From The Mountaintop To Tokyo

Yesterday I’d thought of writing about how Spring had apparently arrived in central Texas.  The weather was 80 degrees for a couple of days, we saw a gecko, and the last leaves finally fell off the trees in the back yard.  And then today it was 45 degrees and windy.  We headed for a “hike” anyway.

Mat recommended we head up to Mount Bonnell.  A peak that is commonly believed to be the highest point inside the Austin City limits.  At 785 feet above see level it is actually much lower than the Jolleyville Plateau (1100ft).  The difference is that Jollyville doesn’t feel high.  It’s just a large flat area coverd in houses and strip malls.  Bonnell on the otherhand has a 200 foot cliff overlooking Lake Austin.  It gives the impression of being up high mostly because it is dramatically higher than the lake below.

We parked near the top and “hiked” up several flights of rock steps that lead to the top.

From the top you can see the lake, the relatively well known bridge over Loop 360 and the skyscrapers of downtown.  All along the lake are crazy expensive houses like this one:

It was windy on top and more hazy than usual.  Wesley led us around the many trails in the woods surrounding the peak.  He was sure he had found a shortcut.  In the end we were just walking in circles, but still had fun.

After working up an appetite hiking we went to dinner with the Godfreys.  We went to the Tokyo Steak House in Round Rock.  Chris and Tiah had been there before and thought it was lots of fun.  My understanding is that it is a lot like Benihana.  It is teppanyaki style where you are seated around a grill and the chef prepares your meal while making a great deal of noise and show.  It is kind of spendy, $70 for the two of us (the kids shared our food) and we don’t drink alcohol, but fun.  All the kids had a good time and were pretty enthralled by the cooking.

I wouldn’t say that I’d go on a regular basis, it was too loud and too spread out to have much of a conversation, but it was definitely entertaining. The food all kind of tasted the same (which I guess makes sense since it is all cooked together), but it was still pretty tasty.  We were also a mellow group.  I think this is the kind of experience that is improved by a rowdy crowd that’s been drinking a bit.

Here is a video of Wesley’s reaction to the chef lighting a bit of oil on fire.  He also really got into the onion volcano turned steam train.

– “That made me laugh!”" –

 

Tags: Amber, Austin, Godfrey, Jillian, Mount Bonnell, Tokyo Steak House, Wesley