Mr. Ray Goes To Austin

Tripp is one of my best friends. We are fraternity brothers (along with David and Michael, who are also best friends), we were roommates in college, and he was the best man in my wedding. We have been friends for over a decade. We always seemed to understand each other, and our friendship has grown over the years. We are still close friends, but living over 100 miles apart and both having families and careers makes it difficult to see each other very often.

On Friday I went to Austin to take some pictures for a school event. Our school participates in Youth and Government, which is a statewide program sponsored by the YMCA. Students qualify at a district meet and then proceed to State in Austin. They get to meet as a real Senate and House of Representatives in the official Senate and House chambers at the State Capital. It's a really cool extra-curricular for kids that are at all interested in government.

So earlier in the week I called Tripp and asked if he'd like to tag along. Tripp is a lawyer and recently opened his own practice, so now he is the boss. He moved his schedule around and we were off on a road trip, just like the old days.

Ok, maybe not like the old days. We made a few more pit stops, and instead of searching for import music stores, we searched for a Japanese market trying to find bento boxes (a nifty little lunch box with dividers) for our kids. Most everyone we saw called us sir instead of looking at us like we were about cause trouble of some kind, and the booth at Chuy's seemed a little more cramped as well. I guess we still need to shake off some baby weight.

All in all we had a great time. I made Tripp stand in front of the State Capital so I could get a picture to stick on the blog, so here it is. I wanted to take this opportunity to take some really artistic pictures in Austin. Instead we just hung out all day. I guess we'll have to go back to Austin again sometime.