I’ve discovered that when I travel, I like to combine staying with friends wherever I am with having time to explore on my own. That provides an opportunity to visit friends all over the world and get to see a place from a local’s perspective. Having some time on my own gives me the opportunity to see a different area of wherever I am and have the freedom to do what I want without being too much of a burden to my friends. That is what I decided to do for this trip to Texas. I spent 3 days staying with my friend Ivette in the Texas Hill Country (Austin suburbs) and 3 days staying at the funky Austin Motel in the South Congress neighborhood of the city.
Several people told me I was crazy to go to Texas in August. I countered that I like hot weather and Ivette assured me that being the desert, it wasn’t humid and therefore wouldn’t feel so hot. When I checked the forecast a few days before my trip and saw daily highs above 100° F everyday, I started to get nervous. What I would soon learn is that it never seemed to cool off. At 9 PM, it was still 98 degrees out. Despite the heat, I had a great time but the weather definitely affected my travel style. I quickly found out that I couldn’t just wander around aimlessly the way I usually do. Let’s just say I have a new-found appreciation for air conditioning.
I arrived in Austin on Saturday afternoon. Ivette, her husband Gil, and their son Antonio picked me up at the airport. Our first stop was lunch at a restaurant that they like called Jack Allen’s. Ivette’s recommendation was chicken fried chicken (kind of like chicken fried steak but with a chicken breast instead). That sounded way too heavy so I went for some variation of chicken enchilada with a fried egg on top instead. Thus started my 6 day feeding frenzy. On Saturday evening Ivette, her 19 year old daughter Gabby and I went to the 2nd Street District of Austin where some stores were providing free drinks and snacks, all sponsored by a local vodka company. We even got complimentary mini chair massages and I enjoyed window shopping at some beautiful boutiques.
On Sunday I began to learn about Texas history and Texas barbecue. First we went to the very interesting Bill Bullock Museum of Texas History. I have to admit that I was fairly ignorant about the complicated and colorful history of the state, which at various times was ruled by Spain, France, and Mexico, independent, part of the Confederacy and of course, ultimately part of the United States. Understanding the history helps to better understand some quirks of current Texas attitudes, such as the desire to secede from the US. Later that day Ivette and I also popped into a small art museum called the Mexic-Arte Museum. Mexican culture is also a huge part of the state’s identity.
Sunday would also provide my initiation to Texas barbecue at a local restaurant called Stubbs. What I learned is that the food is prepared with a dry rub, obliterating the need for sauce. What I also learned is that the rubs can be spicy. Even my cornbread had jalapeños in it. I began to ask in restaurants if the food was spicy before ordering. However, I soon realized that what I consider spicy is not the same as what locals consider spicy.
On Monday, we went to San Antonio for a day trip. I couldn’t go all this way without seeing the Alamo! I was glad to have gone to the history museum before, as it helped me to understand the history of the Alamo better. Besides being historic, the grounds are beautiful and I enjoyed taking pictures there. We also had some good Mexican food for lunch and walked around the River Walk and another quaint area called La Villita but it was a hot day and soon enough it was time to head home. It took forever to get back to Austin because of a bad accident on the highway, but we still had time to stop at Buc-Ees, which might be the greatest rest stop/gas station/food market ever. I bought a pulled pork sandwich there, which was quite tasty. They also sell an impressive variety of candy and Buc-Ees branded products (Buc-Ee is a beaver).
Tuesday it was already time to say good bye to Ivette and her wonderful family and move on to the next part of my Texas adventure. The plan for the day was for Ivette, Antonio and I to visit the Cathedral of Junk, an Austin landmark that I had read about, and then they would drop me off at my hotel. The Cathedral of Junk is the creation of a wacky guy named Vince who started collecting all kinds of crap and erected a structure in his backyard. Is it art? I am still not sure. It is definitely interesting and consistent with the “Keep Austin Weird” motto which can be seen everywhere. Vince asks for a “voluntary” contribution of $10 per car and arranges visits by appointment only. Following our visit to this esteemed landmark, the real adventure started. Ivette had been having trouble with her car, and when we about to go to my hotel, it just wouldn’t accelerate. Luckily we were able to pull over in front of a house where we weren’t in any danger, but once the car died, we had no air conditioning and had to wait out in the hot Texas sun for a tow truck. We walked back to the Cathedral of Junk, where Vince reluctantly let us use his bathroom but didn’t offer to let us wait indoors or even offer us a glass of water. One article about him described him as crotchety and he definitely lived up to his reputation. Finally, Ivette was able to arrange for a tow truck to come for the car and we called a taxi to take us to the Austin Motel. We arrived there around 1 PM, too early to check in but we were able to leave my stuff in the lobby and have lunch in the air-conditioned restaurant next door. Luckily a friend of Ivette’s daughter Gabby was able to pick up Ivette and Antonio and take them home so everything worked out in the end. And 7 year old Antonio was quite a trouper throughout the ordeal. The transition between the two halves of my vacation was just a little rockier than I had anticipated!
Once Ivette and Antonio were on their way, I set off to explore the South Congress (or SOCO) area. The Austin Motel is in a great location, right in the middle of this neighborhood known for eclectic shops and restaurants. I enjoyed browsing the boutiques and craft shops in the area and even contemplated buying a pair of cowboy boots until I saw that they run about $500.
