~ Peddling, Rocking, and Saying Goodbye ~

Day Six, the final day of the trip to Austin, October 20th, is rather fuzzy. This may come as a shock to each of you, but I haven't been creating these amazing detail-packed blog entries about my vacation from mere memory. Indeed, during the vacation, I took notes about the activities in my journal and from those notes composed these fantastic entries. The last day of the trip, unfortunately, I did not take any notes and I do not have the greatest of memories (which is why I am a voracious note-taker). Last night I popped by Josh's residence to deliver some pain killers and chicken noodle soup for his cold or flu, as well as a knitted gift for his birthday (Happy Birthday!!!), and we were discussing the final day of the trip and trying to remember certain details. What was particularly irksome was that we could not recall where we had had coffee that morning. Never fear, however, because this morning it hit me!

Friday morning began with us riding bicycles down the greenbelt area, across the Colorado river, and over to a coffee establishment called Flipnotics. This place is also a hipster clothing store and had a big patio with wireless internet and flowers. After getting our coffee, we initially sat outside. We moved seats several times because we couldn't get everything exactly perfect, and we ultimately sat indoors. If memory serves me correctly, we had a little bit of a late start that morning and I think that it was around noonish by the time that we left.

Our plan for the day was to go on a big mountain bike ride, exploring all of the trails around the Barton Springs area. Which was a lot of fun! Riding a bicycle on these trails was unlike any biking I have ever done during my entire one and three-quarter years' experience of mountain biking. Firstly, their trails were much more consistently technical than anything I've ever ridden. I was quite proud of myself for being able to ride as much as I did, and I was able to ride most all of it. Riding in the Boise foothills, truly technical parts of trails are pretty rare and I'm usually too much of a weiner to challenge myself over much of it. That whole "I don't want to fall and hurt myself" thing. But in Austin, there wasn't a choice. It was either ride my bike, have a lot of fun,challenge myself, and take a chance on falling and getting hurt, or don't ride, don't have fun, and don't take any risks. I chose the former. And it worked out beautifully. I had so much fun and I felt so proud of myself for being able to clear so much of it. Secondly, the trails in Austin were dense with folliage and trees. In Boise, the foothills have "high desert" qualtiy to them, which implies that folliage is almost nonexistant except for some knee-high sagebrush and brambleweed. In Austin, it was like a jungle, with the trees hanging low over the trails. So not only were the trails themselves more technical, but the trees growing all along either side of the trails and sometimes hanging over the trails, which meant that it truly was a full-body strategic riding experience. While I was popping my front wheel over rocks, I was also negotiating my handlebars around tree trunks, and bending my torso down low to avoid hitting branches.

From what Josh was telling me, the mountain biking in Austin is much more similar to mountain biking in most of the country, whereas in Boise it is somewhat exceptional. While I was feeling like a major accomplisher, Josh was feeling like he was back home in Kansas, it being the same sort of mountain biking that he first started riding on. Additionally, the trail system in Austin, while it was definately well-maintained and well-traveled, did not seem to be as well-mapped as in Boise. At several junctures, it was not readily apparent which way the main trail went. So on multiple occasions, Josh and I found ourselves on these offshoot trails which led to strange areas with deadends. Thus, our biking was quite the adventure. We found mini-canyons and caves, streams, and had a lot of fun.

At some point, we realized that we were starvin' marvin and we asked for some directions on how to get to some civilization. From these directions, we got outside of the wildernessy area of Barton Springs and was on some far end of Greater Austin that wasn't even on our map. We asked someone if there was a place to eat nearby, and he looked down at our bicycles, smirked, and said that we had to go up a certain hill to find any eating establishments. This certain hill was one that I had seen two minutes earlier and thought to myself, "Oh my! That's a crazy steep hill. Good thing we won't have to ride bikes up it." And I kind of gulped. As I approached the hill on the bike, switching for the first and only time into my granny gear, I kept the thought of impending food at the forefront of my mind to provide me with some pseudo calories. Needless to say, Josh arrived at the top before I did, but I still felt that I did a pretty good job on my climbing. At the top, one of the first things that we saw was a big sign that said "Chilis" and there was no need to even have a conversation. We went there, a chain restaurant that we could have found in any city, and had a fantastic huge meal. We also took advantage of the opportunity to cool down. Afterwards, we wandered through some of the shops, including a Nordstrom's Clearance Outlet where I considered buying a fugly pair of Prada bootties.

