Austin Adventure, 3rd Installment

O K,
Our first full day in Austin was pretty great from start to finish. However, it's hard to beat good food, fine(ish) wine, and live music as a package deal; so if one were to compare, which would be a ridiculous thing for one to do (but I'll do it anyway), the latter part of our day was really the best part (I expect the publisher will ask that I cut this entire sentence out).

Looking sexy and feeling fresh, we strutted into the heart of the city. At Kyoto's, where we nearly had the place to ourselves, Fern and I put our heads together and chose the absolute best roles on the menu. It is worth noting that this dining experience marks the beginning of a new way of eating sushi for Fern and I. Its called sharing, sharing everything, and it works smashingly.

With our stomachs as happy as can be, we simply paid the bill, walked past the silly halloween decorations in the sushi establishment, and followed the stairs down to the basement, where a bar and live jazz band awaited us. We found the best seat in the place-not quite front and center-and ordered a glass of red wine. The house band's leader, a saxaphone player, was simply amazing, and you could tell he knew it. Still, he and the band were dressed as unpretentiously as a band could dress. It was fascinating watching the musicians pull out all the stops for their solo sessions. It was also highly entertaining watching various retirees and senior citizens bring their instruments on stage and rock it with the band (it was guest musicians night-open to anyone with an instrument and talent). You could tell that the older men had probably played since they were knee high to a grasshopper, and were likely legends in local circles. So yeah, Fern and I had a pure Austin music experience that night, which was cool.

On the walk back to the hotel, I was repeatedly harrassed in a good way by the Fern. Sleep that night was relatively good. And that was our first full day in Austin, Texas.

Good morning! Its day three of our vacation. Let's get some coffee at the Spider House, shall we? Hey, I hear there's this cool little museum in the "North End" with a huge collection of busts (sculptures), wanna check it out? Hrmm...were is it? Oh, there it is! Bummer, its closed today. Well, that sucks. How bout we head over the the Laguna Gloria art school and museum. I hear its beautiful, being situated on a hill on a bend in the river and all. First we've got to get there. Follow me! Where in the world are we? God its hot out here, isn't it? Oh, this is where we need to go. Follow me! Wow, now I know why they call it hill country. Finally, we're here! Gotta pee gotta pee gotta pee. Whoosh. Dying of thirst dying of thirst dying of thirst. Thank god. Hey, this home is really cool. It would be the perfect place to entertain, wouldn't it. Oh, the owner was a big entertainer, was she? And an art lover? Very cool. Crazy, a band crawled through that little door and played on an indoor balcony during parties? I really like this big green room full of windows. Let's walk around outside. Very elegant, reminds me of the deep south. The woods are very thick. Check out these crazy palm trees. Let's sit by the river. Alright, very nice, but its time to get some food. That was a quick trip to Guadalupe St. I'm starving, can't be picky. This place looks good, despite all the UT pride crap everywhere. Mmmm, stuffed rellano pepper, sooo good. Since we're here on Guadalupe, let's do some shopping! Here's a cool hat at Urban Outfitters. I can't believe it, I found more stuff I want-some vintage T's that actually fit. These salespeople in the Diesel store take way too much time styling their hair. I'm getting pretentious-sick, let's go. I just can't see myself spending $200 on a pair of narrow black jeans right now when Boise's about to get a Levi's store. I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Jennifer's really not feeling good, is she? Let's sit down for a bit, here, at this coffee shop. Uh, what a terrible mocha, and what a depressing place. There's no element of design here at all except a crumbly brick wall and a lot of stainless steel. Fern's really pooped, leaning her head on my shoulder, trying to zone out. Well then, its been a hard day with all the riding over steep hills and shopping, so let's go back to the hotel and chill and watch tv. Ahhhh.

That was Tuesday. This is Wednesday:

Fern and I walked to the heart of downtown, Congress Ave, and selected Little City as our morning coffee/mocha supplier. I approved of what the owner had attempted to do with the look of the place, but a coffee house is not really a coffee house if it isn't inviting and comfortable. The artwork was good n' alternative, and well done, but it was cold and almost hostile. Oh yeah, the service and coffee sucked ass too. But, I still enjoyed the experience because I had never been there before...and I was with Fern, ahhh!

We didn't stay long. Back on the bikes, we took the greenbelt to the other side of Town Lake. Urgeny developed for the use of a bathroom. Since it was the first place we came to that had a bathroom, we made a nature center our first stop of the day. I always enjoy observing nature, even if said nature is somehow injured for life and locked up in a cage that is infinetly smaller than its natural environment. I had a good time checking out the bobcat, coyote, raccoons, owls, hawks, turtles, lizards, and a number of other creatures on display and unable to run away. Around this time both Fern and I seemed to be developing rashes of some sort which we surmised were a result of the abundance of nature in the area.

