... and then the visitors came

Our first out-of-state visitors came for a visit last weekend in the form of Sheila and Don Zinn (Jon's mother and step-father). Neither of them had ever been to Texas, let alone Austin. That gave us a good excuse to take them to our favorite spots and check out some new ones. Here's a list of some of the things we did. While the list might suggest otherwise, we didn't spend the whole time eating:

• Breakfast from the Kolache Shoppe on Burnet Road, which makes a mean jalapeno sausage kolache.
• Climb the steps up to the top of Mount Bonnell, where there's a great view of the Colorado River and downtown.

Jon flanked by Zinns atop Mount Bonnell

• Tour the University of Texas campus, providing an excellent opportunity to load up on Longhorn's gear. Hook 'em!

Although you wouldn't guess, none of these people went to UT

• Take a quick tour of the Texas Capitol.

Would we have agreed to pose for this picture if we had seen who was above us first?

• Grab a burger at Hut's, an Austin institution. Anyone up for a Buddy Holly?
• Walk off some of lunch on East Sixth Street, stopping at Tears of Joy for some of the Hottest F---ing Nuts and hot sauce that's so dangerous, you need to add it to your food with a toothpick.
• Very nice dinner at the Eastside Cafe, followed by a walk through the on-site garden.
• A Saturday morning visit to the Austin Farmer's Market Downtown.

Musical entertainment at the farmer's market


Don talking to a fellow member of the "Class of '42"


Tamalady, a weekly balancing act at the farmer's market

• A stroll down South Congress for some window shopping and a stop in Allens Boots.

Funky car on South Congress

• Drive to Lockhart, Texas for some serious Texas barbecue at Kreuz Market.

Meat, glorious meat!

• Walking off another meal, this time along the river from Auditorium Shores through Zilker Park, to the Barton Springs pool.

Turtles on a branch, outlet of Barton Springs at Lake Austin

• Stopped in for a quick beer at Uncle Billy's. Mmmm, hefeweizen.
• Crawfish boil dinner at the Shoal Creek Saloon.

A couple of guys enjoying some crawfish

• A late night visit to Book People, Austin's best bookstore, and Central Market, Austin's best supermarket.
• A trip with Lester to Red Bud Isle, where he had the nerve to growl and snap at a 150 pound neopolitan mastiff.
• Lunch at Taquería Arandas. Muy delicioso.

Hard to believe that was only 3 days, and we still had time left over to watch UConn lose to San Diego in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Come visit us, and we'll keep you busy, too!

We're on to something

According to an Associated Press article, we aren't the only ones who came up with the idea to move to Texas recently. According to the article, "Census: Texas is the hot place to live," Austin was one of the top ten metro areas in terms of net gain in population from July 2006 to July 2007. It wasn't the only area in the state to post big gains either. Dallas-Fort Worth, at the top of the list, added more than 162,000 residents, while Houston and San Antonio also cracked the top 10. Other interesting facts from the article:

• Of the 50 fastest-growing metro areas, 27 were in the South and 20 were in the West. Two were in the Midwest, one — Fayetteville, Ark. — straddles the South and Midwest and none was in the Northeast.
• Detroit lost more than three times as many people as any other metro area — its population declined more than 27,300. Other areas losing more than 5,000 people were Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Ga., Youngstown, Ohio, and Buffalo, N.Y.

So maybe it isn't the most original idea, but if you suddenly decide to do what we did, we promise to show you around to all of the good restaurants!

Even my spirit hurts

Rachel's tour of Austin's yoga studios continues...
Yesterday I went to Seventh Street Yoga, the first downtown yoga studio in Austin. SSY gets high marks for looks - two airy studios with bamboo flooring, high ceilings, reedy walls and lots of windows. Not to mention the modern cubbies that I would put in my house. And in contrast to the previously visited Kula Yoga, it's not unnecessarily air-conditioned.

