Let's keep Austin weird, but be in bed by 11

So when you have been married for 17 years (Glorious Years 😘) you spend most of your free time running a private Uber service for a teenager, her posse and two youth soccer teams.  What would you do if no one needed your service over the Memorial Day Weekend?.  You would go to Austin, Texas.  Not Austin, Minnesota unless you have a ridiculous love for Spam.

For years people have been telling Kari and I how great Austin, Texas is to visit.  Any city whose motto is "Keep Austin Weird"  is worth a look.

Kari and I left Friday afternoon for Austin.  We left our children in the capable hands of Jenna.  Theoretically they should have some rudimentary survival skills at their respective ages.

We arrived in Austin to discover it  doesn't not have an Uber or Lyft service until the Monday we are leaving.  So we took a regular taxi to the JW Marriott downtown.  We dropped our bags and went walking around Austin.

We headed past the Elephant Room, a classic spot for Jazz in Austin.  After that we headed to 6th street which is basically bars and clubs from beginning to end.  We decided to stop at a local watering hole called The Jackalope.  A Jackalope is a mythical rabbit with antlers.  Kari forced me to have some pulled pork quesadilla.  I enjoyed a hoppy Austin Beerworks, Fire Eagle IPA.  Kari did not enjoy her beer selection as much as I did. 

 

So this happened.  Keep Kari Weird in Austin!!!

 With a little food and beer, we felt energized and continued to explore 6th street.  90+ degrees and 70% humidity will make you feel like you have been working out.  We did find a Soul Cycle, but I convinced Kari that experience should not be a part of our weekend plans.

We cleaned up and headed to dinner at Uchi, A sushi restaurant which every website and ScottyRob recommended as a must stop place.  It was great.  It only suffered by comparison given my recent trip to Benu.

 

This picture is so dramatic in B&W

The menu was great.  Here are a couple of highlights.

 

Wagyu Beef seared on a hot rock

 

Akami Te; Big Eye Tuna, Watermelon, nam pla

After dinner we went to the Elephant Room to listen to a little Jazz.  Since our dinner reservation was at 9:15 we didn't arrive at the Elephant Room until 11:30.  We enjoyed a drink and the band started at midnight. Great  jazz band but by 12:30 this couple was ready for some sleep.  I can't upload video from my phone to the blog but here are a couple of photos.

 

The band jamming.

 

This trumpet is doing work.

Sweet horn music 

Kari and I slept in till around 8:00 AM or so. We were up and to the coffee shop by 8:40. Coffee for Kari some eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast and we were good to go.  Our morning entertainment was watching a couple get run inside the coffee shop by angry pigeons and crows who picked the toast out of their hands.

 

No birds are gonna make this girl eat inside

From the coffee shop we stopped and booked a bike tour around the lake and springs for 11 AM.  That gave us about 2 hours to explore South Congress street.  Lots of funky coffee shops, novelty shops, clothing stores and plenty of places to buy boots.

 

 This is rumored to be a famous mural in Austin.

 

Now it is!!

 

Not sure what the Austin Motel was trying to tell us.

We did stop at Allen's Boots.  Kari looked around but didn't buy any boots.  I sat quietly  enjoying the air conditioning and the smell of leather.

We arrived  at the bike shop just before 11.  Which was just an old shipping container with bikes around it.  The bike tour took us around Lady Bird Johnson Lake.  We learned some interesting tid bit about Austin.  For example the first train into Austin in the 1800s didn't make it to Austin it stopped 12 miles short of the station and couldn't get restarted.  Much of Austin history is shaped by either droughts or floods.

 

Isn't B&W so dramatic

 

The skyline of Austin from our bike ride.

We did see tha statue of Steve Ray Vaughn on our bike ride but our guides didn't stop.😢

 

Barton Springs in B&W

 

Barton Springs is a natural occurring spring that feeds this swimming hole.  Over the Springs there is a diving board.  To the right is an area for lap swimming, to the left of the Springs it get progressively more shallow so families can play in the water.  The natural Springs keep the temp around 71 degrees year round.  I took a couple of dives off the board.  It was the perfect medicine on a hot day.

Austin is weird, by the Springs we saw a large group of people playing Quiddich.  Yes, Quiddich, from Harry Potter, where wizards zip around on brooms and throw a ball through hoops.  In this versions 20 something's run around with a stick between their legs doing roughly the same thing.  The pictures don't do the madness justice.  I think I am a material witness in a nerd fight.

