We caught the northbound bus at 2nd & Congress and headed up to the Capitol building. This is one impressive pink building and here's a fancy factoid: the dome of the Capitol building stands seven feet higher than that of the nation's Capitol in Washington, D.C.Next we walked up to the University area to check out the Drag. This is the portion of Guadalupe next to the school and home to many unique stores and restaurants. We chose a sandwich shop called Potbelly Sandwich Works. We thought it was a local chain but it turns out it's national. It was still a really good and spicy sandwich so it worked out.
After lunch we rejoined the bus tour and got views of the home of the Texas Longhorns and the birthplace of the Hook'em Horns. The football stadium is pretty impressive and it looks like they're adding some fancy new luxury suites for next season. We like going to sporting events and were initially concerned that there are no pro teams in the area but I think we could get our fix from this team.The bus headed south after a tour of the school and finally ended up at Zilker Park. It just so happened that this was the first night of the Zilker Trail Of Lights so we stuck around and waited for dark.
After the marching band, Santa Claus entrance, formal introductions and sponsor thank yous (it's free to enter), the general public was allowed to check out the mile long trail of 41 holiday scenes. It was most definitely an impressive light display and I'd even say it was worth the wait. Also impressive was the chicken tamale we gobbled up from one of the vendors in Christmas Village.We caught a bus out of the park and found our way to Stubb's for dinner. Stubb's is located on Red River and for the first and only time while in Austin, we were in an area (north of Stubb's on Red River) that felt a little sketchy. The dinner was good and we walked back on the famous 6th Street strip.
On Monday we walked around downtown and had lunch at the Austin Java Cafe on 2nd Street. Afterwards we walked around some more and then packed up and caught the bus for the airport. Since we weren't able to get to Salt Lick, the most famous BBQ joint in Austin, we decided to give their airport outlet a shot. Wow, that is some goooooooooooooood barbecue. I think it's important to add that even the airport has some of the flavor and vibe of Austin.
It was a great trip, all the meals were good to excellent and the feel of the city agreed with us. We really like how the green areas of the city are so accessible, you can literally go from city streets to wooded trails in a matter of seconds. We also loved how active everyone seems to be, hopefully it is addictive. The dog-friendliness is another plus and the mass transit system worked very well and is extremely cheap.
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1 comment:
Just read your back posts after finding this on technorati - the problem with your strategy so far is that you're looking for somewhere where a fixer-upper won't cost $300K, as in your first comment, but you're only touring the parts of town where fixer-uppers will cost $300K.
There IS a lot of cheap housing here, but it's not in Austin; it's in "Austin", i.e., 30 miles away from the places you've been visiting on the bus.
Good luck anyways. I live in one of those $300K fixer-uppers and wouldn't dream of moving out to the burbs; but just wanted you to understand the market here.
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