It was the weekend! (Now it’s Sunday, which–I am sure–I will dread soon enough, but for now I am still excited that tomorrow is Monday and I get to go to work again!) As Wylie mentioned, we stayed pretty low-key this weekend, but managed to squeeze in some fun stuff. I enjoyed First Friday in Downtown Bryan for several reasons–1. It is nice to be able to walk there. 2. The Village Cafe seems like it has good food and good people at it, and homemade sangria which I didn’t see soon enough this time, but will definitely try next time. 3. Kids in a spashing fountain. 4. A band on the street. 5. A very delicious “taco” that was so good. 6. Some awesome bluegrass.

Yesterday Wylie and I both had some work to do, so we spent the early part of the day doing that. Not that exciting, but had to be done. Then we went and saw the movie “Funny People” with Seth Rogan and Adam Sandler. If I was an official type person, I think I would have given it 5 stars. As it is, I am just a regular person and I will give it a thumbs up. I giggled quite a bit, and had a tear in my eye a few times as well…not an easy feat, but I am starting to think that Judd Appatow has my number. The evening was filled with more fun stuff–mostly lounging and a trip to the DQ. We realized that it was nice to spend a Saturday like that, but we will need to start planning day trips and stuff for the weekends if we want to get to everything on our Texas List, since we now have less than a year here!

This morning Wylie made us some from scratch pancakes, which were kind of new to me. I told him about the beer pancakes my dad used to make, and that was new to him. They were pretty tasty and a full belly made me take a nap. We did a few errands this afternoon–I had to get some watch batteries replaced, so we braved the mall for a few minutes, and I remembered that I don’t like the mall that much.

That’s about it. I am going to put up some photos of my new bike, which I love. Wylie took them Friday as I got home from work, it was like 104 degrees out and I was very sweaty. I hope it doesn’t really rain too much this week so that I can ride it.

On Friday evening Teresa and I walked over to downtown Bryan for their First Friday event. They have live music, restaurants have special things going on, and the streets are busy with many local people. We started off the evening by going to the Village Cafe for a drink and to cool off. It was a little loud in there, so we moseyed on over to Los Norteños Cafe for some dinner. We had passed by this place a couple weeks ago and liked the looks of the outside, we liked the inside even better. And with $3.99 breakfast tacos, how can one go wrong? Just a tip, two people can share one, these tacos are huge, and kind of like burritos. After getting stuffed on tacos, we waddled a short distance to the Revolution Cafe (there are a lot of  cafe’s in Bryan it seems) to listen to some bluegrass. I was wondering if the bluegrass in Texas was different than that of the bluegrass in Asheville. The answer is no. They are pretty much the same. We stayed for a little bit, but being stuffed on tacos, and at the tail end of a work week, we were tuckered out so left after only several songs. You can hear one of the songs they played below.

It was good to check out the First Friday and I am sure we will check out some of the others that go on during our year in Texas.

[wpaudio url="http://www.10gallonhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/The-Devils-Bluegrass-Band-Amber-Alert.mp3"]

Merlefest 2009 has come and gone. Fun times were had by the Blevins sisters and their pale sidekick, Wylie. It all started on Thursday with a drive out to Wilkesboro, NC. We had reserved a space in the VFW filed for Thursday and Friday night. It was a good campground, tons of space, tons of firewood, and a nice baseball diamond to drive on.

Friday began our Merlefest adventure. We spent the day avoiding the blaring sun, and listening to some pretty darn good bluegrass. There was plenty of water drinking and lounging in the shade. We also enjoyed some snow cone and funnel cake action. It was my first music festival, and the Blevins sisters first funnel cake and not the Blevins sisters first funnel cake. New things for all me! Friday ended with a performance by Donna the Buffalo, followed by some contra dancing, and then some more Donna the Buffalo at the Donna the Buffalo Dance Party.

Saturday we left for Brevard, NC to visit one of Maria’s old guiding buddies, Tolly. During the drive there was a stop at birdhouse man (unfortunately I did not take photos), some windy roads, some Sonic and some Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me going on, a stop in Asheville at Green Life, some loitering at Ingles in Brevard, and almost some car sickness. Our drive ended in Glenville, NC where we spent the evening with Tolly and Lori. Pizza, cocktails, jam sessions, and campfires by the lake were on the agenda. It was a short visit, but we checked all that off our list before getting back on the road to Asheville on Sunday.

It was a fantastic weekend. It was a good first music festival for me, no sunburn, and no dehydration happened. And it was great meeting Maria, Tolly, and Lori.

Now, enjoy some photos from the weekend.

This isn’t really about the move, but it is something Teresa and I are doing. She is driving up here to Asheville as I type to pick me up after work so we can head to Merlefest in Wilkesboro, NC. On the way she made a pit stop in Atlanta in order to pick up her sister, Maria. The three of us will be camping out tonight and tomorrow night, and listening to some bluegrass most of the day Friday, and I believe some on Saturday. I am not too sure of the plans for Saturday, but I know that I will not be sleeping in my own bed until Sunday night.

I imagine I will be taking some photos and posting them here, but that will need to wait until after the fact. So, be on the lookout for another Merlfest post on Sunday night, or on Monday.