For our third Austin adventure, Kristen and I rounded up a couple of our favorite guys on Saturday night and stole off to the Congress Avenue Bridge, where the 7th annual Austin Bat Fest was being held. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it there until 9:15ish, about an hour and a half after the two million(!) bats had flown out from underneath the bridge for everyone to see. Regardless, the environment itself was all sorts of entertaining, with live music (Alpha Rev is my new band crush), plenty of delicious carnival food, and at least a hundred vendors up and down the bridge selling jewelry, clothes, henna tattoos (I somehow managed to resist), and a variety of random accessories.

After perusing a bit, we took our funnel cake and sweet tea and meandered over to the side of the bridge to take pictures, talk, and listen to the last band play.

Even with so many people around, the exciting evening seemed to turn peaceful as we stared out onto the lake, looking for any pretty boat lights or late-night canoe-ers. Luckily, we were able to spot a few straggler bats circling around beneath the bridge, which led to a quick conversation about where the creepy legend of Vampire Bats actually originated from…

Yeah, we weren't too sure. Nevertheless, the Night of the Bats was pretty great. (Except for the 100 degree weather…even after the sun had gone down. But this is Texas, after all. I'm not complaining.) Live near Austin? Make sure to check it out next year!

P.S. If you've been paying attention, you probably noticed that I never mentioned our second Austin adventure on the blog. This is because—and I'm very ashamed to admit this—I accidentally forgot my camera at the apartment last Saturday (when this shindig occurred). But! We absolutely had an adventure (probably the most interesting one thus far), and it included a 21st birthday, a few harmless rounds of beer pong (don't worry, Dad—I opted to be the DD), and a midnight run to the nearest Whataburger. But that's all I'll say about that!