Austin, TX: Live music mania

We didn’t quite know what to expect in Texas...while driving west through the state we saw a whole lot of oil, Walmarts, and general nothingness. Which made Austin such a plesant surprise! Young people! Live music! Food trucks! Dancing! Even a few Democrats! Whata city.

We jumped right into Texas culture when, on the first night, we went out to a two-stepping bar. Turns out neither of us can dance—but we sure enjoyed watching folks young and old swing around on the dance floor in their cowboy boots and plaid and all. It surely fit our impression of Texans, in the best way possible! (Although we were too meak that night to try ourselves—we worked up the courage to dance later in the week.) We listened to live music every night we were in town and were never disappointed. So many great bands and great venues.

We did some general exploring of the city and learned Texas state history while touring the Capitol. Did you know that the Texas State Capitol stands 14 ft higher than the DC Capitol. Everything really is bigger in Texas!  Then we rushed off to Lady Bird Lake for some relief from the 102 degree heat and wound up trying stand-up paddleboarding for the first time. What fun! And quite a workout! Plus we made a pitstop at the flagship Whole Foods for some cool drinks.

Enjoying breakfast tacos--an apparent staple in Austin!

We have our own Texas state seal now!

Yup--the Capitol really is pink(ish)

      

Flagship Whole Foods complete with wine & beer bar, coffeeshop, smoothie bar, live demonstrations...oh and food too!

A random but amazing part of our day was watching the bat exodus on the Congress St bridge. Apparently Austin has one of the highest urban bat populations and each night at dusk 1.5 million bats wake up from their slumber under the bridge and fly out for the night. It was difficult to capture on camera the sheer magnitude of bats—their tiny black bodies littered the sky for a full 10 minutes. Surely a sight to see!

We were then joined by Claire’s friend Rae from Katy, Texas. We found ourselves at one of Austin’s natural pools for an afternoon dip, watched the sunset over the city at the Hangar Lounge, once again found ourselves some live music, and ended our stay with food truck barbeque and a trip to The Cathedral of Junk--a random man's backyard junk pile converted to a functional outdoor tower! We all three agreed that Austin was the place to be young, passionate, and fun.

reunited and it feels so good!

Texas BBQ--nom nom

Thanks a million times to our fantastic host, Annie. We couldn’t have asked for better company and a cuter RV! Thanks for showing us around your amazing city! Your incredible generosity and hospitality will not be forgotten!