After two weeks apart, I was excited to meet up with Craig in Austin for his two week holiday. We stayed in hotels not worth mentioning, for two nights at the start of our Texas stint and two nights at the end.
Texas State Capitol: Visiting the inside of this building was something I should have done at the US Capitol, but this Texan version was still interesting. I liked seeing where the House of Representatives and Senate meet and the building is beautiful. Particularly interesting is the floor, which has the seals of the six nations that have governed Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, Texas (it was it's own nation for a short time!), Confederate States of America and United States of America.
Live music: With more live music venues per capita than any other US city, Austin dubs itself the “Live Music Capital of the World”. With so much on offer and not knowing the local bands, it was difficult to choose the right venue for my tastes. The first attempt landed us at Saxon Pub to see some blues. The band were from New York, and while they were undoubtedly talented and good at what they did, Saxon Pub was not really my scene. The next weekend I headed out to Mohawk, where they were holding a benefit gig for Jail Guitar Doors. Wayne Kramer of MC5 was hosting the night, and played with one of the bands, Salesmen. He then got up at the end with the last band, Lions, and played three MC5 songs including Ramblin’ Rose and Kick Out the Jams, the latter with all of the bands from the evening on stage, and some of the crowd as well. This really made my night - the energy on stage was that of pure fun and I was totally stoked to see Kramer rock out a few MC5 tunes.
Electric bicycles: We hired Stromer electric bikes to cruise around Austin for the day, and with the mercury nudging 40 degrees we were sure glad for the extra boost. These bikes are loads of fun, you can set them to Pedal Assist where the power kicks in with your pedaling, or to Power on Demand where you use the throttle on your handlebar and don’t have to pedal at all! Needless to say, you can get up a bit of speed on these bikes. They were a bit heavier than standard bikes and had a thicker crossbar where the battery goes, but other than that you couldn’t really tell they were electric, they were dead quiet. The bikes were retailing here for US$3,000, but were only $22 to hire for the whole day – bargain!
Town Lake and Barton Springs Pool: We rode the bikes on the shady tracks around Town Lake, a lovely spot in the middle of Austin. You can also paddle board, kayak, row, cruise or pedal boat on the lake. I don’t think you’re meant to swim in it, but we hopped in quickly to cool off. Barton Springs Pool is in parklands adjacent to the lake and maintains a lovely 21°C year round from the spring water of Barton Creek. There is also a bat colony of about the same population as human Austinites living under a bridge across Town Lake, and we happened to walk over it at sunset when all the bats took off for dinner. It was a good sight to see, but not uncommon in Australia either.
Food: There’s a great variety of food in Austin, including vegetarian and, of course, Tex Mex. To me, Tex Mex was pretty much the same as Oz Mex. One food highlight was thai from a colourful roadside trailer. Austin is also the birthplace of the fantastic supermarket Wholefoods, which I just love.
Next stop: Hill Country, TX.