It's kind of high on the intimidation factor though. You walk into the requisite yoga boutique ($44 spandex tank top, anyone?) to hear the self-conscious chatter of young hardbodied yogis, and then into class you go. Granted, I subjected myself to the advanced level class (a reflection not of my ability, but my schedule), but it's been a while since I was in any class of any level with no greeting, no "listen to your body". Just three oms and a punishing series of sun salutations A & B to start things off. And you better know postures, because there's no coaching here. I suppose once you do get to that level, you dispense with the niceties. And judging by the studio's website and their Ashtanga focus, they really want you to progress through their classes before jumping headlong into the "spirit-lifting" freestyle vinyasa class taught by Mike.

This is Mike, in Vrischikasana, or scorpion pose.

So the upshot? Well, I bought the new student pass, and with additional classes at varying levels, I could practice a little self-ahimsa and try something else. Or not.

Oh, and by the way? Standing on your head for a while makes a person kinda dizzy.

Islands are Forever

While not officially part of SXSW, the Mess with Texas Party is in its second year of kicking a little butt. This free one day music festival is held in little ol’ Waterloo Park, near the Capitol. There were definitely more mohawks in one place there than I've seen since South Street in Philly. With a slate of bands ranging from the obscure (Moonrats?) to the nostalgic (the Breeders), we were there for a little of the sublime.

Islands in its original lineup was the project of former Unicorns bandmates Nicholas “Nick Diamond” Thornburg and Jaime “J’aime Tambeur” Thompson. Thompson’s since left, but Diamond Nick and the rest of the gang, including Alex Chow and Sebastian Chow (relation unclear - in some interviews Alex says they aren't related, yet other articles say they are the "magnificent Chow brothers" known to many as the 1993 and 1994 World Super NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) Fest champions) going all Arnold Poindexter on the strings, and a special appearance by Busdriver on a track from their first album. And we can't forget Patrice, who puts down his guitar every so often for a bass clarinet.

A Chow on the violin

They played a set of mostly new tunes to an enthusiastic yet respectful crowd (think about it - when's the last time you went to hear a band and you could actually HEAR the band rather than the twit on her yell phone behind you).

Nick, looking all Bowie and stuff

I admit, I planned my day around this 45 minute slice of joy, and I wasn't disappointed. Their new album drops on May 20th. Sure, ok, some of it is a little reminiscent of Queen. But it's good stuff. Go get it.

Grupo Fantasma - Mentiras (Live on Austin City Limits)

SXSW (without the wristband)

It's crowded in Austin this week, and not everybody's wearing boots and little straw cowboy hats. Skinny jeans, bad hairdos, lots of black. Must be South by Southwest week!

South by Southwest (SXSW) is a multimedia festival and conference comprised of three main parts:

• The SXSW Music and Media Conference, which "showcases hundreds of musical acts from around the globe on over eighty stages in downtown Austin," and features a massive trade show and panel discussions.
• The SXSW Interactive Festival "celebrates the creativity and passion behind the coolest new media technologies."
• The SXSW Film Festival and Conference "emphasizes all aspects of the art and business of independent filmmaking."

The music festival is the main attraction. Over 1,700 bands will be in Austin this week playing one or more gigs, from unknown acts to the buzziest new bands to the biggest names: R.E.M., Vampire Weekend, My Morning Jacket, Yo La Tengo, Van Morrison, Dizzee Rascal, The Breeders ... the whole list is here.

Problem for most folks is that you need a wristband to get into most of the shows, and they ain't cheap! Lucky for those who work during the week and don't have lots of dollars, there are also a few free events going on. Thursday night, for instance, there was a free concert at Auditorium Shores. It was a beautiful night. Grupo Fantasma, a latin band that is tight enough to convince Prince to fly them to Vegas once a week to back him in concert, played first. They had the crowd dancing and smiling. Switching things up next was Del the Funkee Homosapien, long time Bay Area rapper, who performed a lively set with A Plus (from Souls of Mischief) and a funny looking white DJ named Zach Hendrix. Finishing up the night was Austin favorite Spoon, who just cleaned up at the annual Austin Music Awards. Spoon was joined by the Fantasma horn section for some of their new, horn-inclusive songs, and really pleased the people as the show wound down in the dark. As usual, I toted my camera along. More free stuff today, so come back soon to catch my pictures from the Mess With Texas Party.

