Thomas and I looooved Austin. It is a massive college town so everything on offer is designed for the young, hip and fun. There are loads of good cheap food and bar options and there is a very chilled vibe. The shop fronts and streets are also really rather pretty, with a slight rustic touch to them, and a wonderful amount of fairy lights to be seen.
Though, at this point in our travels and since we are about to leave the Mid-West, Thomas and I do have to ask where all of the fat people are at, because it certainly isn't in Texas! Austin may be an exception due to the overwhelming student population, but even Dallas seemed to be lacking. Don't get me wrong, it's a great thing, but was just a little surprising.
We stayed in a hostel (which I was dreading after our plush hotel living), but it turned out to be more than ok as our room was very spacious and the hostel itself rather homely. We also had the added bonus that Thomas and I were meant to be sharing a 4-bed mixed dorm but we were the only 2 residents, which was obviously amazing; I'm still not utterly wild on sleeping next to strangers.
The long:
Sunday:
Thomas and I dropped our bags at the hostel and made our way straight back on to the road to make the most of our first day in Austin. BBQ time. We went to a restaurant called Freedman's, well-known for it's brisket, which in no way failed to impress! The meat was so juicy and tender and the homemade BBQ sauce was absolutely mind-blowing.
Afterwards, we went to the "Junk Cathedral", which Thomas discovered on Tripadvisor and had very good reviews. We were pretty taken aback when we pulled up to the address and realised that we were on a residential street and that this "cathedral" was located in someone's back garden. We were also a little disheartened to see a sign that said "appointments by reservation only", seeing as the front door didn't exactly encourage unwelcomed knocking.
So, we decided to call and hopefully "make an appointment" instead. I could clearly hear the phone ringing as the backdoor was very much open and I could see a dog in the garden. Someone was definitely home. It was just a question of whether or not they were going to ignore us. Thankfully, they did not, and a man emerged saying "+44 what the f**k"; it seems that our internationality captured his interest, as he told us that he had just turned another unexpected group away. Score to England.
The "Junk Cathedral" was one of the weirdest yet coolest things I have ever seen.
The "cathedral" is 3 stories high, believe it or not, and is decorated in "areas" of colour.
We were told that we could reach the 2nd story via the stairs in the "yellow area":
The Queen sitting on her throne atop the 3rd floor:
The King on his:
The owner was clearly a hippie, with an odour of weed emitting from him that was rather overpowering. He told us that he was previously an artist and that it has taken him 25 years to build the "cathedral", which was hardly surprising once you actually stopped and appreciated the sheer amount of junk that he has collected and the detail that he has incorporated in to his final masterpiece.
God only knows how much he must profit from his little project, since a "donation" of $10 is requested from each group of visitors and he said that people come by non-stop; peace and quiet must be hard to come by, I bet he regrets building it behind his house now! You have to admire his dedication to the cause however:
I am so glad that he picked up the phone as it really was one of the quirkiest things out there. Thomas and I then drove to the Soco District, full of vintage shops and yummy local eateries.
It was clearly an area popular with the college kids as there were students every where relaxing and enjoying the sunshine.
One of mum's colleagues regularly visits Alaska and gave her a bunch of prime quality fish and meat that he had caught and prepped himself, which mum unfortunately (for her) didn't have space in her suitcase to take home with her. I was more than happy to step in and take this burden off her hands. Sadly, our hostel didn't have the most equipped kitchen and the only means that I had to actually cook the fish was by microwave, which was a huge shame but there was no way that I was going to allow that fish to go to waste. I hit a Whole Foods wannabe and put together a fresh salad to accompany my microwaved salmon. You know the saying "don't judge a book by its cover", well don't judge my meal by the photo, because it was SO delicious and I was so happy with my fresh, tasty dinner.
Thomas, to his own loss, did not dare try my microwaved salmon and opted for takeaway chicken fajitas from Torchy's Tacos, which I must admit looked good, but no where near as good as my little creation. We ate our food in our hostel room whilst watching the film Chef on my iPad, which I had seen before but love, and Thomas thoroughly enjoyed; it's such a good film for anyone that hasn't seen it.
Monday:
We got up and ready for our morning of exercise, which took the form of a bike ride along the trail around Lady Bird Lake.
The lake is known to have plenty of bird life so I was excited to see some animals and scenic views.
^ Check out that fro!