Tuesday night’s activity was watching bats fly off the Congress Avenue bridge. Austin has one of the largest bat colonies in the US and every night thousands (maybe even hundreds of thousands) fly out from underneath the bridge. Bat watching is a very popular tourist activity in Austin. They look like birds as they fly away and eventually just look like thousands of little black dots in the sky. It was an extraordinary sight to see. Following the bat migration I went to Amy’s, well-known local ice cream parlor where I had a cantaloupe ice for dinner, which was followed by a drink while listening to live music on the patio of Snack Bar, the same restaurant where we had eaten lunch earlier in the day. It was a pretty great end to a kind of crazy day.
Wednesday I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I started my day by having breakfast at Magnolia Café, a cute little place on South Congress Avenue. Then I decided to go for a walk, with my destination being the Umulauf Sculpture Garden which didn’t seem too far away on the map. It was only 10 AM when I started so I figured, how hot could it be that early in the day. Well, it was hot. And farther than it seemed on the map. But the garden was pretty and there was a small museum that was air-conditioned. On my way back, I took a slight detour in search of Gordoughs, a food truck (or more accurately a trailer, as is typical in Austin) which Gil and Gabby had been raving about for the past 3 days. So that is how lunch ended up being a $5 donut. But not a normal donut. They are covered with toppings and are beyond decadent. Mine was peach (somehow I thought that would be lighter than chocolate in the blazing heat). All I can say is I am glad they don’t have Gordoughs in New York or I would be in serious trouble. By the time I got back to the Austin Motel I was either in a food coma or suffering from heat stroke. I rested in the room room for a while then went for a quick dip in the pool. Very refreshing.
Somehow I was hungry by early evening and went for a late lunch (or was it an early dinner?) at Guero’s, a local Tex-Mex restaurant. I enjoyed my taco salad then discovered that there was a live radio broadcast going on at the restaurant’s adjoining (outdoor) patio. Even though it was still brutally hot, one nice thing in Texas is that most of the outdoor dining spaces have huge misting fans that periodically spray water on you, which is incredibly refreshing. I listened to the country singer for a little while, then decided to check out happy hour at the Continental Club, which was directly across the street from my hotel and very famous in Austin. That night there was no cover charge for the early show and I caught an amazing band called Hot Club of Cowtown (check them out– http://hotclubofcowtown.com/). I especially enjoyed watching some really great dancers dancing a style that I couldn’t quite identify. I asked one woman what they were dancing and she said mostly East Coast Swing. All I can say is that it didn’t resemble the swing dancing that I’ve seen before but it looked like so much fun!
Thursday morning I set off for a free walking tour that I had signed up for on the Austin tourism website. This undertaking necessitated learning how to use the bus system (very easy and very cheap–$1 per ride or $2 for a 24 hour unlimited pass). When I arrived at the Capitol for the start of the tour I learned that I was the only one who had signed up, which was great. My knowledgeable guide Patsy showed me a bit of the Capitol building and grounds (including the governor’s mansion) and then we walked around the downtown area, where I learned some more about Austin’s history and architecture. Since I was the only one, we were also able to candidly discuss politics. I then returned to the Capitol, where tours of the building are given throughout the day. I was just in time for one focused on the role of women in Texas history. Again, I was the only one on the tour, which was given by a very sweet young woman. Unfortunately, the legislature was not in session but the highlight for me was seeing where Wendy Davis sits in the Texas Senate. I ate lunch in the Capitol’s cafeteria, which was fine but probably would have been more interesting if the legislators were around.
I then hopped on a different bus and headed for the campus of the University of Texas. The heat prevented me from exploring as much as I would have liked, but what I did see looked very nice. I decided to check out the Blanton art museum on campus, which had some interesting pieces of modern art. (Also air-conditioned! And free on Thursdays!)
I had a bunch of different ideas of things to do on Thursday night. I had really wanted to check out both a place that had dancing (with dance lessons) and a restaurant that had live music. However, getting to either of those would have involved taking 2 buses or a taxi and inertia got the better of me. So instead I went back to the Continental Club for happy hour again where I saw another local group called the Whiskey Sisters. I enjoyed their music, although not as much as the Hot Club of Cowtown the night before. For dinner that night, I went to a food truck near my hotel that sold fried chicken. The name had made me laugh out loud when I walked by: “Ms. P’s Electric Cock” so I couldn’t resist. I then noticed that there was live music again on the patio of Snack Bar so I returned there for a drink which was lovely except for a woman sitting next to me at the bar who started to chat with me and wouldn’t stop talking. She was nice enough but eventually I got tired of talking to her so I returned to the hotel.
Friday I just had time for breakfast before heading to the airport for my flight home. I was thrilled to learn that Austin has a public bus to the airport for just $1 which stopped a few blocks from my hotel. (When I had asked at the hotel if the bus stop was within walking distance, the young girl at the desk hesitated at first and then said “Oh you’re from New York, you can walk there.” Really, just about anyone could walk there. It was about 10 minutes away.) I had a lot of time to kill at the airport because (a) I am generally neurotically early and (b) my flight was a bit delayed. That gave me one last opportunity to eat authentic Texas barbecue and marvel at just what a music-filled city this was. There was a woman playing guitar and singing at an airport cafe at 11 AM. So quintessentially Austin.
Fierce Sunflower 