Our next stop was for lunch at a Mexican-American joint. The food and experience was A OK. I was a little dissapointed that the server got my order wrong. I had wanted a catfish enchilada, but instead he delivered catfish tacos. I didn't feel like being a dick about it, so I kept the tacos. Hey, a bottom feeder is a bottom feeder; its going to taste good whether you smother it in cheese or wrap it in a soft tortilla. Its no big deal.

After receiving directions from a stage-hand dude watching the gate at the park where the Rolling Stone's would play in a couple days (breath), Fern and I found the botanical gardens that we had been so excited about visiting. The experience was very cool. The Japanese garden was especially nice; with its myandering streams, its water falls, pond with huge koi and lilypads, and bamboo forest. I felt very Thoreau-y communing with nature (and mess'n with the fish) in that garden. I also enjoyed the herb garden and primitive plants.

Off we rode. Our next stop (I think it was at this time), was just down the road at that juice joint which we enjoyed so much Monday. This time I bought the most expensive smoothie on the menu. Seriously, we need a place like that in Boise.

Rejuiced, Fern and I hit "South Congress", the place for the definitive Austin experience, according to one of our guide books. After locking up our bikes, we began walking from shop to shop, checking out all kinds of wares. The first shop we stopped in contained Camper shoes, which automatically made Austin twice as hip in my mind. The salesperson was rather friendly. He noticed our bikes and began chatting with me about mountain biking. Well, he chose the right person to talk to about that subject, as I was able to hold up my side of the conversation very well. He told us about a great place to ride that was a mere bus trip away. As we walked away, Fern had to voice her amazement about how people somehow manage to sense that I'm into biking, and start talking to me. She observed that that never happens to her. We then discussed several theories for why that is.

One of the next stores we visited marked the beginning of a bit of a downhill slide for me that afternoon. It was a HUGE flea-market that specialized in unusual antiques. While I love that sort of stuff, after spending like a half an hour in only half the store looking at the kookiest shit, my life essense started to drain from my body. I began to realize that I was staring blankly at stuff that I hadn't the slightest interest in owning. Black dolls, cowboy boots, old radios, flowery hats, pendants, furs, records, antique books on positive thinking, toy cars, and on and on and on. It would have been better if it was stuff I could have had fun with, or if I was in the mood to have fun with the stuff. Like, "Fern, look! I'm wearing a silly feather hat from the 1920s! har har!" See, not really fun stuff at all. But, I digress.

My mood was not helped in the next store, which had a huge selection of t-shirts with "clever", "hip" sayings on them. Elliot Smith was playing on the stereo. Normally, that would perk me up, since I'm a fan, but being in the mood I was in, the depressing music actually depressed me. (normally, depressing music makes me feel good inside). At any rate, Fern found some cool custom-made clothes, that really excited her and inspired her to think about designing and making her own clothes someday. She bought a cute dress that I've yet had the pleasure to see her wear here in Boise, perhaps because the weather has been a might chilly.

Shopping on South Congress took its tole, so we found a neighborhood coffee house to decompress. I felt substantially better on the walk back to South Congress where we left our bikes thanks in part to the exciting weather that was taking place in the atmosphere all around Austin at the time. Fern took a picture of one of the more beautiful storm clouds as we walked past the school for the deaf. Back on two wheels, we cruised north on Congress, stopping to check out a couple cool clothing stores and one extraordinarily uncool clothing/shoe store.

As we approached Congress Bridge, the sun was about to go down. According to everyone and every guide book, a trip to Austin wouldn't be complete without viewing the world's largest urban bat colony fly from its home beneath Congress Bridge. Fern and I claimed a spot amongst other tourists on a grassy knoll made of bat poo and noticed that the air had a especially odd pungent smell. The bats skillfully waited to build up anticipation in their audience before finally one bat was seen fluttering from one part of the bridge to another. Then two more lept out and fluttered around. Next, a handful made an appearance. Still, only a few bats fluttered around. But the high-pitched squeaking that was present from the beginning was markedly louder. All of a sudden, a huge stream of bats burst forth from the bridge. And they kept coming for approximately a half hour-about 25 minutes after Fern and I became completely bored with the spectacle. Later that evening, storms passed mostly around the edges of Austin, but dumped a huge amount of rain outstide our hotel and caused flash flooding in the area that made national news. We did our laundry and watched crime shows. I shaved my wolverine chops that evening.