Awesome Austin (and Houston too)
Visited the state where everything’s bigger this past weekend: Texas.
First stop was Houston to visit my friend. We got some nightlife in and witnessed the weekly turtle races at Little Woodrow’s. It was quite the event with bleacher seats and lots of cheering. I’d think that some animal rights group would have shut this type of thing down in California… but not in Texas.
Enjoyed some morning pastries and then tex mex for lunch before driving a couple hours to Austin.
I’ve heard so many good things about the city from friends that my expectations were pretty high, and I think Austin met them.
It was reunion time as a bunch of buds from the Bay Area and elsewhere flew in as well. Airbnb was awesome for just this type of situation as we fit nine people reasonably comfortably into our place.
Friday night, we explored Dirty Sixth street and raged the night away. Cheap drinks and endless bars.
Saturday was a fun-filled day as well, starting off with some family style servings from one of the best barbeque places anywhere, Salt Lick BBQ. Texans do barbeque right:
Then we cooled off a bit in the afternoon at Barton Springs Pool. It was pretty unique as a dammed-off natural spring where we were swimming amongst wildlife like kelp and salamanders. The water was pretty chilly but refreshing. After, we ended up playing a little pickup football up on the grass field, which was really fun.
To cap the night, we grabbed some fancy sushi at Uchiko and roamed around Rainey Street, a strip of houses converted to bars. Definitely an interesting look and feel, good vibes, and food trucks.
Before leaving Sunday mid-afternoon, some of us went for a run along Town Lake and then back through Rainey Street and Sixth Street, the places we had been the nights before. It was a nice contrast to see how different things looked in the day time. It was my first long run since hurting my leg around three months ago, and running felt as good as always.
All in all, a great sunny weekend exploring a fantastic city.
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