Austin, TAY-HAS!

Where do I even start for this wonderful, perfect, and amazing trip?! Let's start with where all things start...in the airport, with a 4 hour delay. But oh, it gets better! Once we all got on the plane, much relieved to actually be there, we were delightedly told by the captain "Folks, you know the saying, 'Kick em while he's down?' Well, we're getting kicked. I've just been informed we've run out of water and will be delayed another hour." Comical? It may seem so to me now. But it sure wasn't then, and even less fun for poor Papa, who had to eat in Austin alone, and I, who had to eat in Dulles alone. Blegh.

We started out without a camera on Friday, bc Ben was not with us. Papa and I meandered around townlake in the morning, following the green river that juts through Austin. After lunch at a veggie restaurant with the most delicious round cups of refillable perfectly lightly sweetened Chai, we visited two Museums. The first, the Texas State Museum, had a constant stream of school kids running around and screaming, and many were wearing coonskin caps. Reminded me of David in his Davey Crocket phase. I tried to make Papa buy him a coonskin cap but Papa didn't think it was worth $14.95. In retrospect, I see he was right. We eventually left for the Austin Art Museum. It was neat, with some cool exhibits on colonialism and capitalism. Actually, that was just one room with a field of 6,000 pennies and cowbones. I guess it sounds sort of silly now.

We drove around, shot past the capitol building (beautiful) and explored E. Sixth street (the Bourbon street)--described by the NYTimes as the place of jell-o shots and wobbly high 5s. That pretty much describes it. We slurped beer at the Scholtz Biergarten, the oldest running biergarten in Texas, actually, the longest running biergarten, surrounded by all types in this Austin institution. Who doesn't like a beer at 4pm? Soon enough it was time to reunite with Ben and head on over to the Fonda San Miguel, specializing in both Tex Mex and Yucatan cuisine. I had delicious enchiladas and Ben had some amazing fish.

On Saturday, we started off by visiting Papa's old neighborhood. Wow, Papa, it was pretty gorgeous in your 'hood! Here's where Papa grew up. Papa also told me that he actually was a prince.


Just kidding, here is Papa's actual house, with the big pecan tree in the back:


Shoot, looking at that photo I realized that THAT is that hat Papa lost! And David, it belonged to you...I knew it was just too stylish for our professorial Papa.

Here's that terrible Spanish moss (yes I know you have another vision of Spanish Moss but this is really it Austin style) that's taking over like kudzu. It's so funny looking!

We then headed over to Laguna Gloria, with a private house turned public museum and on the most glorious grounds with great views of the lake (well, we actually got lost in the brambles and never got those glorious views). But I got to admire and think "looks like a great place for a wedding..." while Ben scrambled on trees. Papa was innocent bystander. We were in for a treat when Papa swerved off the road to park for Mount Bonell..look at my handsome hubby looking down at Austin. We were trying to figure out which was Michael Dell's house...


And then we headed off to check out UT. Think they have a parking problem there, but calling to mind Morgan's permanent ability to find a parking spot, we eventually found one, and began the campus exploration. Pretty much everything indicated what I've always felt--seeing students study, even while shaded in perfectly picturesque spots, passionately learning about Ancient Greece, or whatever, I felt not a single heartstring pull or say to me "You should really be back in school." But I did like checking out the student union and seeing an IPOD, where I once again agonized about whether I can afford one, and whether the battery will last more than an hour (if you have one please let me know.) But then we saw a turtle pond, with so many turtles I was shocked. I would never take a picture of an animal, never...but...there were so MANY of them! OK blogger won't let me upload it, which is a clue I will do another post later with the rest of this absolutely fantastic Austin trip.

For those of you who haven't been to Austin, I must encourage you to go. The weather, of course, is a huge selling point. The beautiful river & lake, all the outdoors activity, the vibrant pulse of live music (country, Mexican, rock, punk,... it's all there). More to come....