 

Quiddich?!?!?

 

No seriously, Quiddich.  How much weed do people smoke in Austin?

We returned safely with our bikes 

 

The remainder of the afternoon was spent on a walking  tour of Austin.

 

Kari was desperate to have her picture with Willie Nelson.

We walked over to the Rainey street district.  The Rainey street area consist of older homes which have been turned in to bars and restaurants.  Lots of people watching, we finally settled on Craft Pride.  We enjoyed a Craft Beer and a Detroit style pizza.  Brian Bosworth showed up to have a beer as we were leaving

 

Brian Bosworth likes this place.  So do we.

We headed back to the hotel for a little relaxation until our drinks and dinner starting at 7. 

 

Art house B&W of the old building which now serve booze on 6th St.

We passed Voodoo doughnuts on the way back so we stopped to see what all the hype was about.

 

VooDoo doughnut is keeping Austin weird

 

These doughnuts were rediculous.  I think I developed Type II diabetes about half way through the chocolate glazed.

 

Kari is asking me to back away from the VooDoo doughnuts.

We tried to go to the pool but it was literally shoulder to shoulder 20-40 year olds in the pool.  I can't handle that many people so we went to the bar for a refreshing ice cold beverage.

That evening we met Kari's cousin Kristina and her husband Andrei.  We enjoyed conversation and laughs. They shared a couple of spots to try on Sunday if we were up to it.

 Andrei,  Kari, Kristina  and me

After this we dined at the Odd Duck.  It was a great restaurant, shareable plates, locally sourced farm to table.  We say Tate Donovan there. He once played Rachel's boyfriend for 5 episodes on Friends.  After dinner we learned about the ride app Fasten and used that to get home.  By 11 PM it was time for bed.

Nobody seems to get up very early in Austin. At around 10 we rented bikes to ride to La Barbecue.  La Barbecue is suppose to have the best BBQ in Austin.  We figured we would get there at about 10:30, wait in line for a little bit enjoy some BBQ and then enjoy a bike ride around Austin.  When we got to the lot where the La Barbecue truck is parked there were at least 400 people in line.  They went through the parking lot, down the alley and up the side street.  The first guy in line told us he showed up at 8:30 AM.  Needless to say we passed on the La Barbecue.

Here is some of the crazy street art we saw riding to La Barbecue.

 

Even Austin misses Prince.

 

Austin Metal and Iron Co.

Kari and I headed up to the Capitol and then around the University of Texas on our bike. Nothing like a relaxing bike ride in 94 degree heat with 85 percent humidity.

 

On the bike bridge over Lady Bird Johnson lake.  Check out the graffiti behind us.  Keep Austin weird

 

Austin says "Howdy"

 

The state capitol. Can you find Kari in this picture.

 

This is Texas African History Memorial.  The detail is amazing.

 

This is just up the mall, the memorial for  the Confederate Dead. These two memorials are just a stone's throw apart.

 

Kari was ready to do some shooting Texas style.

 

Bell Tower at UT campus.

 

Another crazy mural over by UT.  Where is Kari?

Finally we headed back to the hotel.  We did stop on Congress for some BBQ at Cooper's.

 

Brisket, beef ribs and sausage.  All were great.

 

So much BBQ, so little time. #meatsweats.

After our afternoon BBQ we cleaned up and went to dinner at Justine's a house in East Austin where they serve French Food, spin vinyl records and have tattoos.  The atmosphere was great, classic eclectic Austin.

 

The bar at Justine's

 Duck Breast over a carrot and Rhubarb puree.  Fabulous 

 

Selfie in front of Justine's.  One of these two people chose to sit inside so the other didn't get blown away by the thunderstorm while we had our dinner.

It was 10 PM and our flight home was schedule for 6:45am. Good night, Austin.  You stay up too late for us.

Environmental Camp

From May 10-12, Katie and I went to Enviromental camp in southern Minnesota.  It is the annual trip for the 7th graders from St Huberts.  Apparently they were a little light on chaperones because they were willing to take me.  

Katie was OK with this idea as long as I didn't talk to anyone, ask questions or take too many pictures.  I was fortunate enough to have a surgery on the morning of the 10th so I missed the bus 😢 and had to drive myself to camp😎.  Nothing like your own music and the open road for 2 hours.  Camp was south of Rochester at the Eagle Bluff Enviromental Learning Center.  I arrived right before lunch and dropped my gear in the male chaperone's room where 6 of us would be bunking.