We continued riding for a time and then turned around and headed back downtown. From here, my memory is a little fuzzy, so hopefully Josh remembers what we did. I think that we rested at the hotel for a while. But eventually, we got all dressed up and walked down to Red River Street. We had hoped to eat at Moonshine again, but there was too long of a wait. Instead we went to yet another Mexican food place (yea, it might be a long time before I crave an enchillada). I wasn't in the mood for Mexican at all but we were kind of in crunch time and needed to eat something and this was the only place that didn't have a wait. Plus, it was right across the street from Stubb's Ampitheater, where we were going to be seeing Built to Spill play that night.

The concert was great! I am a fan of the Built to Spill. The opening band, which was named...something???...can't remember...wasn't all that remarkable. Josh and I found a place to sit, and we ended up having to keep our guard up to keep our spots, but it was a decent ways from the front and we could see Doug Marsh bright and clear.

I did not sleep very well that night. And we had to get up at 4:00 in the morning to get to the airport. Yet again, I failed at interpreting the bus schedule. I was certain that we could take a bus to the airport, but I had neglected to read the weekend schedule, on which there is no bus running that early in the morning. So we had to take a cab. And we had kind of a miserable airport experience. I was so exhausted, cranky, and very uncomfortable. Our connecting flight was delayed and I was blowing my discomfort out of proportion. I was so happy when I arrived at my home.

Posted by jennifer at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ 70 degrees, being intellectual, silly walking, steak ~

Day Five, Thursday October 19, of the Austin trip was the first "cold" day. The storm from the previous evening accompanied a cold front (which was still warm, considering that it was October, but cold for Texas). We rode bikes to the Spider House for a third experience. Having to endure mediocre coffee and a lame atmosphere the day before, we didn't feel like sacrificing quality just to try something new. This was to be our intellectual day. After coffee, we went over to the university area and visited the Harry Ransom Research Center, which has an impressive collection on Norman Mailer and a caricaturist named Topoloski. I felt very smartened by the end of it. And that was the first floor. We took the elevators up to the second floor, which had a collection of movie posters that I wasn't interested in. While Josh poked around, I sat on a bench and looked out the window and watched people. Josh joined me and we looked at people together. Then we took the elevator up another floor. This floor appeared to be merely offices, but we decided to walk around. At some point, we decided to practice our silly walks. As we walked past an open office door or window, we walked as mature adults, totally normal. But once we had past the doors and windows, we instantly broke out into a silly walk, and stopped the moment we came to another window or open door. We did this all down and up the hallways. It was pretty great, but perhaps you should have been there to grasp the pure genius of it. At some point, I realized that a woman had seen us and that we were going to be in the elevator with her. She seemed to be trying not to laugh and I was trying to retain my dignity.

From there we went to the Jack Blanton Museum of Art, where we saw a lot of paintings on the life of Christ and people wearing uncomfortable looking clothing. While I enjoyed seeing many of the paintings of Christ and of people wearing uncomfortable clothing, because they were good paintings, I eventually became a little bored of the redundancy of it. I understand that if you're really passionate about it, that perhaps you want to spend all of your time painting renditions of the life of Christ, hundreds upon hundreds of them, as well as people wearing uncomfortable clothing, but I dunno, variety is the spice of life.

After the Museum, we ate at a generic Mexican food joint. Then we went down Nueces and checked out the shops in the Warehouse District and Second Street. For me, it was total sensory overload at this point. From the overload of just being in so many new places for five days, to having a full day of looking at art, and then going into shops that had been creative in their decorating (one shop in the Warehouse District had decorated with strategically placed full length mirrors in a big circle around some of the clothing...I became disoriented and kept walking into the mirrors). We broke up the shopping with a visit to Bookpeople, a large independently-owned bookstore. Eventually we returned to the hotel for some rest.

