Days 12, 13, & 14 in Austin - Part 3 - Seat of Power, Bats, Bat Shit, And Bat Shit Crazy.

That's right, dear readers, this post gets its own teaser title.

Many, many of those that call Austin home suggested I see the Capital Building and I'm glad I did as the architecture is special and access was free and easy. The building has a dome that can be seen in most city views and plays prominently on Congress Street. The details within are impressive and Texas-subtle, which is to say over the top. The woodwork, stonework, mouldings, light fixtures, inlays, and portraits of former governors all capture the eye and make for captivating visuals.




Austin also has a massive (estimated at 750,000 - 1,000,000) Mexican free-tailed bat population that call the underside of the Congress Street Bridge home. Come dusk, they funnel out from the safety of their hives (???) / bat caves (???) in wave after wave of batty-ness to the amusement of the citizenry and visitors alike. My venue for this spectacle was a pontoon party boat operated by a local tour company. Fortunately, I selected a seat on the boat with an overhead canopy as, once underway, we were informed by our guide that prior to taking flight, the bats like to, um, lighten their loads, and well, you know. The water began to ripple as if so many tiny pebbles had been dropped into it. And then, a black funnel of winged mammals took to the evening sky, flying away from the setting sun and along the river in search of food. The lake cruise at dusk was pretty fabulous as well and provided some great vistas of the Austin skyline.




Finally, whilst roaming the city streets on Monday, I spotted this very unique resident:



Yes, this woman is wearing a Mexican wrestling mask (Lucha Libre) at 11:30AM on a Monday in the heart of the city. I witnessed her casually stroll and even stop and smell flowers along her way. For some reason, she reminded me of one my dear sisters. Can anyone guess which sister???

Days 12, 13, & 14 in Austin, TX - Part 2

President Calvin Coolidge once said, "The business of America is business". Well, if ol' CC was around these days, he may have have to amend that to "the business of America is feeding Americans". The sheer number and concentration of bars and restaurants in Austin is staggering. 6th street alone is a run of bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and tattoo parlors. In, other words, I felt most comfy there. Here's a few of the watering holes that I, uh, read about:


Tasty Old Fashioneds, Brooklyn Lager in all its hoppy goodness and artisan sausages at Frank:
(Also home to some of the best coffee I've ever had - they are coffee freaks there.)


The dreaded goat-sucker of Mexican lore and legend:

I was thirsty and had some nickels:

I liked their signage:


No books in this library:

Days 12, 13, & 14 in Austin, TX - Part 1

Days on the road: 14.
Miles today: 92.
Miles to date: 2938.


Let me preface this entry with a note indicating how flattered I was to receive a number of emails requesting, nay, demanding more posts. It is a pleasure to have such a rabid following. I was having such a good time in Austin that I figured the posting could wait until I had lots to write. Perhaps in the future, I won’t let it go so long...

I will have spent 4 nights in Austin because I like the city that much. It is a great size - about a million people, easily navigable, fairly pedestrian and bike friendly, a great mix of bars and restaurants and really good music everywhere I went. I also felt a significantly youthful energy stemming from UT (go longhorns!) and an eclectic mix of competing factions. These factions include hipsters, politicos, musicians, artists, high tech geeks, business knobs, oilmen, former cheerleaders, dirty hippies, and a huge Mexicans. Of course, the further South I’ve driven, the better the Mexican food has become triggering Fusco family memories circa 1981-1984.
A few observations on Austinians (Austinites, Austininos?):
1) Women of Austin freely call me (and possibly others) “Sweetie”. I think I like it even better than “Darlin’”.
2) The “y’all” is softer in Texas, and far less annoying. Perhaps I’m becoming conditioned to it, but my hyper vigilance to that which annoys me doesn’t seem to agree with that.
3) There are an unusually large number of red headed women in this city. This is a very good thing. And while my observations are far from scientific, the visual evidence is abundant and a pleasure to study.
4) The people of Austin are the right amount of nice. Not so nice that I find them highly suspicious, but nice enough that the fine tradition of the bartender buy-back is in full effect. This is one of the most glaring omissions from Toronto culture – I could write 50,000 words on this, but its mention will have to suffice for now.

I met a nice (but not too nice) couple that had moved to Austin from Chicago last year. They were confused by my non-regional dialect and could not believe I was from Canada. In keeping with the “Ask a local” policy of this trip, they provided many suggestions on activities whilst in Austin. One of which was to tour the UT tower – site of a sniper attack on unsuspecting campus goers in the mid-60’s. The tower was only recently re-opened to tours, now conducted under very tight security involving a metal detector (which, of course, was set off by the lone Canadian), many security guards, and tour guides. The view of Austin from the top of the tower is expansive and the weather was terrific, but the metal cage for visitor safety impaired some shots (photos, that is).