Austin

a very cool town indeed

After a long morning of driving 540 kms in just over 4 hours, we finally arrived in Austin, Texas. Still only partway across the state, never mind America, the Carlsbad Caverns already seemed a long, long way back.

It was a Friday and for all the working people of Texas the week was winding down. For us and our nomadic life of late, the weekends were signalled only by a change in the amount of traffic on the roads and the difficulty of find accommodation. On the way to Austin, we drove through some nice and some not so nice Texan scenery (the oil fields still making their mark on the landscape).

 

Given it was such a lengthy drive we took some extra care to properly split the driving between us as best as we could. It was mid-afternoon by the time we pulled into a Super 8 motel in the university district just off the interstate 35, happy to be off the busy roads that surround Austin.

Delighted to get our room key, we collapsed on the bed as soon as we got in the door and were starting to drift off for some quick power naps when the most deafening banging noise filled the room. It turned out the room right next door was being completely gutted for renovations and just at that moment it seemed like they were trying to knock straight through to our room. We expected to see a hole appear at any moment! Not much chance of sleep so.

Instead we wandered off to find some water and get some info on the laundry facilities. The guy at the front desk was full of apologies about the renovations and promised that the noise would be over by 5 at the latest. Given it was a weekday we didn’t have any real issue with it. We should have been off exploring anyway so we gathered up our stuff and drove into downtown, parking up on 6th street.

The first stop on our hastily-made list of attractions was the Texas State Capitol, at the top of Congress Avenue. Built in 1888, it’s where the Texan state legislature meets (Senate and house of Representatives). Being the biggest of all the US’s state capitols, it’s a hugely impressive building complete with beautiful grounds surrounding it. This was our first visit to a state capitol of any kind and wasn’t a bad one to start with. We spent plenty of time strolling through the grounds and checking out the monuments outside before going inside, passing through the scanners and stoney faced security guards.

Inside, under the Capitol’s giant domed roof are the portraits of past state governors; George W Bush being the latest and most familiar of them all. On the next level you can walk into the Senate Chamber and the House of Representatives. Both were empty and out of session when we visited and though access was restricted to roped off areas you still get pretty good access to both. Solid wood and leather was everywhere in both rooms and it was clear that many many cows died in the making off it all – welcome to Texas! Still, the building overall was very impressive. So impressive actually that it served as a backdrop for newlyweds taking wedding photos for their big day and there was a couple of different parties doing just that during our short visit.

Afterwards back at the hotel we found the construction was still happening. Given it was past 8pm and not showing any signs of stopping, we headed back down to our friend at the front desk who, still full of apologies, straight away offered us a different room, which we gladly accepted.

Realising we weren’t going to see as much of Austin as we wanted with just one day, and despite all the messing around with the room, we booked a second night.

For our second day in Austin we stuck with the car so we could get out of downtown a little. We made a short hike up Mount Bonnell (775 feet) to take in some brilliant views of the Colorado River.

Then we walked down the SoCo (South Congress) district which turned out to be where everyone in Austin had decided to go – it was a serious job to find parking and the pavements and shops were absolutely packed out.

Afterwards we had lunch from yet another food truck in a car park full of food trucks, this time we went with The Mighty Cone.

Zilker park kept coming up as a must see for Austin, we managed to find time for a quick drive through the park and almost lost the car in a massive pothole spanning entrance of the car park. Luckily the car made it out in one piece.

In the evening we went for drinks, grabbed dinner on our second trip to Arlo’s food truck and went to 6th Street for drinks. The cool thing about Austin and 6th Street on a Saturday night (or at least the night we visited on) is that the street either end of the strip are closed to traffic. This makes it tough to find parking close by but it’s cool to be able to check out the area with crowds filling the entire width of the street. The night was in full swing by the time we arrived in and the bars were packed, we put in a little time making sure we saw all the good stuff but it wasn’t long before we were heading back to the motel.

We loved Austin. In our very short time there we got a really nice vibe from the place. The food trucks (which feed us almost entirely during our stay), the farmers market and the nightlife all contributed to it seeming like a very cool town indeed. Definite room for more exploring in the future.

The next morning we were off to Houston, a 300 km drive away, where we planned to check out NASA’s Johnson Space Centre!

our next destination: Houston ⇒