The meals at the center were quite good but the center really wants kids to think about consumption and waste.  The motto is "take what you eat and eat what you take."  St Huberts assigned 2 students at every meal to monitor and compound our food waste.  If you have zero you get points for a camp award.  St. Huberts hasn't had any food waste for like 5 years or more.  No pressure on the Anseth family to keep the streak alive.

In the afternoon, Katie's group explores pond life. In the rain we skimmed the water of the pond to look for various nymphs and water bugs.  Then we returned to view them under a microscope.  We discussed the roll of diversity and what the loss of sensitive organisms may mean for an ecosystem.

 

Katie comtemplating if this ecosystem is balanced.

 

"I see a water bug" or is that a piece of mud."

Katie was mortified when the enviromentalist running our session asked the parents a question and I answered it.  Her quote was something like "Why did you have to sound so smart when you answered that question."

We enjoyed a dinner with no food waste.  The Anseth family was stuck on KP duty after dinner so Katie, her friends, Kirk  and myself had to do all the dishes.  To be honest we killed it.  No one over the next 2 days did it as well or as fast.

After dinner we enjoyed a program by one of the naturalist on coyotes.  I thought it would be pretty short. Go ahead and shoot em, but It was more detailed and encouraged us to consider their position in the ecosystem and discussed the  history of the coyotes and importance in the Native American culture.  

 

So if you are reading this and you're one of my friends from MT or ND, go ahead and think about that and then probably still shoot em.

 

Amara and Olivia dominating at Kubb

#girlsrulerandomscandinavianyardgames

 

Olivia finishing the boys off.

After that it was night hike time or night game.  Being viewed as somewhat shaky on the supervision side I was stuck with night games which didn't require much effort so that was good.  After that it was time for a quick prayer and bed.

Friday morning was bird watching.  Pretty tough to see many birds with Katie and her crew.  Nobody would accuse those girls of sneaking up on anybody.  We looked for birds at the feeders, on the prairie, in the woods, at the bluff and at chickadee city. 

 

Birds at the feeder.  Apparently these birds are not terrified of loud noises.

 

Young ornithologists putting in work.

 

Everyone was looking at this one bird

 

On the bluff overlook.  Spotting turkey vultures and eagles.

 

Elise and Katie with some chickadee fees on their heads.  They were almost quite enough to have the birds come and eat.

Lunch was great and no food waste.  In the afternoon we took on the high ropes course.  No need for helmets, they are good catholic kids so The Holy Spirit is their helmet.

 

Safety briefing with Sara

 

Nellie!!!!!!

 

Elise zipping 

 

Katie gave my chaperoning 2 thumbs up

Katie hold on hold on

  

Megan, why are you scared of this zip line? Remember you went to the state fair with Katie Anseth and her dad (Who is awesome)

 

Scottie finishing off the zip.  What is the tensile strength of this cable?

After zip lining, it was dinner and  a program on raptors by our enviromentalist host.  That night the groups switched and some went night hiking while others did night games. Again, since my ability to supervise the youth is questionable, I worked the night games.

After night games we had a bonfire and snacks.  I love snacks.

 

This night game was called Nuke em.  It had no discernible rules.  It did seem to involve Katie yelling a lot.

 

The campfire and the crew

 

Katie and her friends breaking it down after a day of action.

One of the boys tried to tell a scary story.  It kept getting a little gorier.  Finally, he said "and then they saw the mom in a body bag!!!!"  At that point Mr. Ehalt  jumped up and was like "OK that is enough, how about some jokes or funny stories."  After the campfire, it was a prayer and bed.  It was a pretty great day to spend with your daughter and her friends.

Friday morning we finished breakfast with no food waste.  Yeah St. Huberts, Yeah Katie and Scott for keeping the streak alive.  After breakfast we did geocaching.  This involves running around camp with GPS units finding lock boxes to solve a puzzle.  It was an open channel.  Thank goodness nobody dropped any curse words over the channel.

 

Yeah we found this tree with our GPS systems and it had a letter in it.  I think Katie sabotaged my unit because the battery went dead right before the real contest started.

That is a wrap St Huberts.  No food waste and you picked up your rooms..  is it possible Ashley didn't go to this somehow.??

  

Great fun and great weather with this beast. Now let's get back home so we can use our cell phones.