That evening we walked down Red River street and waited for a table at a restaurant called Moonshine. After a thorough consultation with the menu, we each decided to order a Texas flat iron steak in bleu cheese butter and red wine reduction with vegetables. Now, a brief word about me and the meat. I am not much of a meat eater. If I was left to my own devices, I would probably never or almost never eat meat. It's partly because I'm down on cholesterol and saturated fat and I think there's plenty of other ways to get protein. Also, it's expensive and tricky for me to cook. Moreover, until the time that I met Josh, I had a firm dislike of all things steak. I think that the very few instances during my upbringing when I had steak, it was overcooked and hard to chew with no amazing sauce. And then Josh made me a steak medium rare and slathered it with the Stubbs' bbq sauce, and my opinion changed. Granted, I still only consume a steak about once every two or three months, but it is always fantastic. Anyhoo, so we were at the restaurant and we ordered these Texas flat iron steaks. And...remembering my first cut into it, dripping with bleu cheese butter...it was amazing. I think that it is impossible to describe it and still give justice to its awesomeness. After the second bite, Josh looked up and said that it was one of the best steaks he's ever had in his life, which I feel is telling. Ah, memories...see, I am a big fan of the good food, and I endeavor to eat this "good food" at all instances of eating. But sometimes, a meal is so fantastic, that I actually spend time reflecting back on it, my mouth watering. ....

After dinner, we walked around Red River looking for a place to get an adult beverage. Earlier, when we were in a Diesel store, we received a recommendation for a place called Club de Ville (which had a surprising similarness to the Neurolux even down to its old Best Western Crown Sign). In the bar's darkness, we found a pleather-cloaked couch and I ordered us a glass of wine to share. This crappy bar wine that came from one of those oversized wine bottles cost seven dollars, and I was not enthused about that. So we hung out in the smelly darkness drinking our overpriced shitty wine, and then left. We wandered and wandered. Every place along Red River was having some bands play and entrance covers were upwards of five dollars. Since I had just spent seven on a dumb bar wine, I was feeling picky about what I wanted to spend my money on. We went into a bar that was playing a ninja soccer movie and Josh ordered a jack and coke. But the place was lame so we left. Eventually, we wandered over to Sixth Street and entered the land of frat boys, their hoochies, and the meat markets in which they connect. Saying that I was "displeased" with the situation in which I found myself would be something of an understatement. And I think that I'm going to cut my description of this area down, because as I'm recalling my experience there, I'm becoming irritated and lamed out. Eventually we had some wine at a meat market and I started to get all depressed. I was sitting in the corner staring at all of these people who are the complete opposite of myself and I could not understand their behavior or how they seemed to be having a good time. I think that Josh was trying to distract my attention away from them because it was probably obvious that I was becoming depressed, but the solution was to just leave. So we left. We went to a somewhat empty bar that had a typical bar band playing hits from various decades and we enjoyed a few pony-necked beers. The volume for the band was much too loud and I stuffed toilet tissue into my ears. We sat at the back of the bar on a smooshy couch and drew pictures on a piece of paper. And that was pretty much the end of the evening.

Posted by jennifer at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ natural beauty and a bat colony ~

On Wednesday October 15th, Day Four of the trip to Austin, Josh and I ventured downtown for coffee at an establishment called Little City. It was a mediocre experience. My coffee was hardly worth drinking for lack of flavor and I was horrified at the styrofoam cup in which it came. Additionally, I've lost patience with establishments where I spend my hard earned money who make it ridiculously difficult for me to properly go to the restroom. Little City coffee, thumbs down.

Our plan for the day was to go to the Botanical Gardens, but we became a tad sidetracked (cough, cough) in finding some public restrooms in the Zilker wildernessy area. We located one at the Zilker Nature Center where we had some nature learning experiences, saw some animals in cages, and did a bit of hiking. On one of the signs, it read that all of the animals that they had captive were ones that they found injured in the wild that would have died otherwise. So they had eagles with arthritis and stunted wings, blind owls, and I felt particularly sorry for all of them. But whatever, it was a beautiful day. After some time, we went down Robert E. Lee road for some lunch, and had some Mexican food at Baby Acapulco's. It was pretty good, overly cheesy and fatty, but tastey. Afterwards, we hopped onto our bicycles and transported our persons to the Botanical Gardens. Which were stunning. I am always a big fan of spending time in botanical gardens. You know, the pretty flowers and shit. The first bit that we spent time in was the Japanese Gardens which were, uh, very japaneesey. The Gardens are bordered on one side by a highway, and that is the side of the Japanese Gardens which use a bamboo forest as a buffer. At some point, we climbed on some of the rocks and we were able to look out and see over the bamboo, downtown Austin. And it was neat, being in this huge sanctuary buffered by folliage. This part of the gardens also had pools filled with koi. It was a very relaxing place to be. And you know, part of going on vacation is the relaxation bit and taking time to smell the roses. And in between the Japanese Gardens and the rest of the Botanical Gardens was the Rose Gardens. Beyond those were a series of other gardens, including a primitive plant garden and a butterfly garden. It was very nice.

