Austin, TX - Part 2

Monday and Tuesday were a lot of fun. I left my hotel in South Austin a little before noon Monday to drive about 30 minutes or so to a restaurant called The Salt Lick in Driftwood, TX. Oh my goodness. The briskett and ribs were amazing. Yasir and Gwen treated us (me, Mom, Dad, and my nephew Jason) to lunch, and it was worth every mile and minute driven to get there. Actually, I would have driven further. So, so good. Here's Gwen, Yasir and I after stuffing ourselves with a bunch of delicious meat...

After saying goodbye to Gwen and Yasir, Mom, Dad, Jason and I drove back up to Austin to check out the George Washington Carver museum. It was OK. The most interesting thing I saw and learned was about the emancipation of slaves in Texas. I had no idea that it took nearly two years before the Emancipation Proclamation (written in September of 1863) was enforced in Texas (June 19, 1865). African-Americans in Texas now celebrate "Juneteenth," which is the celebration of legal racial equality in Texas. Pretty interesting. 

After leaving there, we drove about 15 minutes to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum. Unfortunately, it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Bummer. So, at this point, we went and parked at the Hyatt Regency hotel, where our 8 p.m. activity was to begin. But, with the heat of the day, and time to spare, we decided to walk up the street to get some ice cream. It was definitely HOT, but my milkshake made the walk in the heat worth it. 

At 8:00, Mom, Dad and I had a bat-viewing river cruise planned. Every spring about 750,000 mexican fruit bats come from Monterey, Mexico in one single night. About 95% of them are pregnant females. While in Austin, they give birth then wait for their babies to be strong enough to go back to Monterey. Every day, the bats sleep under the South Congress Avenue Bridge. Just after sunset, they emerge and take to the skies for the night, to eat about their full weight in mosquitos before returning to the bridge some time between 4 and 5 a.m. We got to watch them emerge from under the bridge, and wow. It was so cool to see these swarms of bats flying along the underside of the bridge, then off above the treetops on the south shore of the river. The boat drivers all have these big red flood lights that they shine up at the underside of the bridge so we can see the bats flying out. It was definitely a very unique experience. I just wish more of the many pictures I took had turned out, but here's the sunset and the best shot I have of the bats.

Today was my day to be alone in Austin. After sleeping in a little, I ate breakfast, got ready and checked out of my hotel. My first stop of the day was the Hope Outdoor Gallery, a great big property with a ton of concrete walls full of graffiti by local artists. Yes, I used the term artist. While there's a lot of junky-looking graffiti, there's a ton of really exceptional stuff. the walls range from about 8 feet to 12 feet tall, and there are four levels of this concrete. One artist I spoke with said there's over 22,000 square feet of concrete wall at this place. I'm telling you, every square inch of wall is covered with paint. It was a really Austin-y thing to see. I don't know if there's anywhere else in the world with a place like this. I took a ton of pictures.

Then I went to Veracruz All Natural, a local purveyor of "trailer food," which is a huge thing in Austin. As you might guess from the name, it's mexican food. Oh my gosh. I got a steak taco, a chicken taco, and a melon agua fresca. All I had on my tacos was the meat with cilantro and onions. They were in fresh-made tortillas and were so, so good. No salsa, cheese, sour cream or anything else was needed. The meat was so delicious! Mmmmmm...if I ever get back to Austin, I'll hit Veracruz again.

Next, I went up to Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin at a whopping 775 feet above sea level. =0) To my friends in Utah, this will seem pretty ridiculous. Even Santa Rosa, CA, where I grew up has hills higher than that in the vicinity. But because everything around it (for several miles) is so flat, the view of Austin and the surrouning areas from the top of the hill is pretty cool. While I was up at the top, I spent some time talking with a young couple from the area about Austin, San Francisco and Salt Lake City. The guy had no idea about the graffiti wall I had looked at 45 minutes before, and thought it sounded pretty cool. He also wants to go to San Francisco now, just from my description of The City.

I decided then that I needed to go shopping in the rather ecclectic South Commerce district. Austin's official city slogan is "Keep Austin Weird," so I figured I should get some sort of memorabilia from that kind of city...my kind of city. Of course, as Noelle and I always do when we travel to different places, I had to get a refrigerator magnet. I also got a ball cap with the city's slogan on the front of it for me and a necklace for Noelle.

Finally, I took Lexi's (my nephew Riki's girlfriend) advice to get a burger from Hut's Hamburgers downtown before going to the airport. The burger I had was very good - meat, swiss cheese, bacon, mayo and green chiles. I didn't bother with fries or anything because I had just finished my lunch about 3 hours before and I just wanted to get something good to fill me up so I wouldn't have to buy super expensive airport food in Austin or Phoenix. Then it was off to the airport to check in for my flight and head home. 

I'm really glad that everything I did and every place I went Monday and Tuesday is unique to Austin. That was my goal - to experience as much of the city that I couldn't find or experience anywhere else. I may never get back to Austin, or Texas, for that matter. I wanted to make the most of the couple days I had to experience Austin before coming home. Now I'm home refreshed and relaxed. Hopefully I can keep that state for as long as I can. It was great to spend time with my parents, Gwen, Yasir, Christy and her family for a few days. Most places I went, I didn't need my mask because it was outdoors, or just didn't have a lot of people around. I wasn't being reminded 24/7 of the fact that I'm recovering from leukemia and have a suppressed immune system. Granted, I lathered up with 100-SPF sunscreen and wore my big ugly hat all day Monday and Tuesday while I was outdoors to limit my sun exposure and avoid aggravating my GVH. But getting away from home and the monotony of everything here was great for me.

I'm so blessed to have a wife who recognized (much more than I did) how much I needed this trip. Not just to see Gwen married, but to get away from everything for a while. She's very perceptive and considerate of my needs, even with all she does and all she needs to keep her own batteries charged on a daily basis. I love Noelle so, so much. I could never thank her enough for her extreme goodness to me.