Rachel ready for free tunes

Jose Galeano and Adrian Quesada, Grupo Fantasma

Matthew “Sweet Lou” Holmes, Grupo Fantasma


Timbales!


Fantasma saxes: Gene and Josh

Del the Funkee Homosapien

Some bad hair

Zilker Park Kite Festival

Zilker Park is more than just the home of the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL), which is what brought us to Austin for the first time in 2005. Zilker has it all: the wonderful waters of Barton Springs (natural fresh water swimming pool), the massive soccer fields that are a leash-free zone for dogs, great botanical gardens, the Zilker Hillside Theater, a nine hole frisbee golf (or, um, "folf") course, the Zilker Zephyr miniature train, the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, a polo field and a nature center. It is also home to tons of annual and special events:

• The aforementioned ACL


• Annual Rugby Tournament


• Zilker Gardens Festival


• Ballet in the Park


• Blues on the Green


• Freedom Festival and Fireworks


• Zilker Park Fall Jazz Festival


• Zilker Park Tree Lighting and Trail of Lights


• Austin Shakespeare Festival


• Annual Summer Musical (broadway musical) in the park


• Barton Springs diving championship

And the Kite Festival. Rachel and I went to the Zilker Park Kite Festival a couple of weekends ago. The annual festival features a bunch of different kite-flying competitions, plus vendors, demonstrations on kite building and other kite-related stuff. We were expecting to see a hundred or so kites in the air. WRONG! It happened to be probably the windiest day since we moved here, which might have been why the crowd was so huge. There must have been 500 or so kites flying at any given time. Butterflies, boats, spaceships, dragons, boxes, Spiderman, Sponge Bob and a giant whale. Plus corndogs! It was a sight to see. I pity the fools who got too close to the trees along the perimeter, some of which gobbled up 20 or more kites. Here's the picture show:

The scene at the Kite Festival

Who wants a jumbo corn dog?

Pufferfish?

40 foot whale kite

Kites beware!

Back from Bonaire

In case you wondered why Rachel and I haven't posted in a while, it is mainly because we spent a week in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, hanging out with my family and enjoying a little sun and surf. Bonaire is one of the "ABC Islands," along with Aruba and Curacao. It is a small island of about 14,000 people, who are happy, laid-back and friendly. There aren't tons of tourist attractions, but it is a great place for scuba diving, windsurfing or kiteboarding. The main language isn't Dutch, English or even Spanish, but Papiamento -- so next time you're in the vicinity, don't forget to tell the people you run into "Bon Bini."





Rachel came down with a cold, so we didn't get to do everything we had wanted to, but we did enjoy seeing much of my family for the first time since we left CT. Despite the health setback, we did manage to tour the island, take lots of pictures, take a sunset sail on the Samur, have great family meals at Capriccio, Mona Lisa and Antriol, and feast on the 10+ pounds of Salt Lick barbecue we brought with us on the plane.

So now we're back, and the posts should be coming again.

Here are a few highlights from the trip.




Juliette (niece) enjoying some sand by the Sand Dollar resort


Beckett (nephew), Cameron (niece) and Jackson (nephew), along with Urs (owners' son), on the Samur


Myself and Chris (bro-in-law) getting ready for the Salt Lick meat-down


Urs climbing the Samur's rigging


Flamingo


Gabe (nephew), flashing some sweet bling


Tiny former slave huts


Iguana, surveying the sea by the Sand Dollar


Family shot, Samur