After we had our fill of nature's beauty, we ventured over to the Daily Juice for another refreshing beverage. I had another blueberry lemonade and Josh ordered the most expensive smoothie on the menu, a Subliminator. Then we toodled over to South Congress for some shopping in the hipster clothing, vintage, and antique shops. We broke this up with another coffee experience at an obscure place called Bouldin Creek cafe, which is highly recommended for its unusualnitudiness. After further South Congress exploration, we rode our bikes down to the Congress Avenue bridge where we sat on the grassy knoll with other tourists to watch the bats fly out from under at dusk. For whatever reason, there are an ass-load of bats living under the bridge, and it's been named the World's Largest Urban Bat Colony. And every night at dusk, they all fly out from under the bridge to go about their nightly living. As we arrived on the knoll about half an hour before dusk, we waiting for about that long. When it started to get dark and the clouds were rolling in, we could see the odd bat here and there flying underneath the bridge. After a while, one or two bats would fly out from under the bridge, mounting our suspense. Josh ran down to the river to get a better look, while I remained on the knoll out of comfort and a desire to watch the bikes. At some point, when it was too dark to take any photos, pretty much all at once, the bats came out. They formed this great big line, twenty abreast, and came pouring out from underneath the bridge. It truly was not the most spectacular sight (actually, it was a bit anticlimactic), but I was impressed with the sheer quantity of bats. Yes, it's a big bridge, but as I determined, each bat must take up a specific amount of space and it did not seem possible to me for that many bats to fit on the underside of the bridge. And they just kept coming, more and more bats. It was crazy.

Eventually, when the bats were still emerging, Josh and I decided to put the rubber to the peddle and get back to the hotel. For that evening, we had had every intention of going out and having a nightlife experience, but a thunderstorm rolled in, followed by some flash flooding. And we cuddled up with some cereal for dinner and crime shows for entertainment.

Posted by jennifer at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Laguna Gloria and Crime TV ~

Day Three, Tuesday October 14th, in Austin was memorable and stunning, very photo worthy. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Josh and I rode bikes to the Spider House for a second wonderful morning coffee experience. The day was hot, at about 90 degrees with a decent amount of humidity. After coffee, we cycled out to a place called Laguna Gloria, which is some affluent and impressive estate along the river that was donated to the Austin Museum of Modern Art and now serves as an extension to the art museum. The ride there was not for the faint of heart. I was able to understand exactly what the people in that area of the world mean by the term "hill country". By the time that we arrived at Laguna Gloria, we were dripping with sweat. My impression of the place was that while it was totally beautiful and a lovely place to spend the afternoon, it was a little overly glorified. My favorite part of the home was this empty room in which there was no display, the lights were turned off and the blue tile on the floor was broken in several places, and I sat down feeling in love with the incredible view through the windows. Josh and I also explored the gardens along the river. Beautiful. The area seemed very much like the "deep south" in my romantic sense. By the time that we left, we were about to collapse from low blood sugar. It took us some time to get back to a part of town with places to eat. We went to this establishment called the Kinney Street Cafe (I think) and I was very satisfied with my meal. Then we continued to wander around the area and stopped in another coffee shop for a sit down. I fell asleep and drooled on the pleather couch.. I felt exhausted from all of the cycling and wandering, as well as feeling overly stimulated with being in a new place. That evening, we made a dinner from some leftovers that we had collected from our restaurant meals, as well as cookies and beer from the neighborly convenience store, and relaxed in the hotel room watching crime shows. It was fabulous! Incidentally, part of the awesome thing about not owning a television is that it always seems like this new, almost "cultural" experience when I get to watch some tv. So it truly felt like a quality way to spend part of my vacation, snuggling up watching some crime shows.

Posted by jennifer at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ 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.