^ I am not sure what this bird is (Michael?), but it is so beautiful and its feathers look like they are made of velvet, shining midnight blue as it moves in the sun light. Although we did see a few nice birds I must say that I wasn't overwhelmed by the number or the lake trail itself, which, for the most part, was lined by trees that blocked views of the lake. The lake itself is incredibly flat and there were many people rowing, canoeing and paddle boarding on it, which I think is probably a better way to experience the natural beauty and wildlife surrounding it. We did, however, get some great views of the city
and it was definitely worth it for the exercise. We were both sweating buckets by the time we finished the 5 mile loop, which was only exacerbated by the fact that we then got more than a little lost trying to find the car park where we had parked and I had one of my light-headed episodes. As it turned out we needed to cross to the other side of the lake via the Barton Springs, which are clear water cold springs, which at least made the detour more swallowable.
It was lunch time and Thomas fancied some more food from Torchy's Tacos, so there we went.
(My salmon dinner was definitely better). Afterwards, we swung by our hostel and picked up 2 guys from England that we had befriended over breakfast to go to a gun range. I think we were all a little apprehensive but obviously there was a lot of testosterone flying around so none of them were going to admit to being as scared as me!
We picked an assault rifle and handgun to share between the 4 of us, and stepped up for our lesson in how to load and shoot them.
Once we actually stepped into the shooting range I must admit that my heart began hammering and I was definitely on full alert. I could not believe how loud it was in there; every time someone took a shot I would jump. It was absolutely deafening. Anyway, it was time to shoot. Thomas and I started with the handgun.
The recoil on something as innocent looking as a handgun astounded me. I had no idea that guns were so powerful, and it did unsettle me. I could tell by his face that Thomas was loving it, as he was grinning from ear to ear. The same could not be said for myself though I'm afraid; Thomas asked me several times if I was ok, because I retreated into my silent, timid, big-eyed self that appears when I feel uncomfortable. But we were there to shoot and, more importantly, I had paid to shoot, so shoot I was going to.
We then switched with the others to the rifle (which I had not been looking forward to doing).
Thomas actually did pretty damn well and hit some very good shots on the target which, naturally as a man, he was very proud of.
Then it was my turn.
I took 3 shots with the best before calling it day, firstly, because it wasn't providing me with any particular enjoyment and, secondly, because i thought my collar bone was going to shatter into a million pieces if I took one more shot. I was more than happy to donate my bullets to Thomas and evacuate the shooting range to the "safety" of the main gun shop, where I was much more in my element posing for pictures with nice, unloaded guns. That I could do well.
The boys wanted more, so rented an AK-47, which Thomas was very, very excited about.
It looked exactly the same as the rifle to me but apparently I was so very wrong. They loved it and Thomas said it was his favourite of the 3 he shot. Meanwhile, I chatted away to the employees and tried to understand this alien gun psychology, which I was not particularly successful with. I learnt that 1 in 6 Texans are carrying at any time and that all of the workers started shooting under the age of 10. I just can't get my head around why. It was an experience nonetheless and I was glad that I tried it and that Thomas enjoyed it so much.
After dropping off the others we drove to The Driskell, an upmarket hotel in downtown Austin which, again, Thomas had found on Tripadvisor and was meant to be a cool place to visit for its real Texan decor and delicious drinks and cakes. It didn't take much to sell it to me.
I loved the cow skin chairs and unique lamps.
I loved the wine and signature chocolate cake more.
In high spirits we checked out 6th Street and Rainy Street, two of the main bar streets in Austin, to choose which we wanted to visit later. Rainy Street was interesting as the bars and restaurants are actually all old converted homes, so is pretty special.
But we preferred 6th street, as it was slightly more mainstream and home to the restaurant that we wanted to have dinner at; "Moonshine".
By the time we were seated for dinner I was so hungry that I could have eaten another human being, but I managed to contain myself just long enough for our calamari to arrive.
The complimentary bread was in fact corn bread, which it appears I have taken a fondness to, although the same can't be said for Thomas who thought it tasted too much like sponge cake. Oh well, more for me.
I ordered a pork chop with apple chutney and sweet potato fries, whilst Thomas got the ribs and steak fries. Both were utterly delicious. Thomas really let himself down though and barely made a dent in it before beginning his huffing and puffing; it's good that he has a friend like me always willing to lend a hand.
I could not resist the fudge brownie. I almost died with excitement at the sight of the most ENORMOUS nutty chocolatey mess I have ever seen.
And then I almost died half way through it. Devastatingly, there really was no more room. Genuinely very upset that I had filled up on so much of the other food I had to throw the towel in with an extremely heavy heart. I was even considering a doggie bag that's how much turmoil I was in, but somehow bar hopping with a half-eaten ice-cream soggie brownie in tow didn't seem too smart an idea, so we parted ways.
Thomas and I went to a bar promising spirit mixers for $1.15. Sold. This was absolute music to our ears; why was this the first time that we had come across a decently priced beverage? We took full advantage and ended up just enjoying our whole evening there, since the music and atmosphere was good, and the drinks were cheap!
Oh, and there may have been a photobooth that we popped our heads into.
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