3-21-10

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN

ONE MAN BAND

THE HOUNDS BELOW

HOLY ICE BUCKETS BATMAN

WATCH OUT FOR RABIES

CONGRESS STREET BRIDGE BATS

We spent the past few days sleeping at the Hostel International Austin right on the south bank of the Colorado River. South by Southwest was winding down, and luckily we caught the tail end of the music festival. Friday night we walked around the city trying to find a show we wanted to see because there were so many options. 6th street in Austin is what Bourbon street is in New Orleans: a circus of music, madness, and drunks. Both are a little too overwhelming for our tastes, so instead we opted for something a bit more laid back, settling on a performance at the 121 Bar on 5th Street. The band was pretty solid, and we sampled the local beer of choice: Lone Star. Saturday, we braved the elements, fighting rain, cold, and 30 mile per hour winds at Home Slice on South Congress. Devon, Jen's old co-worker from Andrew's International, plays in the band La Strada, and they happened to play as part of "Music by the Slice." There were over 10 up and coming bands who played outside all afternoon into the night. One band out of Detroit, The Hounds Below,were outstanding. The lead singer invoked the late great Ray Orbison. Along with great music, we finally found a good slice of pizza outside of New York.

In addition to listening to excellent live music all weekend, we explored the local food scene. We decided to eat exclusively mexican food, and ate at 3 restaurants: Curras on Oltorf, Kerbey Lane, and Maudies, both on South Lamar. Curras has fantastic avocado margaritas and delicious tacos and enchiladas. Kerbey Lane was rumored to have the best brunch in the city and we can't imagine any place exceeding it. The breakfast tacos and vegan pancakes were heavenly. Maudies is Tex-Mex, and we've decided Tex-Mex is "T-R-B-L" terrible.* We also went to Austin's Farmer's Market at Republic Square first thing Saturday morning in the drizzle and purchased local artichoke/pickled jalapeno goat cheese, a rosemary ciabatta, arugula, and water cress. We imagine in the summer the market is thriving.

After yoga and pick up ultimate by Jen and Aaron respectively, we watched the sun set while sitting below the Congress Street Bridge Sunday night. We sat, along with hundreds of other people, waiting for thousands of bats to explode from the rafters underneath the bridge. Rumor has it in the summertime, the bats streak the sky with black, and feast on the city's mosquitos. Maybe it was the cold, or maybe daylight savings messed with their internal clocks, but unfortunately, we only saw a few hundred bats take flight. Still, it was a fun touristy attraction. We don't plan to explore too much more of Texas, but Austin was pretty awesome.

*Watch Frank Caliendo's impression of Charles Barkley to understand this reference.