Austin Texas --Hotels-- April 2012

The hotel we stayed at:
Hilton Garden Inn
Linda had about half her meetings here.


Walking toward the entrance.



This is the entrance.



The Welcome sign at the entrance.



Walking up the drive to the entrance there at the end on the right.





Just inside the doors of the entrance.



The Lobby.

The waterfall into the swimming pool.

The swimming pool.

The spa. 

"The spa is out of order. Sorry for the inconvenience." 

The room.

Linda on the computer.  The hotel did have Wi-Fi free.  

 

Our lumpy, hard, very uncomfortable bed.

The housekeeper manager looked at it and agreed with us.  He had never slept on one. 

 We suggested he should do that.  He was very nice and the next day he purchased a foam topper for the mattress that actually helped a great deal.  

The controls for the number firmness bed.  

Note there are no electric cords, no compressor, no lever or buttons.  Just a dial on the side of the bed that as far as I can tell does nothing and is connected to nothing except the fabric around the mattress.  The hotel says they were new.  Someone really sold them a load of worthless mattresses--in my opinion.

This is rated as a three star hotel.

* * * 

This is the Hotel Linda had the rest of her meetings.

This hotel is rated four star

Omni Hotel

Entrance 

Building

Drive-up entrance

Lobby

Lobby

Lobby

Lobby

 Lobby as seen from the elevator

  Bar in lobby and Starbucks coffee

 Restaurant in lobby area

 Elevators 

Glass wall so you can see the lobby area as you use them

 Inside looking up from the lobby

Lobby area

Flowers in a planter in the lobby area

Note:  The corporate room rate for the OMNI Hotel was the same as for the Hilton Garden Inn

Great Horned Owl

(If you click on the picture you will be able to see the birds better.)

Linda spotted a nest and some owls in a tree on her way to work. 

There were two.  

Then there were two more. 

We watched them grow until they left in the fall.  

These pictures were taken last  year.  

We saw them two years, but so far this year they have not returned.

This is my favorite picture.  

These are the young ones.  

They are actually facing in opposite directions, 

but the one has turned his/her head 180 degrees.

It looks like they are both facing the same way. 

Magnificent Birds !

Fixing the Gas Cap Cover

How do you fix a broken gas cap cover?

With "J B Weld" and a magnet, two pieces of wood, three clamps, and...hope it works. 

Biggest problem is to hold it in place while the glue drys.  I just happened to buy a $1.50 magnet a week ago (No reason, just for fun.  It claimed to hold 30 lbs).  It came in handy.  there is nothing on the car to clamp or hold the piece in place so the magnet came in handy and worked just fine.  The red thing is the magnet and it is holding the rest in place.

By the way... IT WORKED !  And I saved several hundred dollars.  To replace it the whole panel has to be taken off and who knows what else.  It was broken at a service station...actually it broke two times.  I fixed it a year or so ago after I had broken it off while filling it with gas and then just a week ago when the station attendant was putting gas in it broke again.  It was very windy and I guess a gust of wind did not help.

(Maybe I should send this to "J B Weld" for them to use as a commercial.  It really is good stuff)

First Sleepover at Grandma's and Grampa's

Morgan and Landon
in their new little beds at grampa's and grandma's

Finding blossoms to pick from the tree.