I’d been to Texas once before, 15 years ago. I visited San Antonio over a weekend, explored the Riverwalk, checked out the Alamo. I’d always wanted to go back, especially since I’d been hearing great things about Big Bend National Park, a remote and wild swath of land bordering the Rio Grande, one of our least visited parks in the National Park system. With all the fuss about the border these days, I thought it might be interesting to see the physical manifestation of that divisive and loaded word. I was also curious about Texans. It’s never wise to categorize the people of an entire state, though there is plenty of that going on these days. I decided the best way to implode one’s assumptions was full immersion. A classic Texas Road Trip was in order, one that would begin in Austin, that proverbial hipster town of BBQ, food trucks, and live music wafting out every other doorway. The road would then wind itself towards West Texas through the Hill Country to a few “middle-of nowhere” towns, with an extended stay under the wide open skies of Big Bend Country. It’d been too long since a ribbon of blacktop unspooled before me. I was ready for adventure.
First stop: Austin. Let’s just say Austin can be overwhelming. Planning a three day stay is challenging. (One can access the 48 or 36 hr guides published online, but Austin is a city where your itinerary should best be left to serendipity). There are three must-do activities; eat, drink and listen to live music. Austin is unquestionably a city of youth, with nearly 2/3 of its population under the age of 44. The energy is palpable on the streets. I had the impression that residency was only granted to those under 50, beyond that and you were encouraged to move out to the ‘burbs. Many locals we talked to complained about the popularity of their city. With a 34% increase in population in the last decade infrastructure was not keeping up. Rents were rising, the edgy cool parts of town were disappearing, the cost of living was skyrocketing, and traffic was nightmarish. That being said, Austinites love their city and wouldn’t move anywhere else. A conundrum for sure. Community biking and the dreaded scooter craze has taken over in attempts to reduce clogged streets. A word of caution, watch before you step off a curb. Uber drivers told us that emergency rooms were filled nightly with drunk tourists, both bystanders and riders, swiped off those scooter death mobiles. They tend to muck up a city’s appearance as well, riders leave them where ever they want, strewn on lawns, sidewalks, in the middle of parks. Get out early if you want to experience the city in solitude, by noon on a given day in Austin the sidewalks are jammed. Roaming mobs of young women celebrating bachelorette parties are a common sight, so much so I was at first weirded out. Are there that many people getting married in Texas?
There are a few distinct areas of the city a visitor wants to check out. Rainey Street corridor, a two block radius of repurposed one-story homes houses funky breweries and swanky cocktail bars. The 6th Street area(Dirty Sixth, as the locals call it) is likened to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, a stretch of road known for its nightly debauchery. Most locals told us to stay away, so we did. East Austin has the feel of the early 2000’s in Detroit or 1980’s Wicker Park in Chicago. Most of the best food trucks and BBQ (La Barbecue, and Veracruz All Natural) are here and some genre- busting eateries. I had a mind-blowing meal at Kemuri-Tatsuya, a mash-up of Japanese and Tex Mex isayake cuisine and the most exciting place I ate at in Austin. There is a separate menu for the adventurous willing to try “exotics and rareties” rated as nasty, funky or not funky. Think marinated jellyfish and monk fish liver. I indulged in BBQ Tsukemen ramen and smoked fish collar. Exquisite. (And thats saying a lot, because we ate amazing chow everywhere we went, including Odd Duck, a farm to table masterpiece of open kitchen theatre, a very close second.)
My favorite area was South Congress(SOCO), a perpetually hipster enclave where quirky shops traffic in vintage, artisan and original brands. A handful of great restaurants and food trucks plus the creme de-la-creme of music venues, The Continental, was a stones throw from our hotel. Mid- century modern and kitschy 50’s are competing aesthetics in this hopping town and our hotel, The Kimber Modern, a half block off Congress fell into the former. An intimate seven-room hotel with no front desk and keyless entry proved to be an ideal spot to base our explorations. An inner courtyard is shaded by a gargantuan old live oak, a calm and peaceful respite from the wild vibe out front. At any time, day or night, South Congress is teeming with locals and tourists eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. The street is also home to several chic boutique hotels whose courtyards open nightly to dj’s spinning records , full moon parties and record release events. Jo’s Coffee (where a line forms at 7am every morning), colorful wall murals( an Instagrammers delight), and competing taco bars(Guero’s and Torchy’s are must haves) attract a steady stream of happy people. The Austin Motel is a fabulous 50’s style motel with a pool/outdoor bar that was jamming with fun sun-worshippers every afternoon. The pool is open to the public, so for a small fee we laid our towels on the astro-turf and people-watched the goings-on of a company party. Wading in the pool between blow-up flamingos and pineapple floats, we talked to the CEO of Marine Layer, a hot retail chain out of California that was launching a new brand. He had brought the entire team to Austin for idea-generating and bonding over rose slushes and kitschy pool toys. We got a personal invite to the party at the new store on South Congress but alas, we were heading out of town and would miss it. (darn, these people were fun to be around!) One could spend their entire time in this neck of the woods and call it good but as I do in every city I visit, I walk.
