Last week I got the chance to surprise one of my favorite Austin ladies with a private boat ride on the Lone Star Riverboat. Adrianne had been wanting to do this for a while now, and I still hadn’t been. So when the opportunity presented itself I knew I had to take advantage. I picked her up and blindfolded her once we got downtown… payback for my birthday surprise 6 months ago. Getting her from the car to the boat was an event in itself, not only because she took approximately 47 minutes to walk 30 feet, but also because there was another boat full of passengers that we had to pass to get to ours. Pretty sure they thought we were more than best friends… it’s fine. We were their entertainment for a solid 4 minutes while Adrianne crossed onto the dock. Small price to pay for a birthday surprise.
Captain Dave was awesome – not only did he help me plan the private boat ride, but he also set up a romantical table for us, complete with wine and relaxing music. Once we were settled and enjoying our fruit, cheese, and bubbly, we realized that our setup looked like a date night pulled straight from The Bachelor. Totally ok with it.
As we toured Lady Bird Lake I was once again in awe with the beautiful sunset here in Austin. I’ve never seen such amazing skies before; it’ll never get old. Captain Dave provided us with a lot of incredibly useful information throughout the tour. For instance, I learned that mother bats can postpone the gestation process. Obviously I’ll be using this information at the bars this weekend. But seriously, that’s actually pretty crazy that they can do that. Also interesting is the fact that baby bats are born at about 1/4 of the weight of the mom bat….. who knew?!
Seeing the famous Austin bats is something that I’ve kind of wanted to do since moving here, just to see what all the hype is about… but I can’t say that it was on the top of my list. Bats are ugly. If it were bunnies popping out of that bridge, I feel like that’s something I would have experienced as soon as I moved here. (Also, that’d mean Austin had flying bunnies.. so yeah, obviously I’m going to go see THAT.) But I have to say, given the knowledge from Captain Dave, the scenery, and being with one of my favorite people, I absolutely LOVED it and would 100% go again. Not only did we get up close and personal with those furry fellas, but we also got to experience the massive art installation, THIRST, as well as some of the random Austin artwork that we all love… including one of my favorites – “Never Give Up”.
Another piece of knowledge that we gained was that the Lone Star Riverboat is the longest running boat operation in the Austin area, and that they actually give back a portion of their sales to the City of Austin Parks Department. I’m pretty sure any Austinite would be into that! I’m also pretty sure that this won’t be the last time we drink wine on one of these boats… we’ll need somewhere to celebrate the end of yet another fabulous Austin summer… 🙂
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