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Austin Texas - December 6-10, 2001
I stepped off my American
Airlines flight in Austin only to be greeted by a wall of heat and
humidity. While winter in New England has been largely a globally
warmed affair, I was sure somewhere in this crazy world long sleeve
shirts would be necessary in December. Austin wasn’t one of those
places, initially anyway. I was pretty excited about this whole trip
from the start, a chance to run into more old friends in what was
described as the coolest town in Texas with the whole larger than life
Texas motif running rampant all around.
I quickly ran through the
incredibly designed Austin airport, grabbed my bag, rented a car, and
headed out the door. The only restriction imposed on the car was not
being able to head down to Mexico. The open highways, immense and
spacious as one can dream, opened up before me, and within minutes I was
beside myself flipping through the wide spectrum of audio treats Austin
radio provided. One minute old country, the next minute some ass-kickin’
rock and roll, topped off with some disturbing Mexican euro-trash
version of Dancing Queen. I was so excited by my first hour in Austin I
pulled over at an unsuspecting generic looking gas station named “MUCHOS
GROCERIES & IMPORTS”. The yellow sign shined like a beacon, complete
with a drive up window at the convenience store. Gathering my thoughts
and waiting for the KCAI crew to begin arriving, I settled in for my
first taste of over-the top Texas hospitality at the Whattaburger – I
grabbed a deluxe burger and a Dr. Pepper, and had the friendliest drive
through experience of my life, to say nothing of the quality burger.
I found my way into town,
and headed north into Austin with its humbly impressive skyline looming
on the horizon. I got caught up in the strange magnificence of some mad
eclectic looking antique shops along South Congress. Decked out in
circus sideshow delights, these shops were complete with organ grinder
monkeys on rooftops, hares with neon lassos, and Fran’s hamburgers, an
old time drive up diner at the start of the block, I was fortunate
enough to run into the Austin Motel. It was a traveler’s dream – an old
school motel, cut out from some old motoring travelogue from the 1930’s,
complete with an authentic mad red neon sign with AUSTIN scrolling down
vertically and MOTEL horizontal along the bottom edge with three round
shapes. After I had picked up Jodie from the airport, she supplied the
sublime description of the room as being Miami Beach meets the
Catskills. That night we were able to explore the bar scene a bit – 6th
Avenue was an overwhelming array of pubs, clubs, bars and insane
nightlife. If Austin was cold and rainy, it could’ve passed for the
hip, festive atmosphere of Glasgow. We started at the Blind Pig’s Back,
catching up on old times under the big, bright starlit sky (open sky
pubs rock) over some Shiner Bocks, and then we stumbled upon Oceans 11,
Austin’s only tiki bar, with a rat pack motif, crazy cocktails, and even
crazier plastic neon drink stirrers. I was already contemplating a full
life lived in Austin’s city limits.
At the dawn of the next
Day, Donnie and Donnetta joined the fray from North Carolina. With the
two best eating partners one can imagine in tow, we immediately headed
back to South Congress to check out the overwhelming selection of fine
goods and crazed paraphernalia the antique stores had to offer.
Impressed with the Austin Motel and the heart of Austin’s swank
hipsters, we had already planned on heading back Saturday night, this
time in the Executive suite. We ate an enormous Mexican meal, and hit
I-35 and headed for the big event of the weekend – Paul and Christin’s
wedding in New Bruenfels.
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CONTINUE TO PART TWO...
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