Austin

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We spent a week in Austin Texas. The intention was to investigate the housing market. We were thinking about investing in a property that we could use as our winter vacation get away. The Canadian dollar was doing pretty well so we thought we'd check it out. We've been to Austin many times since first visiting back in 1990.

We were interested in the South Congress area -- anything south of Town Lake and north of Oltorf (the Zilker, Bouldin and Travis Heights neighborhoods). We had connected with a real estate agent who showed us around to several places in those areas. Everything was either too small, too tacky, too dark or under construction and all were out of our price range. We ended up looking further afield -- south of Oltorf but north of Ben White -- still to no avail. Suffice to say we did not buy (we should have done so 20 years earlier when prices were within reach). I'm somewhat relieved as owning and managing property out of country can be a pain. The carrying costs would be enough to pay for holidays elsewhere and we can do that instead.

So anyways, enough said about that.

We were in Austin for a week, we flew in, had a rented car and had a room at the Historic Stephen Austin hotel. We got our car and room by bidding on Priceline -- I've had some great deals through them. You don't get to pick the hotel, but you do pick the quality and area. It's always worked out well for us. The hotel is very much upscale and on Congress just a block or so north of Pecan/6th Street and a few blocks from the state capitol.

December in Austin is an interesting destination for many reasons. It's still quite warm (at least by our standards), the trees are still green and it's the holiday season -- Christmas lights everywhere. There was an event where they turned on the lights of a huge Christmas tree at our hotel.

At Barton Springs the entry is free during the "winter season" and the warm weather we had makes the water all the more inviting. It's always cool in Barton Springs as the waters are spring fed. We went swimming a couple of times. In Zilker park, where Barton Springs is found, there are a lot of pecan trees (actually there are lots all over the city). At this time of year the pecans are falling from the trees and ready for munching. You need only collect them as they fall.

We visited Gruene on the first Saturday. It's a small town about an hour south of Austin and this weekend there's a Christmas market and event. We ate at the Gristmill and saw Jimmie LaFave play at Gruene Hall with a full band. Jimmie tends to favor early Bob Dylan folkie music but has many tunes of his own. John Inmon, who toured with Jerry Jeff, played electric guitar in his band today.

We had bumped into this cop a while ago on our travels who had encouraged us to try Artz Rib House on South Lamar -- best ribs in town. We did one Monday night and Sarah Elizabeth Campbell was playing. She's quite good and I bought one of her CD's, she encouraged me to take another (for free) but I declined. She wears glasses and when I was taking pictures she took them off and laughed. We all have our vanities, I guess she felt she'd look better without the glasses. Oh yes, the ribs very good. The place is pretty rough and ready but the ribs were great.

While stumbling around South Lamar we bumped into this very weird taco place -- Maria's Taco Express. It's quite an odd place and appears to have been thrown together with an eclectic mix of bric-a-brac. We'll have to investigate it another time -- it was closed when we were there. Perhaps it's only open in the summer.

On Wednesday we returned to San Antonio (you remember the Alamo!). We shopped at the Old Spanish Market for a taste of Mexico, had a bit of lunch on the River Walk and took one of the boat tours that goes around through the canal system. We stopped again in a Gruene on the way back. There was music at Gruene Hall but this time it wasn't on the stage. Instead it's on the dance floor area near the bar at the other end of the hall. Younger guys were playing more of a rock 'n roll influenced music. Still with Texas roots though.

On Thursday we went out to the Oasis on Lake Travis. The Oasis is this huge restaurant on a high bluff overlooking the lake. The lake is a dammed river (the Colorado) that supplies water to Austin. There are some very posh homes overlooking the lake - it would be a very desirable area to live. There's lots of expensive bronze sculptures at the Oasis. There's an interesting one of a diver caught in mid dive -- it looks like she's diving into Lake Travis. I've taken out the supporting beam which holds her in mid air in my photo.

Downriver from Lake Travis there's the scenic Pennebacker Arch Bridge on the Loop 360 that crosses Lake Austin (Town Lake is in the city, Lake Austin above that and Lake Travis above that). We stopped so I could take a picture -- it's an iconic picture. It's odd that there isn't a proper scenic look out here.

Back in the city we say Cornell Hurd and his band at Jovita's on South Lamar. We had been to Jovita's years before and saw Cornell Hurd with a band in an intimate but crowded front room of the restaurant. These days they've expanded with a big dance hall area attached at the back.

On Friday we went out to Luckenbach stopping at Pedernales Falls State Park along the way -- the Pedernales was pretty dry so there wasn't much of a "falls". Luckenbach still has people who drop in to swap songs under the live oaks. There's still stereo chickens wandering about and beer is still beer. It's more crowded with tourists but still an interesting place to visit.

That evening we're back in Austin and catch Gary P. Nunn playing at the Broken Spoke -- a rustic (dare I say shabby) honky tonk on South Lamar. Not as old as Gruene Hall but similar in spirit. Gary P. Nunn has some really great tunes -- "Home with the Armadillo" and "You Ask Me What I Like About Texas" are two standouts.

On Saturday we go canoeing on Town Lake -- there's a rental place on Barton Creek just below the dam that forms Barton Springs. There's quite a bit of life around the lake: birds, turtles, dog parks and even fish.

We explored South Congress -- I especially like Tesaro's gift store -- and ate at Gueros'. We closed the day by seeing Lee Edwards at the Waterloo Ice House next door to Waterloo Records.

While we didn't find a property to buy as a vacation home, we did pack in a lot of adventures in one week. Austin is a fun place to visit. We'll be back.