SXSW

It's SXSW time in Austin again!

We've been walking around town every day this SXSW (that's 'South By Southwest,' or just 'South By' for us locals, an annual festival here in Austin celebrating Music, Technology, and Film primarily, but also there are developing Education and other branches as well).  It's fantastic!  It's an international event, and we've heard so many different languages spoken and seen so much fabulous style!!  It's fun to live right in the heart of it.

I didn't get any pictures of the Interactive (technology) events that we attended, and we didn't do any Film events (although it looks like some huge names brought big films to premier here!).  Brandon had several celebrity sighting moments (although his "celebrities" are leading tech writers/journalists and I feel weird blogging about that!).  He snapped pictures of a couple of them, but this was the first "event" that we got pictures of:

And it's not even an event.  After we got back from Bastrop, I was going to lay down for a nap because I had call that night, and Brandon laid down too and began playing on his phone.  He happened to check Twitter, and noticed that Aoife O'Donovan (one of our very favorite music artists!) had tweeted twenty SECONDS earlier that she was about to begin recording behind the Four Seasons Hotel.  Wait.  The Four Seasons?  Isn't that the hotel just across the Congress (for those who have visited: bat) bridge?!  AGH!!!  So we jumped out of bed and grabbed Smokey's collar and leash.  Wait-- scratch that.  She will be a hassle.  We put the leash up and flung open the door.  Wait-- wouldn't bikes be faster than walking/running?!  YES!  So we hopped on our bikes and pedaled as fast as we could down the street and across the bridge.  And there she was.  Waiting.  Setting up with her crew.  AGH!!!

And that's how we had private concert with Aoife.  Just her, us, and a couple of other people that I think were just family/friends/crew.  SO AMAZING!

That night we walked down to Auditorium Shores (a usual walk for us-- it's just past the second bridge we come to on the hike/bike trail) for a real concert.  We met a friend there and listened to the hottest name in Latin America: Cafe Tacuba.

It was super awesome.  We left a little early so that we could walk down South Congress to see a real concert of Aoife's at the Continental Club-- one of Austin's oldest and coolest music clubs.  We got all the way there and realized we didn't have enough cash.  So we walked all the way back down the street (got ice cream on the way!) and to the ATM for more.  We arrived at the Club at 10pm on the dot, right when she was scheduled to begin, and at the door the ?bouncer? asked for our IDs.  What?  IDs?  Awwwwww, I totally forgot mine!!!  :(  major sad face.  So we went across the street and chatted away the hours with our friend, and that was just fine.

It was way more fine the next day when we got to see Aoife for 1/3 the price, and probably 1/100 the crowd.  She played at a small East Austin venue, and there were only a handful of people in attendance.  Woohoo!!  "Front row" seats (there wasn't really any competition) for a REAL, hour-long set with Aoife O'Donovan at SXSW.  Yes.

I had to get Brandon in all the shots just to prove that we were there :)

Bastrop, TX

We took another day trip recently to the town of Bastrop, TX, a little over half an hour east of Austin.

It's a quaint little town with some GORGEOUS old historic homes.  Some were very much mansions while others were smaller but still full of architectural details.  We had a blast walking around and looking at all of them!

The main street was sweet, too.

We stopped and had lunch in one of the cafes on Main Street called Maxine's Cafe.  RECOMMEND HIGHLY!!!!  It was delicious, and we even got cheesecake (!) as a dessert!  For those of you who don't know Brandon that well, we NEVER get dessert at a restaurant.  EVER.  Later we realized that it was Pi day (how did we not realize earlier?!) so we felt it was fitting; it was meant to be :)

We also walked toward this large building because it looked so intriguing.  Upon further investigation, it is the ancient jailhouse that is attached by a walkway to the courthouse :)

We also explored the riverwalk before leaving.  Beautiful!

And it looks like real estate is quite affordable in Bastrop (surprisingly!!!), so if anyone wants to move down to this AWESOME Central Texas town, check it out ;)

March 5 in Austin

[wordless Wednesday]

Enchanted Rock

Yesterday we visited Enchanted Rock, and it was totally worth it!

We drove about two hours to get there, and then waited almost an hour to get into the park!  We were afraid that they had closed the park already (a frequent occurrence in these Texas parks, due to overcapacity) and that we'd have to wait two hours for them to reopen.  It turns out that the process is just slow (compounded by the fact that cars coming from the other direction-- NOT in our long line-- could just sneak right on in with a right-of-way right turn!  booo).  

We started on the trail, and it began easily.  Once you get past the trees and shrubbery, though, you are on a ginormous mound of smooth pink granite.  Make sure to wear shoes with good tread!  

The top was pretty cool.  The wind is ruthless this high up with nothing to shield you!!  If you let your arms hang by your side, the wind would blow them forward.  It was nice to have the wind at your back on the way up, though-- like a little gentle push, and it also helped steady you, but at the top my ears were throbbing from the constant pounding of the wind.  Thankfully, it was warm and there was not a cloud in the sky (just the moon!  so cool!).  

