I was really looking forward to trying Texas barbeque because the barbeque in the Bay Area is sub par. We got to Terry Black's, which is one of many famous barbeque restaurants in Austin around 10AM to avoid the crowds and even though it didn't officially open until 10:30, there was already a line out the door. We chose brisket, but unfortunately it was disappointing! The texture wasn't a soft or moist as I expected and the flavor was good, but not amazing. Our favorite Texas-style barbeque restaurant in Hawaii has better brisket than the actual Texas barbeque! Maybe it was just a bad batch that morning.
We chose to watch the eclipse in Texas because in addition to having friends there, it was one of the driest areas in the path of totality and therefore the least likely to have clouds and rain. Sadly, it was quite cloudy. Mom and Dad had planned to come to Texas to watch the eclipse with us, but they canceled their trip once they saw the weather forecast. We had originally thought to watch the eclipse a bit to the west of Austin to get a longer period of totality, but given the clouds and the fact that we had a flight to catch right after the eclipse and we weren't sure how heavy traffic would be, we decided to watch it from downtown Austin instead. We had ordered disposable eclipse sunglasses that make it safe to look directly at the sun during the partial eclipse period, but I forgot them at home. Luckily Natasha and Jaxon had some extras for us. It was a party atmosphere in the large park we chose. The entire park was covered with people lying on blankets, playing music, and making the best of the day despite the clouds. Occasionally, the clouds would weaken briefly and we'd get a glimpse of the partially occluded sun. As totality drew nearer, the city buildings across the river lit up with lights like it was nighttime. Finally, the period of totality arrived... and the sun was covered by clouds. In Austin, it was two minutes of totality and after about a minute, the clouds parted for ten seconds or so and there it was, the ring of fire! After the clouds recovered, we never saw the sun again, but we were thrilled to have seen the totality at all.