2015-September-10 USA,Texas, Austin: Alive, Well, Quirky

In September 2000, Jean took an assignment to move with her company, CSC, to Austin.   We had only been a couple for under 3 months when the offer came through but decided "what the heck" and moved country together.  We were here for 9 months and absolutely loved our time in this oasis in the middle of Texas.  Austin has always been a bit quirky with its eclectic mix of industries and people.  It has grown exponentially over the last 10 years which has threatened to make it more like any other mid-sized US town but, thankfully, there is a real effort to hang on to some of the things that make it unique.

It has been SO much fun spending almost 3 weeks getting to know it again and re-connecting with old friends and colleagues.  

Dinner with Xavier and Jacqui At Their Home

BBQ and swim with Tiff and Jason and their son, Gavin

Texan BBQ with Cathy and Darla at Rudy's

Margaritas with Sandra at Hula Hut  

An added bonus has been that our good friend, Sandra Cruz, who is originally from Austin but has been living in Australia for many years, planned a visit back at the same time as we were in town.

Anthony with Sandra's girls - Sophia, Sasha and Rosa

We stayed with John and Bev who we met when they ‘gate-crashed’ our table at a music concert in 2001 (there was limited seating) and have been in touch ever since.

John is a photographer and does some great images of his home town.  Check out his website:

http://johnrrogers.com/

Italian Dinner with John and Bev

And then there's the food and drink we have had the opportunity to experience all over again: Queso, Chile Rellano, Burritos, Enchiladas, Texan BBQ (yummy ribs and melt in your mouth brisket), Pulled Pork Tacos, Margaritas (frozen and on the rocks) and Jean's favourite, Mexican Martinis - adeptly made by Bev's daughter.

If anyone reading this has a chance to visit this vibrant town we highly recommend it.  We were really looked after by everyone here and are sad to leave. 

Stay as quirky and weird as you can Austin!

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For Anyone Planning A Visit: 

Here are a few things to do in and around Austin.

* We have done these this visit or previously

^ These have been recommended by locals but we have not managed them yet (maybe next visit)

Food & Drink

Ø BBQ at Rudys*, Blacks*, Stubbs*, County Line^, Ironworks*, Sam’s^, Kreuz*, Salt Lick^, Franklin^ or just try all of them!

Ø Sundowners at the Oasis looking over Lake Travis*

Ø Margaritas, Mexican Martinis and Tex Mex (several good venues - Trudy's and El Mercado are two of our favourites) *

Ø Tuesday happy hour at Fonda San Miguel*

Ø Hula hut for Queso and frozen Margaritas*

Ø Have an ice-cream at Amy's (many flavours but we can recommend coffee with Reeces crush-in) *

Ø Thunderbird Café (good coffee) *

Ø Central Market – great supermarket, foodcourt and often live music *

Ø Cedar Door* (warning: this place relocates fairly regularly – part of the charm)

Ø Ski Shores*

Ø Pacha Coffee House (brunch) ^

Ø Little Deli (sandwiches, pizzas, BYOB) ^

Ø Easy Tiger (bakery and beer) ^

Ø The Tigress (cocktails) ^

Ø Ramen Tatsuya (ramen) ^

Ø Elephant Room (drinks and music) *

Areas /  Natural Attractions

Ø 4th street*

Ø 6th street*

Ø Walk along the green space South of Lady Bird Lake (Fairly new boardwalk East of Congress Ave, Butler and Zilker Parks West of Congress) *

Ø Barton Springs *

Ø Mt Bonnell*

Ø Wimberley*

Ø Fredericksburg * (German village but now there are apparently wineries around the area)

Ø Luckenbach* (one of our favourite day outings)

Ø Mayfield Park (peacocks roaming around) ^

Ø Hamilton Pool (unfortunately when we went to visit the pool was closed for swimming due to bacteria from recent flooding. Entrance is $15 so we didn't go in just for a look-see but apparently it’s very pretty) ^

Ø McKinley Falls^

Ø Innerspace caverns^

Buildings / Musuems

Ø Bob Bullock museum*

Ø The state capitol and grounds*

Ø UT (university of Texas) tower and grounds*

Ø The Austonian (tallest building downtown for now) *

Ø Harry Ransom Centre (UT) ^

Ø Elizabeth Ney Museum (and walk around Hyde Park neighbourhood) ^

Events

Ø SXSW in March ^      http://www.sxsw.com/

Ø Live music - one of the best cities for live music (In Our Humble Opinion) *

And much, much more.  Just look up what’s on when you get here.