You see the little pools and mini-oasis little green spots?  Those are called vernal pools, and you're not supposed to touch them because when left undisturbed the pools of water will eventually turn into the green patches of moss and cacti and life.  They were fun to look at!  Brandon had fun looking at everything through his binoculars :)

We also went caving.  There is a cave in this rock formation, and it's unlike any cave I've ever been through.  You're crawling DOWN through the rock, then back UP out of it.  There is no path to walk on, you're just crawling over, under, between, and through big rocks in pitch darkness.  Some parts were really scary because it would just be a slippery wet rock angled down with no end in sight, and you had to make your way across it laterally without sliding into the abyss!  Dramatic, I know.  But it was a workout for sure!  Very, very fun.

After caving, we walked across the largest rock formation to one of the smaller rock formations to one side of it (there were many-- Enchanted Rock was the biggest in the middle with the cave).  This one had a lot more vegetation and interesting rock features on it, so I had my mind set on exploring it from the start.  I LOVED the little "mountain pass" between the two.  Do you see the little walking path through the green in the middle photo?  It made me giddy, because I just KNOW that hobbits have been there.

The scramble down was the most fun.  We decided to forego easy, clear paths down the rock, and instead chose to climb down a much more rugged area.  It was a blast!  I love that there are no rules on this "mountain" except don't mess with the vernal pools.  No "do not veer from the path," no safety rails (and the backside of the mountain was STEEP!  Like, clifflike.), and no directions through the cave except a spray-painted arrow every now and then (when you think you're going to lose your mind or fall into "the belly of the mountain").  It was awesome.  Go Texas.

Saint Anthony

Or, San Antonio, as they say in these parts :)

We took a day trip on Sunday to a fabulous city an hour and a half south of here, called San Antonio.  It is a very old city, full of history.  We loved it!

The first thing we did was the riverwalk.  What a beautiful place!  It's like what the canal in Indianapolis wants to be when it grows up-- full of very nice restaurants, shops, and beautiful landscaping.

At one place on the riverwalk, there are stairs up through a little riverside open-air theater to go visit the "Historic La Villita."  It's a tiny little village of stone houses and a church, built in 1819.  There's one main road and then just a conglomeration of the little houses.  So sweet!  The church was beautiful.  La Villita is now a "thriving arts community."  http://www.lavillita.com/

We had lunch on the riverwalk, too.  It was SO YUMMY!  We chose it because the menu looked affordable and yet gourmet, and because they provided traditional ponchos for every customer!  It was still a bit chilly from the morning, and someone decided to dress for the high temperature instead of the morning temperature.  Let's just say that only one of us had to wear the poncho.

Next, we visited this really awesome square.  It's called the Main Plaza and it sits between these two historic buildings: the courthouse (in shadow-- sorry!), and the oldest cathedral in the United States.  The San Fernando Cathedral was built by immigrants from the Canary Islands, Spain, between 1735-1750.  It's still a vibrant center of activity for Catholics, as the Plaza is for San Antonio with its farmer's markets and festivals.

Speaking of farmer's markets and festivals, the most disappointing thing of the day happened as we were leaving, and I realized that the largest Mexican market outside of Mexico, called El Mercado, was only a few blocks away.  We drove by just slowly enough for me to snap a picture.  And cry inside.

I think I'm getting the events out of order by now, oh well.  Another place we visited was the Alamo.  Remember the Alamo?  ;)  It looked just like it did in History books.  Except the entire area around it had been turned into a retail theme park!  It was so weird!  Ripley's Believe It or Not, a Wax Museum, the Guinness Book of World Records museum, and all sorts of other odd touristy shops and carnival-esque businesses littered the surrounding block.  And surprisingly, Brandon had no interest in visiting!

The Alamo itself is just the main building, but there are two other buildings inside the stone wall.  We waited in line (it was short) to get inside the main building, and it was interesting (no photography allowed), but the grounds were beautiful!  The other two buildings had been turned into a museum and a gift shop, I believe.  

In the afternoon, we left the main downtown area and drove around.  We found some really neat architecture and a super awesome historic neighborhood called King William Historic District!  The bottom two pictures of this set are in that neighborhood.  It was sweet!

And just before leaving, we drove south a few miles to see one of the Missions.  It looks like a castle, doesn't it?!  There are a few others in the area, but we decided to get back on the highway toward home.

On the way home, we spotted this building.  We were convinced it was a riverboat or gambling casino. Doesn't it look like one?  Well, when we got closer, we could read the sign out front.  Can you?
"Alamodome."  Yep.  A sports arena.  Crazy, right?!  Very odd.

And that's the last of our fabulous day trip to San Antonio.  We loved it, and it's even cooler that it's so close to home!  We have to go back sometime so I can visit that Mexican market...