As the meat in the middle of a hefty work-trip sandwich, my weekend visit to Austin, TX to see some dear friemds was highly anticipated and did not disappoint. As much as I hate to be disloyal to Boston, I have to admit that Austin may have one over on us Northerners. Weather? triple check. Outdoor living/Water sports? check. Live music? check. Food? toss-up, depending on whether you prefer healthy + seafood to BBQ + Mexican. People? A LOT friendlier, but missing that sarcastic/something to grab onto. Fun? double check.
I woke up on saturday morning and my friend S proposed we walk to the local breakfast cafe. A mile later, I made my first discovery: the breakfast taco. In hindsight, I have spent way too much time laboring under the false delusion that tacos are only for lunch and dinner... oh no, my friends, tacos with eggs and hot sauce and sausage = magically delicious start to a morning. We then hung out for awhile before heading to Lake Travis for lunch on a cliff overlooking the lake. Although the food left a little to be desired, the views were spectacular and I found myself wishing that Boston would have a complex of bars and restaurants where one could drink margaritas on a lake.... We then headed into town for dinner and drinks with S's husband, J and his hot, single friend, Brian. After several margaritas + Lone Star beers (taste like Budweiser), we ate what I assume to be authentic Mexican food at an upscale restaurant and then headed to a section of town where a developer had bought a group of houses and converted them into bars - complete with hula hoops and ping pong tables. Oh, and did I mention that this Brian is hot? Apparently, he is not only hot, but also ridiculously smart, successful, nice, and sharing of my love for Bernese mountain dogs. sigh. After we talked for several hours, we left and Brian promised to meet up with us on Sunday for dinner and to buy a ticket to join us at a Lauryn Hill concert.
Although we were a bit hungover on Sunday, S & J and I still made our way to the bottom of the lake where they keep their boat next to a fun restaurant on the lake. Second amazing TX food discovery of the weekend: fried pickles. As I ate my friend pickles and drank my beer, I looked over the people driving their boats up to docks while bands played and grabbing beers, jet skiing and swimming... maybe this is the life?
On Sunday night, we went to a great restaurant, Parkside, for dinner and walked around 6th street (kinda trashy, I have to say) before making our way over to Stubbs, a famous outdoor arena. Intimate and full of character, Stubbs seemed like the kind of old-fashioned place that's ideal for people who really like music. Brian and I stole off from S&J and watched the Lauryn Hill concert together. Alas, the night ended too soon and I headed back with my friends to catch an early flight to Dallas for my work meetings. Sigh.
All in all, I highly recommend a trip to Austin... especially for one of the music festivals (SXSW or ACL) or UTexas games... hopefully I will be seeing the Lone Star state (but, really only Austin) again soon.
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