Alright everyone, here’s the rest of Austin!
After we recovered from our night, we went to the Texas Statehouse and walked around downtown some, and then headed out of town to Mt. Bonnell, which overlooks the city. The statehouse was ok, basically they just opened it up to the public while no one was there working and let us wander around and look at paintings and things. Realized that I had forgotten that George Bush was a Texas governor back in the day, but I was reminded by his portrait up on the wall. Basically we just walked around in the air conditioning during the hottest part of the day and looked at old paintings.
Mt. Bonnell was cool, you drive out of the city and up the base of the mountain, then park on the side of the road and walk up about 100 or so stone steps to the summit, where you can walk around and look down at the Colorado River and a bunch of big fancy houses, and there’s also a great view of the Austin skyline. Not much to do there either, but it was our first day of no rain since we were in Tallahassee so it was satisfying just to be able to walk around outside. (Sidebar – I don’t have any pictures between St. Louis and the Willie Nelson concert because my batteries ran out in Missouri and I didn’t feel a pressing need to buy more until the show. But I have them now!!)
Waking up the next day, Sunday the 4th, was like waking up on Christmas morning!! But almost more exciting. I got up, got food, and got going before Dre had even stirred, which is completely understandable considering it was noon and we definitely hadn’t gotten home before 5 a.m. the previous night. There was a brief crisis when we realized that our host didn’t have a printer so we couldn’t print out our tickets, but fortunately there was an Office Max downtown that was open, even on a Sunday and a holiday, so that worked out absolutely fine. We also had some problems even finding the venue, called the Backyard at Bee Cave, but thanks to the fact my dad was home and by a computer we were able to get there fine. THEN we ran into more problems when the parking there was full and we had to drive to a giant shopping center and get shuttled over by a bus. At this point we had missed 2 of the bands I had really wanted to see, but there were so many more coming that I wasn’t too upset. Also, the fact that we had been able to listen to the concert on the Sirius Radio Willie Nelson station definitely helped.
We finally got there and had our minds absolutely blown. It was a small crowd (only 7,000) but an even smaller venue, and by 5 p.m. it started to get crowded, and only got more so as the night went on. Memorable highlights include Del Castillo (Latin/rock band who won the South by Southwest festival), Kris Kristofferson (who came on without even an announcement; I looked up and was like “Hey, these are some great songs, I like this guy a lot,” and then he started playing Sunday Morning Coming Down and I finally realized who he was), Jack Ingraham (made famous by Love You and Barefoot and Crazy) and Folk Uke, a 3-girl string band with hilarious, hilarious songs. I had been looking forward to David Allen Coe, one of the giants in country music writing, but he played all of his big hits, including the pop ones he wrote for Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, which I already knew and didn’t really need to hear. Oh well.
Willie Nelson finally came on well after midnight and played all of my favorites right in a row at the beginning, which was very convenient for us because we were exhausted, dehydrated, starving and ready to go home. We were starving because the place ran out of most of its food by 7, so we had to settle for fried onions and tomatillo sauce on tortillas. At least it was free. Anyway, we stopped at a great diner on the way home as a special treat for lasting as long as we did and it was probably the most delicious food I’ve ever had in my life. Also, coffee, orange juice, and biscuits and gravy altogether only ran me about $7, so that was nice too. We finally got home around 2:30, fell into bed, and the next day started the first leg of our drive to Albuquerque.
Don’t worry, you’ll all hear about Albuquerque, Arizona, Las Vegas, Zion and Grand Canyons, and LA eventually. It’s coming, I promise!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Houston - Beginning of Austin
Alright everyone, so I know I have been a huge slacker/procrastinator and that is ending NOW!! Well that's a lie, but basically I'm going to start catching you all up on everything since New Orleans. That was such a long time ago that it's going to take me a while but we're looking at baby steps here, people. Ok so this is the post that I wrote right when we got to Austin but never put up. Also, look for lots of pictures from Austin and the Southwest on my Facebook group page!
Enjoy!
Greetings from the Live Music Capital of the World!
So unfortunately it’s been raining I think since we left Tallahassee, which has definitely ruined our motivation for going outside or doing anything anywhere. We pulled into Houston around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday (in the rain, of course) and didn’t leave Rice’s campus until we headed out for Austin on Friday around 3:30. This means that my impressions of Texas so far are based solely on one night out in Austin, all of the music we’ve been listening to on the Outlaw Country station, and things we drove past on the way to Austin. But today it’s actually sunny (for now at least) so I’m hoping we can get out and actually see some of the cities we’ve been staying in!
