Good ol' boys

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I was in Austin, TX last weekend. Rumor has it that I am on tour networking with key contacts to form an exploratory committee and possibly run for President. Good idea. But, no.

With the exception of my regular trips to the Chicago area, I'm looking forward to taking a bunch of "never been there" kind of trips. Refer to my previous two trips: Barcelona and Phoenix... first time visits to Spain and Arizona, let alone the cities.

Flying to Austin was as random as me flying to Hong Kong and Barcelona. The flight was on sale by Continental for less than $200. I had never been to Texas. It was a go. Fortunately, I was able to pay less for the hotel (Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown Austin) because Dan the Man jumped on board at the last minute. Given that he works for Continental, he flies for free if there's an available seat on the flight.

We landed in Austin (via Houston) last Saturday afternoon to temperatures in upper 60s. That was the warmest it got all weekend. After taking well-earned naps, we ventured over to Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant on San Jacinto and 3rd, where we munched on chips with some outstanding spicy salsa, drank margaritas, and dined on burritos and soft tacos.

Afterwards, we wandered up to W 6th Street, which is widely known to be the happening place to be on a Saturday evening. By the way, Austin is also home to the University of Texas. Nice.

Anyway, 6th Street was a bunch of bars, restaurants, and clubs next door to one another. We went to this place called Friends (I think...) where 3 guys were playing blues/classic rock/funk - no cover charge, $4 bottled beer. These guys were pretty good but the singer was so self-absorbed he was playing his guitar like most of us would play an air guitar... and he was grinding the floor on his back. Which would have been if we were SITTING. Afterwards, we went to some other bars... and that's all I remember about Saturday night.

Sunday was full of touristy things and lots of WALKING. After free hot breakfast at the hotel, we walked uptown and stumbled upon the 3M Half-Marathon. Having missed the half-marathon in Phoenix two weeks earlier, we stuck around for a while watching some of the runners cross the finish line. Now, let me tell you, with some of the folks I saw finishing toward the end (+2:30 hours), I feel I'm now qualified to "run" one of these.

Then, we walked up to the State Capitol building and took a tour. No offense to my Texan friends, but the state of Texas has too many politicians. When Texas was annexed to the US, I had assumed they obsoleted their state senate and state house of representatives. Well, no, it's alive and kicking. With no state income tax, I'm curious where the monies come from to pay all their salaries. Do any of you know?

Afterwards, more touristy stuff... blah, blah, blah. Then, we decided to walk to lunch. If any of you have ever been to Austin, we figured we could walk from the University Ave and 21st St down to Town Lake, along the Zilker Park trails, to Hula Hut on Lake Austin Blvd. What we thought was going to be a 45-minute walk became a TWO HOUR WALK. But, hey, we had a good workout, Danny got a great photo opp with a giant Gibson guitar (it is now the default pic on his page... check it out). Austin had giant Gibson guitars on pedestals in random spots throughout the city. They're certainly much cooler than those freaking ceramic cows in West Orange, NJ.

This is getting too long. OK, so after Hula Hut, we took a cab back. Napped. Went to Antone's on Lavaca and 5th, saw a country/bluegrass band called The Gunhands. Decent crowd for a Sunday night. Great performance. Drank the local beer: Shiner Bock at $3 a bottle. Great town. Would do it again.

Was back to work late Monday morning. Another trip down the hatch.

Cheers!

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