Posted by jennifer at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ The Live Music Cycling Liberal Mecca Capital of the World ~

Clearly, my boyfriend of twenty-one months does not know me at all. As we were walking through the airport to our gate, he said to me, "My best guess was Miami." On Sunday, October 25th at around 6 o'clock in the morning, Josh and I began our journey to Austin Texas. Prior to this, he was not privy to the knowledge of where he would be vacationing. For months, I have had the agonizing responsibility of keeping it a secret. He knew that he was supposed to take the time off of work, and beyond that I endeavored to keep him in the dark. During this time, I spilled the beans to several individuals, most of whom asked me "Why Austin?" Austin is, after all, well known as the Live Music Capital of the World, the hometown of Lance Armstrong (along with being regarded as something of a cycling town), as well as a place for a couple of hott liberals to take a fall vacation to extend the summer (indeed, Josh and I have returned with fresh sun burns!). Needless to say, this is going to take some time for me to recount. The trip, incidentally, was something of a celebration...Josh's thirtyfirst birthday is nearing, we just celebrated our twentyfirst-monthiversary, and two days before we left I found out that I was accepted into my masters program. Ching, ching!

As I already indicated, we left on Sunday on an early flight. I refused to be offended by Josh's thinking that I had planned a trip to Miami (???whatever???) and we got some coffees and had a big airport experience, made bearable by the two travel guidebooks that I had provided. After we arrived in Austin, there was some difficulty in finding an affordable way to reach our hotel. I had endeavored to be ultra prepared, and had printed off the bus schedule. Except for that I printed off the wrong bus schedule. As a side note, the Austin Capital Metro website could be improved for those of us who cannot read maps and who have no sense of direction, honestly! So, after I asked multiple people at the airport on how to catch the bus to our hotel, they all told us to take a taxi for twenty dollars. And now I ask you, is there no difference to a budget traveler between a twenty dollar taxi trip and an affordable fifty cent bus ticket??? I cannot quite articulate how flabbergasted I was feeling about this. Eventually, we received some proper directions and sucessfully road the bus downtown for fifty cents. As we were rolling into downtown, I was surprised about several Austin characteristics. Unlike what I had expected for the Capital of Texas, Austin was not an arid flat desert full of macho Texans with boots and belt buckles. It was a city on numerous hills with lush landscape, streams and creeks trickling down the urban hillsides, with rockn'roll hipsters loitering around the many music venues.

The taxi dropped us off near to the Texas State Capitol building. Apparently, the largest state capitol building in the U.S., the Texas Capitol building to me, however, was just another state capitol building. The only thing I found particularly noteworthy was the extensive grounds of the capitol area. From the bus, we walked through the Capitol grounds to our hotel, an affordable Super 8 Motel on the other side of the freeway. That evening, after some rest and recuperation at the hotel, we wandered downtown along Congress Avenue to the trendy Warehouse District. We had coffee at an espresso joint called Halycon before exploring the seedy bar district along 6th Street. Upon finding an establishment with cheep beer and a cowboy /slash/ outerspace theme, we found repose with several games of table hockey...and beer.

After leaving this establishment, we walked along Red River street, home to many of the indie hipster-type music venues. Even on a Sunday night, it was hopping. At some point, we stumbled upon a little place called Stubbs, the maker of (what Josh considers to be) the best bbq sauce in the world. It is truly a sight to see the delight upon Josh's face as he proceeds to consume a meal featuring Stubbs. Twentyone months ago, I had never heard of Stubbs, yet now it is a frequent item on my shopping list. And? Austin is the hometown of Stubbs...which is not only the distributer of amazing bbq sauce, but also has a restaurant with an outdoor amphitheater which hosts incredible bands. Even though I was not at all hungry, we hurried into Stubbs and ate an entire meal. And it was delicious. Incidentally, what attracted our attention to the Stubbs establishment in the first place was the placard out front which featured the upcoming bands to play there. Bands such as Ani Difranco, Built to Spill, and the Decemberists. Before leaving, we purchased some concert tickets to the Built to Spill concert which was scheduled for the time that we would be in Ausin. Funny story, hahahaha...I'm not sure if perhaps I was more tipsy from my beers than I had realized, but at some point, I was going down the stairs to the restroom, and I tripped and fell down several steps. Downstairs, there was some fancypants dinner event with white tablecloths and nice wine, and I was splayed on the floor, having stubbed myself at Stubbs. I was so embarrassed! Everyone rushed over and asked me if I was okay, and I said I was fine and ran away. I then arrived back at our table and, with tears welling in my eyes, told Josh my horrible story. As I was doing so, I had become rather animated with my jesticulation, and I flung my head back during an exclamation, and violently banged my head on the wooden wall. Later, as we were walking back to our hotel, I tripped on the step up to our room and banged my knee. And that is Day 1 of our trip... there are six more days, so stay tuned.

Posted by jennifer at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)