~ from the wearing of middle aged shorts to a romantic dinner and jazz ~
Our second day in Austin, Monday, began early. Josh and I set out with the specific purpose of finding some bikes to rent to use as transportation for the duration of our vacation. The day before we left on vacation, I gave Josh a list of things that he was to pack for himself. And among the items on the list was his bicycle helmet. Thus on Monday, we decided to walk to an area of town that had some recommended bike shops and during our walk to that area we stopped by the Texas Capitol building and made light of a serious establishment.
Austin has some free buses, called the Dillo (short for armadillo), and we had decided to catch one to take us nearer to our destination. It was raining and we waited in the rain for possibly twenty minutes. The bus dropped us off on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, right at the corner of the bike shop. Inside the bike shop, we found an amiable chap who was willing to give us a good deal on renting some bikes for the entire week. We left to get some coffee while he repaired a tire on one of the bikes. Our walk to get some coffee was not as expected. We walked for a much longer distance than I had been prepared and then the coffee shop that we were aiming for was no longer in existence. Luckily, Josh asked a worker in a nifty shop where would be a good place for us to go, and she directed us a few blocks away to the Spider House. This proved to be the best place that we found in Austin for a hangout and coffee. It was fantastic. The coffee was unusually delicious and their food items, while a tad overpriced, were wonderful. This establishment was of such quality, that we returned three times. We sat on their outside patio for over an hour, with coffee and sandwiches (as by this time, it was nearing noonish). Josh and I normally have our Saturdays to spend together, and we always begin these Saturdays at a coffee shop doing our individual coffee shop activities. What was most fantastic about our vacation was that we had an entire week to have our morning coffee experiences. I found it especially satisfying due to the sheer quantity of knitting that I was able to accomplish. The day before we left, I procured all of the materials necessary for a new and exciting project: a felted messenger bag for my laptop. I'm roughly basing the look of the bag on a fair isle pattern in the current issue of Vogue Knitting. You can see the early stages of this knitting project to the left, as knitting from the patio at Spider House.
After we were fully satisfied from our coffee experience, we returned to the bike shop (Austin Bikes, by the way) and rented our trusty peddle-mobiles. We then utilized our newly acquired transportation to explore the area around the University of Texas. This is where we discovered some species of turtle and enjoyed some fountains. At some point, we returned to the hotel to change clothing, as it was becoming quite humid, and I adorned the lower half of my person in Josh's swimming trunks (since I had neglected to bring any shorts for myself and jeans were too unbearable to wear in the humidity - also, the temperature was nearing the 90's). Josh's swimming trunks, incidentally, did not flatter my figure. They were much too large and baggy and the Hawaiian flower motif was not quite my style. They did not, however, have a chance of falling down because the netting that holds his junk wound snugly around my thighs. I was much more comfortable in the humidity, regardless of my appearance.
Austin is a hilly city, as evidenced in this photo. I was glad that we opted to rent the slightly more expensive bicycles that had gears, as we toured a good portion of the city on our bicycles and this would not have been possible (for me, at least) on a single speed. Monday afternoon, we spent riding down the greenbelt along the Colorado River and it was beautiful. We became all hot and sweaty, but had a lot of fun. The area around the river is especially lush, swampy at times. There are a series of pedestrian-only bridges that we crossed and stopped to stare into the water. I was struck by the amount of seaweed in the river, loads. And the density of the trees made me feel as though I was in the wilderness and not in the middle of a reasonably large city.
Some time at about the middle of the afternoon, we fell pray to a low blood sugar attack. We had neglected to bring along with us some water and all of the bicycling in the heat provided that it was time for us to hydrate and calorify (which means, to intake calories). As we exited the greenbelt area, we found ourselves riding along Robert E. Lee Blvd. It was evident that this was a more cyclist-friendly area of town. There were several bike shops in the area, good bike paths, and (as we were to discover) establishments that gave discounts to peddlers. So we rode and rode down the road. We stopped at a place called the Daily Juice, a small place along the road specializing in tasty beverages with fruit and vegetables. Josh was the first to notice the brightly colored sign out front that indicated there was a 15% discounts to cyclists, which I found delightful. I ordered a "blueberry lemonade" and Josh had some sort of exciting smoothie with peanut butter and fruit. We then sat outside under the shade and consumed our exciting, calorie packed, drinks. While we were there, I should note, Josh had the opportunity to participate in an anti-George Bush conversation, further proof that even in the heart of Texas, Austin is cool.
After we left the Daily Juice, we headed up South Lamar Street where Josh located a bicycle shop that he felt was one of the best he's ever seen. Something about being the girlfriend of an avid cyclist, I shall have you know, is that you can expect to spend a lot of time in bike shops. Upon entering the shop, Josh proceeded to introduce himself to some of the shop employees and embarked upon a huge conversation about all things cycling. psst...don't tell Josh this, but while I absolutely love bicycling, sometimes (just sometimes) I get a little bored in the bike shops. So I had thoroughly entertained myself in the shop by looking at every single dingle wingle item they had for purchase. Some items I even examined twice or thrice! I also went to the bathroom and examined all of the posters of cyclists on the wall. It was about the time when I was comparing and contrasting the prices and features of handlebar accessories when Josh wanted to borrow my camera so that he could take some photos of the bike shop. At that point I just sat down and waited patiently, because there is no rushing a man who is passionate, I have found.
From there we continued to ride down some street and I decided that it was imperative that I purchase a pair of women's shorts. The total ridiculousness of wearing Josh's oversized swimming trunks was getting me down - - I was feeling embarrassed and full of shame while I was in the bike shop, wearing those trunks. In that vein, we located an establishment called Department Store, which was as generic as generic could be, and I purchased for $4.70 a pair of shorts, obviously intended for a woman in a different age group than myself, on the clearance rack. I changed into them in the store, and while I was not exactly sexy in these shorts (especially considering how sweaty I had become), I felt like a beautiful goddess compared to how I had felt in the men's swimming trunks. From there, we rode bikes all around the neighborhoods, up and down hills, having fun and seeing some awesome residential areas. As it was approaching darkness, we rushed to the hotel for some much needed showering and beautifying.
After an exciting, tiring, sweaty, and unattractive day, Josh and I then proceeded to have a romantic evening. The temperature had cooled down significantly and the humidity was barely noticeable. We walked downtown in search of a specific sushi restaurant, Kyoto, which we found at a corner of Congress Avenue. Kyoto was a dimly lit tasteful sushi place where Josh and I were some of the only customers, making it relaxing and romantic. We shared some age tofu, as well as a Longhorn roll, a Godzilla roll, and a Rainbow roll. They were all fabulous and so satisfying. Afterwards, we walked downstairs to a place called the Elephant Room, which is a jazz bar. There, we enjoyed a few glasses of wine and some good jazz.