I’ve been finding Austin hard to write about, which is why this post has taken so long to get out. At first impression, the city impressed us with its size and spread. In the 15 years since I started hearing about how wonderful a place it is, Austin’s reputation has acted as a magnet for people from all over the country. With a population hovering around 1M in the city proper and 1.3M in the surrounding area, Austin is massive and extends for miles beyond what we had imagined. That said, after the chaos of greater New Orleans, the network of roads serving the greater Austin area seemed exceptionally streamlined and well-designed in spite of the hills and rolling terrain.
When we first pulled into our campground at the Emma Long Metropolitan Park about 20 miles northwest of downtown, we were dismayed to see that the sites all around ours were jam packed with toys, chairs, bikes, kiddie pools, grills and other sundry equipment. A clothes line behind one of the RVs hung heavy with laundry and an unending stream of kids ran between the campsites. We figured we were in for a riotous few days with neighbors who traveled so loaded with stuff (and offspring!). To add to our disappointment (or revulsion), our campsite smelled like hot baked piss. Everytime we stepped into or out of the camper, if we forgot to hold our breath, we got a big ol’ whiff of stank. As a final bonus of bad news, the campsite’s shower complex was under construction and closed to the public until further notice. Consider me CRUSHED!
During our two days at the beach in the salty, sandy air, I had consoled myself with the thought that I would one day soon have the luxury of standing full body under hot water instead of making do with either our freezing military-type spray-downs (we haven’t been able to get our hot water heater to work), or our typical brief washcloth affairs. To say this was a rough arrival would barely scratch the surface of our despair.
Knowing Austin was one of the places Honey was most looking forward to visiting, I had us booked here for five nights (all paid for in advance). Since we are adults who are learning to manage our disappointment *cough cough*, we set up camp, took a minute to digest our feelings, and ultimately agreed that not everything can be wonderful all of the time. Honey hosed down the asphalt and cracked open a beer. I made corn zuccini sweet potato fritters (delicious!) and we spent some time observing our neighbors who, in spite of their apparent mayhem, were polite, respectful, and excellent disciplinarians. What at first looked like chaos to our untrained eyes, was in fact well-organized and as tidy as eight adults traveling with a gaggle of small children could make it. The parents knew how exactly the kind of impression their campsites made on new arrivals, and they made sure we knew they were not letting anything slide.
One of the nice things about being a bit removed from the cities we visit is being closer to hiking and outdoor activities. We can take our time in the morning (and wait for Chérie! to warm up a bit!) without worrying that things will be too hot or too crowded by the time we get there. On our first morning, we hiked the 2.8 mile loop at Turkey Creek near the entrance to the park, and the next day we did the 6 mile hike at Riverplace. Both had some nice elevation changes and seemed to be very popular with dog owners, since dogs can be off-leash. The vegetation on these hikes (and in the Texas hill country) is very reminiscent of Provence and the Mediterranean where Honey grew up. Semi-arid, lots of cedars and oaks, steep hillsides and cool valleys. It’s the perfect environment to grow olives, almonds, and grapes. It actually felt a little strange not to see those crops as we drove around.
We did get our long-awaited hot showers after our first hike, courtesy of our Planet Fitness membership, which we then celebrated by getting a late lunch at Eastciders. I got the special Paddy’s day green dyed cider with a reuben and Honey had a burger and the much tastier grapefruit hops cider. We thought we’d be cool and hip and stay out to celebrate, but the heavy greasy food knocked us out and we spent the rest of the day at our camp.
When I worked at Berryline in Boston, I worked with a quirky charming girl named María and she has been living in Austin for the past several years. I reached out a few days prior to our arrival and we made plans to meet for dinner and then tag along with her to an improv comedy show she was planning on attending at the Fallout Theater. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen live improv before, but in middle school my friends and I took improv and theater (the results were predictably disastrous and I never perfomed onstage). Fortunately for us, this troupe were professional and cohesive and lots of fun to watch. Honey understood most of the actors (his English has gotten so good in the past 8 months) and we closed the night out with drinks at a fancy cocktail bar after the show.
When Honey & I got back to the parking garage, we were alarmed to find that our car was missing. The attendants were supremely unhelpful, saying, “It probably got stolen or towed,” and the phone number listed for inquiries was “too busy” to answer. I had paid the parking when we arrived, but the issue, as I was mortified to realize, was that when I entered our plate number, I typed in a 9 instead of a 0, meaning our real plate number didn’t show up in the garage’s roster, so after a couple of hours we were ticketed and then finally tagged for towing.
What a terrible way to end an otherwise excellent evening. Given our obvious distress in the face of my stupid mistake, the garage manager refunded us our parking fee, and apologized for not being able to help with the towing cost. Since we needed to clear our thoughts and find a way to get to the tow yard, Honey suggested we go by electric scooter. We’ve seen them in all of the major cities we’ve visited in Europe and the States, but had never tried them ourselves. I was very nervous, (late at night, lots of people, speed, my proneness to accidents, etc.) but walking 7 miles at midnight or trying to snag an Uber during the last stretch of SXSW (a well-renowned 9-day festival incorporating talks, films and live concerts) didn’t seem like viable options, so I let myself be convinced. I’m not going to say riding those scooters was the best idea we’ve ever had, but boy was it exhilarating!
Something we didn’t consider when we boarded our litle zoomy machines is that they operate within a finite perimeter. As we approached the edge of the riding zone they starting beeping and flashing lights, telling us this was the end of their leash. From there we called an Uber (and didn’t have to wait too long) who drove us safely through some very sketchy parts of town. The driver commiserated with our misfortune/brain fail and gave us some great suggestions of places to visit after Austin, in essence shaping the next leg of our journey (we’re always looking for the silver lining in any of our “misadventures”).
For our last two days in Austin, we decided to relax, not get into trouble and see some live music. We’d checked out the schedule for SXSW and spotted a free outdoor concert at Ladybird Park that Saturday afternoon. This time we made sure our parking information was completely accurate and followed the streams of people moving towards the venue. We didn’t pay much attention to the music when we first arrived since we were in line for drinks for at least an hour, but the last band, Mt Joy had a great sound and lots of charisma. We were thrilled to be doing something we hadn’t done in many years—good concerts on the island are few and far between. We did find it very odd that so few people were dancing during the show. Most of the crowd spent the entire set standing almost perfectly still. I don’t understand at all how that’s even remotely possible. What’s the point of seeing a concert if your body doesn’t move to the music?
The day after seeing Mt Joy, we went for some more live music at the Armadillo Den on the south side of Austin. It’s a big outdoor space with a lots of seating, a main stage at the center and food trucks scattered around the edges. We’ve found Austin venues to be very dog-friendly so Goya was able to wander around and do her thing while we watched The Peterson Brothers perform their set. Some people joined us at our (heated) table just as we were thinking about leaving and we’re both so desperate for other people’s company that we’ll chat with just about anybody at this point. People in Texas have been friendly and outgoing, curious without being nosy, and happy to answer our own questions about them and their lives. This group had been doing the SXSW thing and seen something like 30 bands in three days. Talk about auditory overload!
We had held Austin as a possible place to consider in our quest for our next place (nest place?), but our time there settled the question in our minds. Although the city has many things going for it, we don’t want to live in such an urban environment, and the direction the real estate market has taken, the kind of people the city has attracted put it far out of our reach in terms of purchasing power. So it won’t be Austin, and our journey continues.