I quickly discovered that Austin is not an ideal city for perambulation. (Thus, the ubiquitous scooters.) The boulevards are wide and heavily trafficked. With the exception of the Downtown, which houses the beautiful Capitol Building, the iconic indy bookstore Book People and the equally awesome Waterloo Records, areas of interest are spread out. We spent our first day walking to Zilker Park, a green space on the east side of town. I was keen to take a stroll on the footpath that surrounds the park. I was also intent on seeing Barton Springs Pool, a natural spring fed watering hole with an average year round temp of 68 degrees. We arrived when it was closed for cleaning but the pastoral beauty of the place was unrivaled. It’s got a cool history as well with roots reaching back to an era when the Tonkanawa Native American Indian tribe used the springs for purification purposes. I imagined what a treasure it is when the hot summer rolls around. On our return walk, we managed to take a side trip to Umlauf Sculpture Gardens, a definite must stop for art lovers. An outdoor park-like setting filled with over 50 bronze sculptures created by the prolific artist Charles Umlauf, the gardens are filled with touchable works of art. Hunger propelled our feet towards Terry Blacks BBQ by 11:15, where we realized we should have come a tad bit earlier. We had skipped the famous Franklin BBQ on the advice of several uber drivers who said there were other better choices. Despite doors opening at 11am, we had at least 150 people ahead of us. Forty-five minutes later, I sat down to eat the tenderest brisket saddled with a peppery slaw and warm from the oven crumbly cornbread. I’d earned it, we walked 8 miles before lunch!
Another popular way to enjoy the green spaces in Austin is to rent a paddleboard or kayak and check the skyline out from Ladybird Lake. We did not find the time to do that but we ogled the hordes of folks that were from the Pflugar Pedestrian Bridge Bridge. And if you are into super touristy things and love the idea of watching dark hordes of bats careen about into the sunset, then by all means make sure you stake a spot on the South Congress Bridge as the sun goes down. From April to October, the nightly spectacle attracts all kinds of nature /vampire fanatics. Unfortunately, the bat viewing interfered with our evening ritual of gorging on the next best thing, so maybe next time.
A word on eating in Austin. Between the food trucks and the myriad selection of excellent restaurants, it’s wise to have some semblance of a game plan. Be sure to eat at least one breakfast at a taco joint (migas, please!), enjoy a leisurely lunch on an outdoor patio watching the vibrant and impossibly cheery crowds before you (Perla’s for their baked oysters & June’s All-Day for a taste of Paris, great for Happy Hour as well) or get in line early for a gut-busting meat feast at one of the towns illustrious BBQ joints, and plan your evening meals in different neighborhoods to experience the vibe. Yeah, you could skip a meal but you’d be doing yourself a disservice. This town is exploding with exciting taste profiles.
Occasionally, Austin will get deluged with spring showers and thunderstorms. One of our three days here was a washout so we decided to hit up the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library. and I’m so glad we did. A surprisingly intimate and moving exhibit, we spent hours peeking into a replica of LBJ’s oval office, listening to actual historic White House recorded phone conversations and reading heartbreaking and poignant letters from Jackie Kennedy to Johnson after Kennedy was shot. Even if the sun is shining, this is a worthwhile break from the orgy of eating and drinking.
Music is the the backdrop to everything in Austin, the lifeblood that feeds the contagious energy on the streets. Upon arriving in Austin, we discovered Al Green was playing on the UT campus and snagged last minute tickets. At 73 years old, the master of soul still knows how to work an audience into a frenzy. A wild surprise was the front band, Tank and the Bangas. Winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk contest in 2017, the 12 piece melds a fusion of New Orleans jazz, funk, hip-hop and spoken word performance into a set that astounds. I was in awe, they were weird, eccentric and dazzling in their originality. Late night found us checking out some great clubs in town. Highlights were the Continental Club, where we saw Barfield, the Texan Tyrant of Funk. Indeed. A beloved fixture on the local music circuit, Mike Barfield and his band delivers a scorching brand of Texas funk that had us dancing madly with the enthusiastic crowd. The owner of the Continental Club calls him “the baddest mofo on stage anywhere in the world.” And we just wandered in off the street. Right place right time. Another great spot is the classic honky tonk, Broken Spoke. Spending a few hours ogling the wildly diverse crowd two-stepping on the massive dance floor is a throwback to another time.
By the time we left Austin, we were staggering. The level of energy and activity takes a toll, especially when you want to pack it all in and spend the wee hours following the music. Three days is not enough and yet it is. Pace is important and I would recommend resigning yourself to scheduling in some recovery time after your trip. It was curious, many locals questioned us as to why we came to town. They were surprised it was a tourist destination, pointing out that it didn’t have the culture or world-class museums of other major cities. I found Austin beguiling, the city captivated me with its youthful exuberance, its joyful celebration and zeal for the good things in life. On the morning of departure though, I was ready. I was pumped we were on our way to remote and unpopulated territory. Some down time under the stars was needed.
