Austin, Capital of Texas (and still weird)

We made it to Austin late in the afternoon and checked in to the Holiday Inn Austin Town Lake. The lake itself is right downtown and is a beehive of activity for outdoor enthusiasts who row, run, bike and walk around the lake at all hours.

Keep Austin Weird is a slogan adopted by the Austin Small Business Alliance. They say that in a mostly conservative Texas, Austin is “Weird” because it continues to be progressive in the arts and music. Many people feel that the “Keep Austin Weird” slogan reflects a desire to retain the city's distinct character in the face of increasing pressures to homogenize.

This is the Iron Works barbeque, right downtown, where we enjoyed a decent meal that, of course, was no match for the Salt Lick!


Here is one of two Austin locations for Hey Cupcake! http://www.heycupcake.com/story.html

Weird, but good.

In case you can't read it, the napkin holder message says "Wipe that icing off your face, you big disgrace."


The next day we ate at Chuy's a Tex-Mex favorite with locations throughout the state. We had the Chicken Taquitos, pictured below. Very tasty!

Decor at Chuys Barton Springs location

Chuy's entrance

That afternoon we visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildfower Center, a delightful spot founded by Lady Bird and actress Helen Hayes to protect and preserve North America's native plants and natural landscapes---a worthy mission. It is now affiliated with the University of Texas.

http://www.wildflower.org/

This work is a cross between origami and watercolor.

A giant scorpion, the centerpiece of one of the gardens.

A formal setting.

And a more natural one.

We had to try Blue Bell ice cream, a Texas favorite. We liked it.

This is the flagship store and headquarters for Whole Foods.

The Blanton Art Museum at the U of T, funded in large part by a generous grant from the prolific James Michener who was born in Doylestown PA and lived in Austin for many years.

http://blantonmuseum.org/

A young New York artist ( I didn't record his name) rendered this young dude, after the style of the Dutch Masters

African tapestry created from metal liquor bottle strips

Detail of lobby wall

Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design & Culture at Mid-Century

Custom Fender guitar with image of Dave Brubeck and friends

We had a great lunch at the Magnolia Cafe, joining Travelzine friends Diana Ball and Lou Matthews, who were so generous to us in helping with information about Austin and Texas.

At the LBJ Museum and Library on the U of T campus, there was an interesting exhibition about the space program in the 60's

LBJ automaton, mouthing folksy words of wisdom

White House watercolor, signed by all living presidents at the time (2004)

Lady Bird's office at the museum, preserved as she had left it

Presidential limo

April 27: San Antonio to Austin

On our way from San Antonio to Austin, we made several stops. The first, and perhaps the most interesting, at Gruene, a well preserved little town that characterizes itself as "gently resisting change since 1872." This is certainly a town that has managed to retain the old Texas small-town feel.Gruene has been designated a Historic Town by the State of Texas. The name of the town is pronounced like the color "Green."

Henry D. Gruene, the town's founder, originally bought land for a cotton farm in 1872 with his father and brothers. He built his first home in 1872 and modified it over the years. It still stands proudly with its Victoria galleries today as the Gruene Mansion Inn. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated Texas Historic Landmark. Here it is today!

Town Map

The jewel in Gruene's crown has got to be the Gruene Hall, the oldest Dance Hall in Texas. It is small in scale, but mighty in its reputation for hosting the greatest country music acts around including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Dixie Chicks, Jerry Jeff Walker and many others.

http://www.gruenehall.com/

John Travolta as Michael, the "bad angel," filmed at Gruene Hall

Inside the Hall

The bar area

Special parking for the king

The Grist Mill restaurant in Gruene

Fishing, tubing, and other water recreation activities are available on the Guadalupe River, just down the hill from the Gruene Hall: http://www.gruenerivercompany.com/index.html

From Gruene, we made our way to San Marcos, the largest outlet shopping destination in Texas, and the third largest in the world. It's kind of like a strip mall on steroids there, quite spread out. Each store has it's own entrance. There is lots of parking of course and the site is so big that they have mini buses to move the shoppers around.

Sadly, heavy rain storms were moving in and conditions became so inclement that we decided to cut our visit short and move on. Peggy did find a couple of items at Banana Republic, so she was pleased about that.

From San Marcos, we left I-35 and made our way via the back roads to Driftwood where we were looking forward to lunch at that mecca of Texas Hill Country barbeque, the Salt Lick.
http://www.saltlickbbq.com/

We arrived in the midst of a teeming downpour, and the parking lot was running rivers of waters. We danced around as best we could in a futile effort to stay dry and entered the shrine to German influenced, beautifully barbequed ribs, brisket and sausage with sides of potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans, pickles and onions.

BBQ Pit

The main dining room evokes the feeling of an old ranch mess hall

High anticipation: ready to savor the flavor


Clever merchandising: Must-have tee shirts and other stuff

The "real deal."

Our meals are pictured here, just before we tied in. Peggy opted for the "seniors plate," which include a generous serving of all the dishes mentioned above. Kevin chose the "family plate," a never-ending delivery of all of the items, until you holler "I quit."

We finished up with a delicious peach cobbler a la mode, but here were also other cobblers on offer, as well as very attractive pecan pies

The pit master was busy keeping up with orders, as customer continued to arrive to eat-in and to take-out too.

Our window-side table

Remember the Alamo! and Riverwalk too

We made the trek across I-10 from New Orleans to San Antonio in good time, noting that a visit to Lafayette, LA would be worthwhile on another trip.

San Antonio was busy with the last weekend of Fiesta, an 11 day celebration that began as a way to honor the memory of the heroes of the Alamo and the battle of San Jacinto, the decisive contest in the Texas Revolution where General Sam Houston's army defeated that of General Santa Ana. The crowds were substantial and still in a festive mood, though they seemed a bit weary from the extensive celebration!

Our room at the Cambria Suites was comfortable and modern, in a good location near the airport with easy access to downtown. We arrived on Saturday and then spent Sunday visiting the Alamo, downtown areas and the Riverwalk.

Here is the plaza in front of the Alamo. The inside of the old mission/fort was festooned with wreaths from many military organizations and historical societies to commemorate the fallen who defended the Alamo to the end.

Alamo courtyard.

Detail of the facade.

We had a table reserved at Boudro's on the Riverwalk and enjoyed a tasty lunch there midway through our explorations. Peg began with a prickly pear margarita.

http://www.boudros.com/boudros/

The famous, and delicious guacamole for two, made tableside by our waiter.

The Black & White soup ( Black bean soup with sherry and white cheddar soup with peppers)

Blue crab Tostado, Gulf Coast seafood in a corn tortilla shell with tomato, avocado
and melted jack cheese.

The county courthouse in San Antonio

Path along the riverwalk

Tower of the Americas is a 750-foot observation tower with a restaurant, built as the theme structure of the 1968 World's Fair, HemisFair.

St. Anthony, patron saint of San Antonio. Both the city and the river are named for him.

An historic lenticular truss bridge, one of only a few remaining in the US. This one was built in 1890.

Riverwalk vista.

View of Bethany Congregational Church, where a service is conducted in German each Sunday. There is a considerable German population in the area, and throughout central Texas.

Touring the riverwalk by boat.

Boatload of tourist refugees

architectural detail.

One of many bridges crossing riverwalk.