Austin: the sequel

Back to the story of Austin...
Our hero, aka the professor, aka "Le Roi:"



By the way, Adam recently reminded me that not only are we only and exclusively ever to refer to the region of the country formerly known as the "Midwest" as the more aptly named the "Middle East," or my personal favorite, the commonly used (by me, anyway) "Central America."
And now, back to this wonderful trip...

On Saturday night we checked out the wildly popular and LOUD Matt's El Rancho, mixed with both families and fraternity & sorority packs of kids. We had delicious fajitas (Austin specialty), actually I think I only heard about the fajitas. I don't remember what I, in reality, ordered. But believe me, I did not get sick of Mexican! Nor Tex-Mex! And they had BOMB margaritas!!! The place was vaguely reminiscent of the place I was already sick of in DC before I even ate there: Loriol Plaza. However, this seemed more authentic, being started by a guy named Matt (heh) in Austin. Ben and Pa enjoyed their margaritas...


Afterwards...we thought "Hey, we're in Austin, and we MUST check out some of that good ol' Life Music Scene they always talk about!" So I searched Papa's very un-handy 1999 guidebook and found out about the Broken Spoke. I was somewhat expecting some overly intense ordeal like our favorite Cancun Cantina, but not so! This place, known as "Willie Nelson's watering grounds." Well, Willie, you sure picked out an awesome place to get watered!


The Broken Spoke, described both as the "Best HonkyTonk in Texas" and "The Last True Dance Hall in TAY-HAS", is just that. Aka, my ideal type of joint! I called to ask who was playing that night, and they said some band, and I said "what kind of music is that?", to which the woman replied "....country."

As Papa later reflected, there were three generations of folks, though Ben pointed out there may actually be 4 or 5 generations, actually. We saw kids no older than 10, dancing with their parents, and the majority of the crowd was 20-60. We also saw a number of folks aged 70-80+! In fact, one senior couple with matching cowboy and cowgirl outfits invited me to dance! "Slow...slow...fast fast fast!" I went around that honky tonk several times with Papa, and then with Ben.

And as it was essential to "sip on a longneck," we did. But only one. Had to think about the next day's adventures!

And adventures they did turn out to be. We began with a leisurely enough walk around townlake. With the sun shining, and the temperature around 60 degrees, it couldn't have been nicer. Papa did a good job convincing us Austin is a pretty awesome place to live! We then headed to meet Angela, Ben's wonderful cousin, for lunch at Curra's Grill, aka Tamalandia. Famous for their tamales and margaritas. Unfortunately, it being only 12 and all, we steered clear of the raved about avocado martinis. But we did indulge in versions of huevos rancheros, divorciados, migas, etc. Papa said I didn't talk enough about the Mexican food in the last post, so let me be clear--Austin food is amazing and there's no point in me wasting my energy trying to describe it, bc, although I am a food lover, I have not the words enough to describe the freshness, the great flavor, and the perfect zing the dishes all had! So you'll have to experience it yourself.

We bid Angela adieu (or so we thought) and went on to Barton's springs--get this--a public swimming pool filled with natural spring water. Some of you germaphobes would have not been thrilled, but this is like a dream come true for someone like me! Alas, it was closed, but the clear and turquoise springs were still starting to fill the pool. All throughout this lovely park were families eating snowcones, flying kites, and generally doing the things families do. 'Twas fun.

But 'twas not complete without stopping at the CUSTARD store for $1.30 cones of custard!! Yum.


We then headed out to the airport. Ben got on his plane with only slight delays in St. Louis. Papa was delayed several hours, and then got to Chicago, and had to wait til 3 am to get on a bus down to Champaign, having missed his flight earlier and not being able to get on the midnight bus to C-U. I felt sorry for him. But I was too busy feeling sorry for myself, bc my flight was flat out canceled and I had no way to leave.

There is a saving grace, a "silver lining to every cloud," they say. And it proved to be true. Her name was Angela, Ben's cousin. What a knight in shining armor, a dame in a beautiful dress...or something.

She graciously picked me up from the airport as she dropped her friend off (quel coincidence!) and took me back to her gorgeous home in the cutest Austin 'hood. I spent the next few hours trying to talk to wherever the calling centers are for United, and found out it would be impossible to get back to DC before late Monday. Then, I, frustrated, went on a run. Wow! That was fun! Scenic little river cutting through this long park...really perfect.

Angela and I went out to eat and I had the best Mojito ever. Seriously amazing! And some bomb soft tacos with very great corn tortillas. YUM.

So, I thank thee, Austin, and your kind residents. Perhaps we'll meet again soon!