It was great to see Lauren in Houston, and we managed to be relatively comfortable when staying in her dorm because we basically requisitioned a common room and turned it into our room. Rive University apparently hates visitors and has not a single overnight visitor parking space on the entire campus, so we had to park on the street across from campus and wait in fear of being towed while Lauren was at work. Luckily the First Christian Church allows “operable vehicles only”… good thing my truck is operable I guess? At any rate, no towing occurred, we played some really fun beach volleyball in the rain with Teach For America Rio Grande Valley people and stopped by the campus bar for a few 95 cent beers. A nice evening considering everyone except us had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. the next day. Teachers, man.
So now we’re in Austin recovering from a crazy fun night last night! The girl we’re couch surfing with took us out for a night on the town near 6th Street and we had an absolute blast! We had one drink per bar in a bunch of different bars, and the night included an 80s dance party, dancing on this ridiculous floor that was clear so you could see the people below you, and – wait for it – checking off the only thing on my “make sure you do this on your trip” list… riding a mechanical bull!!!! I’ve been wanting to do it since I saw it in Cancun but couldn’t because I was wearing a dress (I’ve never been so mad at my classiness haha), and specifically wore shorts out last night so I would be prepared for any opportunity. It was so so SO fun and I stayed on for a long time!! So happy and excited, definitely a high point in our time since New Orleans.
All right well it’s sunny out now for the first time in a week, so I’m getting going to do something fun and outside! (Despite the fact it’s going to be hot and humid and miserable… but apparently you can’t have it all.) Next update will include the Willie Nelson 4th of July concert!!!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Enjoy!
Greetings from the Live Music Capital of the World!
So unfortunately it’s been raining I think since we left Tallahassee, which has definitely ruined our motivation for going outside or doing anything anywhere. We pulled into Houston around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday (in the rain, of course) and didn’t leave Rice’s campus until we headed out for Austin on Friday around 3:30. This means that my impressions of Texas so far are based solely on one night out in Austin, all of the music we’ve been listening to on the Outlaw Country station, and things we drove past on the way to Austin. But today it’s actually sunny (for now at least) so I’m hoping we can get out and actually see some of the cities we’ve been staying in!
It was great to see Lauren in Houston, and we managed to be relatively comfortable when staying in her dorm because we basically requisitioned a common room and turned it into our room. Rive University apparently hates visitors and has not a single overnight visitor parking space on the entire campus, so we had to park on the street across from campus and wait in fear of being towed while Lauren was at work. Luckily the First Christian Church allows “operable vehicles only”… good thing my truck is operable I guess? At any rate, no towing occurred, we played some really fun beach volleyball in the rain with Teach For America Rio Grande Valley people and stopped by the campus bar for a few 95 cent beers. A nice evening considering everyone except us had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. the next day. Teachers, man.
So now we’re in Austin recovering from a crazy fun night last night! The girl we’re couch surfing with took us out for a night on the town near 6th Street and we had an absolute blast! We had one drink per bar in a bunch of different bars, and the night included an 80s dance party, dancing on this ridiculous floor that was clear so you could see the people below you, and – wait for it – checking off the only thing on my “make sure you do this on your trip” list… riding a mechanical bull!!!! I’ve been wanting to do it since I saw it in Cancun but couldn’t because I was wearing a dress (I’ve never been so mad at my classiness haha), and specifically wore shorts out last night so I would be prepared for any opportunity. It was so so SO fun and I stayed on for a long time!! So happy and excited, definitely a high point in our time since New Orleans.
All right well it’s sunny out now for the first time in a week, so I’m getting going to do something fun and outside! (Despite the fact it’s going to be hot and humid and miserable… but apparently you can’t have it all.) Next update will include the Willie Nelson 4th of July concert!!!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Big Easy: Where you can drink outside and smoke inside!!
To sum up my time in New Orleans: Rainy. Bad roads. BEST TIME EVER!!!!!
Seriously, this has been my favorite place by far up until now. Let's see if I can summarize what we did and why I am seriously considering moving here.
After we moved in with our couch surfing hosts (who were AWESOME, by the way!) we basically hung out long enough until it was time to go out. We went with our hosts to a local dive bar called Lucky's, a 24-hour bar, grill, game room, and laundromat where you can get things notarized and where you can bring your dog. WHAT?!?! First hint that this is the city for me. Haha. While it as fun, we were a little tired and wanted to find somewhere a little more hopping so that we would wake up a little. Cue our hosts hooking us up with one of our friends, who was out on Frenchmen St., which I think is north of the quarter and basically a small strip of jazz clubs. We got there, met up with her friend, and proceeded to see 3 different jazz bands in different clubs in quick succession. Let me just say that the blues are still going strong and definitely still relevant in New Orleans. It was like watching country bands in Nashville but a little more authentic and personal... hard to describe but great. Fun Fact- while walking back from Frenchmen to head closer to home, we saw the lead singer from the first band on the street, so we shook his hand and he gave me a CD!! The band is called Dumaine (named after one of the streets in the Quarter), and I'm so excited to listen to it!! Yet another reason to love this place.
