

We stopped by the Paper Bear in San Marcos because we love the store and couldn't see just passing by. We spent probably 45 minutes at the Paper Bear touching and examining everything. There are some really unique gifts in that store. Every square inch needs to be checked out. And check it out, we did. I managed to spend much more than I meant to, but I got some really great gifts. As we were walking back to the car, my campanion said "too much fun!"

We got back on the highway without incident and headed to Austin. We arrived in no time, chatting away. Dang, did we miss the exit? What exit were we looking for? What was the address? I had been given verbal directions to our friend's house, but we decided to trust my traveling companion's "Never-Lost GPS," confident in our ability to get to our destination.

The GPS told us to take the same exit as our Austinite friend mentioned. BUT the GPS reconsidered and sent us back onto the highway and then the adventure really got interesting. There was so much traffic, and I was merging and listening, and before we knew it, I missed an exit. YIKES! Now what? Her GPS was really nice and didn't miss a beat. She just told us to make a U-turn, which we did, then we ended up on another highway, which didn't feel right.

A couple of highways and wrong turns later, we finally were able to pull into a parking lot to call our waiting friend. Because she couldn't figure out where we were, she told us to trust the GPS, which again took us out of the way. Finally, we arrived! It took us 45 minutes to find her house once we started trusting the GPS. We had been right there! All we had to do was turn left at the intersection the GPS told us to renter the highway. At that point, we were 4.5 miles from our destination. Instead, we arrived 45 minutes later. As we were driving around, confused and lost, laughing and trying to make our way, my companion again said "too much fun!" I think Exxon or Texaco, or one of the gasoline companies has stock in these GPS devices. I'm just saying . . .

Instead of arriving at 12:15 like we originally planned, we showed up at 1:00. The good thing was none of us was stressed out. The friend we were to visit was running late, so she was glad we ran late as well. We were just in a state of shock that this "easy-to-find" house was so difficult to locate.

Once we got together, the fun really began. I don't think there was a moment of silence. At least one of us was sharing stories the whole day. We laughed, and I mean really laughed. It was too much fun.

Our hostess served Basil Broccoli Bisque with sweet potato fries, and cheesey biscuits, with chocolate-chip, beanut butter cupcakes for dessert. Deeelicious!

Somehow Sam Moon was mentioned, and before I knew it, we were in our friend's car, heading to Sam Moon. Guess what? We got lost - sorta. We were talking, and she got distracted. We just had to backtrack a block. Not like when I was driving. We arrived at Sam Moon at 5:30, and we shopped for 1-1/2 hours! By the time we left there, I was starving. I had mentioned craving enchiladas earlier, so we headed to Hecho en Mexico, a cafe in our friend's neighborhood. But, as luck and the never-lost GPS would have it, we did a few circles before we found our way. Again, too much fun!

Dinner was over about 9:45, and we headed back home. This time, we made it without incident. We had a cup of coffee so we would stay awake to make the 1-1/2 hour trip back home, and we left about 10:30.

Again, we talked all the way home, and it seemed like a few minutes later, we were in Schertz!!! You'd think we would have run out of things to say, but not us!

By the end of the day, the 3 of us decided we travel so well together that we just have to take a trip together. We decided on Albuquerque/Santa Fe. I can't wait. There's the Balloon Festival in early October - maybe . . .