Of course we were in Austin for MotoGP. The inaugural MotoGP race was to be held at the new Austin track on JJ’s birthday weekend – the stars aligned – obviously we couldn’t pass that, so the tickets to the big event were his Christmas present and the trip was a weekend long celebration for #39.

We arrived on Friday and spent several hours at the track each day watching practices, qualifying and the races. The track was really nice (this coming from a voice of little experience). We had seats in the stands that had a good view of the start, the first turn as well as other parts of the track, but you could also walk all the way around the track, and sit in the grass, so we watched different segments from different view points.

Friday afternoon, they allowed us to walk on the track and check out the pits. On Saturday, we saw Nicky Haden’s dad (JJ’s fav US rider), so JJ posed for a picture and Connor got a tee-shirt from their shop. I know this was a highlight for my hubby (JJ’s forever dream, besides racing himself, would be to follow his son worldwide as a motorcycle racer)

The weather was awesome. It was about 70-80 degrees each day, so it was not too hot or too cold (although day one had a brisk wind that caused us to underestimate the power of the sun and we both started the trip getting with scorched noses and ears, of all things), the food, parking and souvenirs were ridiculously priced ($30/parking a DAY, $34 pizza for lunch), but that was to be expected.