Around 3 (I think?) We went from that strip to another 24-hour bar called Miss Mae's, where well drinks were $1, calls were $2 and premiums were $3. Yes, that means that you could get Johnny Walker Black or Knobb Creek for $3. Another hint that I love this city. haha. We met lots of awesome people there, had a great time, and went home around 4:30...ish...not really sure but some late time that did not feel nearly as late as it was.
Unfortunately, because of the rain and thunderstorms we didn't motivate enough to walk around much or get very far from the Quarter and the Garden District. Guess that just means I'll have to come back some day! We did manage to get ourselves to Parasol's for a po'boy, it was really good although there were lots of big bugs on the floor. But hey, it's New Orleans and they weren't bothering us, so we just let it be an enjoyed our po'boy. Delicious.
That night we spent the whole night at another local dive called The Saint, with our hosts, their neighbors, and some of the friends we had made the night before. Started the night with 1/2 priced drinks, continued with karaoke, and ended with me being very proud of my (apparently newly acquired) skill at maintaining myself by drinking booze slowly and water quickly. Definitely a useful thing to be able to do... glad it took me this long... haha. That bar wasn't a 24-hour one but last call was at 6a.m., yet another reason to love New Orleans.
We got home, slept for a few hours, thanked our hosts (and their dog) over and over and headed out for Houston around 2. It was a long, rainy drive to get here, and seemed even longer because of the weather and the fact that a 2004 Ford Ranger packed to the roof with backpacks, guitars, food, and beer is not the most comfortable place to try to sleep. But we made it, and subsequently had a long battle with Rice University over where the hell you are allowed to park overnight. Apparently nowhere. Agh.
So now we're up, doing computer things, and hopefully we'll make it out to explore the city a little before the storm really hits. Hurricane Alex can do nothing to weaken my resolve to drink and meet people. I'll keep you posted!
Once again,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Seriously, this has been my favorite place by far up until now. Let's see if I can summarize what we did and why I am seriously considering moving here.
After we moved in with our couch surfing hosts (who were AWESOME, by the way!) we basically hung out long enough until it was time to go out. We went with our hosts to a local dive bar called Lucky's, a 24-hour bar, grill, game room, and laundromat where you can get things notarized and where you can bring your dog. WHAT?!?! First hint that this is the city for me. Haha. While it as fun, we were a little tired and wanted to find somewhere a little more hopping so that we would wake up a little. Cue our hosts hooking us up with one of our friends, who was out on Frenchmen St., which I think is north of the quarter and basically a small strip of jazz clubs. We got there, met up with her friend, and proceeded to see 3 different jazz bands in different clubs in quick succession. Let me just say that the blues are still going strong and definitely still relevant in New Orleans. It was like watching country bands in Nashville but a little more authentic and personal... hard to describe but great. Fun Fact- while walking back from Frenchmen to head closer to home, we saw the lead singer from the first band on the street, so we shook his hand and he gave me a CD!! The band is called Dumaine (named after one of the streets in the Quarter), and I'm so excited to listen to it!! Yet another reason to love this place.
Around 3 (I think?) We went from that strip to another 24-hour bar called Miss Mae's, where well drinks were $1, calls were $2 and premiums were $3. Yes, that means that you could get Johnny Walker Black or Knobb Creek for $3. Another hint that I love this city. haha. We met lots of awesome people there, had a great time, and went home around 4:30...ish...not really sure but some late time that did not feel nearly as late as it was.
Unfortunately, because of the rain and thunderstorms we didn't motivate enough to walk around much or get very far from the Quarter and the Garden District. Guess that just means I'll have to come back some day! We did manage to get ourselves to Parasol's for a po'boy, it was really good although there were lots of big bugs on the floor. But hey, it's New Orleans and they weren't bothering us, so we just let it be an enjoyed our po'boy. Delicious.
That night we spent the whole night at another local dive called The Saint, with our hosts, their neighbors, and some of the friends we had made the night before. Started the night with 1/2 priced drinks, continued with karaoke, and ended with me being very proud of my (apparently newly acquired) skill at maintaining myself by drinking booze slowly and water quickly. Definitely a useful thing to be able to do... glad it took me this long... haha. That bar wasn't a 24-hour one but last call was at 6a.m., yet another reason to love New Orleans.
We got home, slept for a few hours, thanked our hosts (and their dog) over and over and headed out for Houston around 2. It was a long, rainy drive to get here, and seemed even longer because of the weather and the fact that a 2004 Ford Ranger packed to the roof with backpacks, guitars, food, and beer is not the most comfortable place to try to sleep. But we made it, and subsequently had a long battle with Rice University over where the hell you are allowed to park overnight. Apparently nowhere. Agh.
So now we're up, doing computer things, and hopefully we'll make it out to explore the city a little before the storm really hits. Hurricane Alex can do nothing to weaken my resolve to drink and meet people. I'll keep you posted!
Once again,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
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