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| Austin pics - click here!! |
In the morning we drove into Austin and parked downtown. It was a little cloudy, but nothing too bad. We put some money into the meter and then walked over to the visitor’s center. We collected some brochures of things to do (and places to eat) in Austin, and then went to explore the little museum above the visitor’s center. It had a couple of interesting pieces and exhibits, but then we went around a corner and found little tiny cowboy outfits for kids to try on. We were super excited about this - I’ve mentioned our favorite things are the children’s sections of museums. We tried on the tiny vests and chaps and hats, and then climbed up on a saddle (again for children) and took pictures. We also swung imaginary lassos and did our best cowboy poses together with the auto timer. A volunteer walked by at one point and I blushed in embarrassment, but she just laughed and said it was fine. By this point we could see it was pouring outside, so we took our time taking pictures and posing as cowboys.
After we’d exhausted the possibilities of the cowboy costumes, we came to a “pioneer” room. We tried on straw hats and pretended to drink out of whiskey jugs, and then I read a sign that invited children to try on the pioneer clothes, and I realized that the big trunk in the room wasn’t just decoration, but must contain more props for us to goof around in! Sure enough, we found hats and aprons and shirts and transformed ourselves into proper pioneer gals. We tried again to use the auto timer on the camera, and took some fairly dopey pictures of ourselves pretending to have neighborly chats on our front porch.
When we left, it had all but stopped raining. (Don’t like the weather in Texas? Wait 5 minutes.) We had learned at the visitor’s center that the art museum is free on Thursdays, so we went over there next. We had to move our car to a garage, but the museum validated parking for $3, which seemed like a good deal. The lower level of the museum was dedicated to Buenos Aires art and culture. Many of the pieces were light and fun, full of bright colors and shapes, to try to put a happy spin on a confusing and changing time. One wall was dedicated to a timeline involving entertainers, politics, and culture and how they interact. Some pieces of it showed the entertainers that had died from AIDS and some of the laws that had been passed in the subsequent years. I found it extremely interesting.
The upper level was modern art, which I don’t usually like very much, but the art in this museum was very interesting and entertaining. There were big pieces that covered the floor or took up an entire room. One piece had parts in a frame and then parts on the floor as well, as if they’d fallen off the wall. Many pieces had commentary, which was why I liked them. I often feel that modern art without commentary is meaningless. Like a canvas painted blue. What are you supposed to get out of that? But if you’re told that the artist painted the canvas blue to protest this or that, then it has meaning. At least that’s my opinion.
Tricia wanted to check out a class next, so I went to the famous Dog and Duck Pub to pass some time. When I approached the bartender and asked if there were any specials, I learned that the pub only served beer and wine, so I asked her to give me directions to a bar where I could get a mixed drink. She sent me to The Texas Chile Place down the street. I had a drink and some yummy guacamole and read a book (it was 3 in the afternoon - the place was dead).
When Tricia finished at the school, we walked to one of the libraries in town. While she chatted up the librarian, I found an outlet strip and plugged in our phones and computers for a few minutes. Then we walked back to the school so she could sit in on another class, and I continued on to get the car. Just as I got their, Tricia called - the class had been cancelled. So, I picked her up and we set off in search of food.
Tricia was in the mood for ribs and had read about a place called Rudy’s. There we shared a plate of ribs that came with wheat bread and 2 sides - we chose mustard potato salad and spicy baked beans. The beans were so so spicy that I was in tears eating them and neither of us could finish our half. We got three ribs, and when Tricia tried to split the third one for us, she splashed spicy barbeque sauce in her eye and she died a little. She writhed around in agony for a bit. The ribs were rather fatty for a place that had been so highly recommended online. As we left and took pictures of the outside, we realized we had eaten at Ruby’s not Rudy’s. So we have no recommendation one way or the other on Rudy’s, but Ruby’s is probably skippable.
We decided to spend another hour at a different library to charge our various electronics and to email couch surfing hosts in New Orleans. Starting at about 8:40, the librarians began announcing that the library was closing at 9. As we were the only people in the library, this was completely for our benefit. After several announcements, one of the librarians came over to tell us in person that they were closing. It wasn’t quite 9, but we did get the message. The librarians came out right behind us - they wanted to go home!
We had seen an announcement in one of our many brochures from the morning for an improv/open mike night at a place called The New Movement Theater. We arrived a bit late, but thinking we were walking into a bar, we weren’t at all worried about it. When we walked in we were surprised to find a one-room theater lined with two rows of seats, already nearly full and with a performer on stage. We tried a bit sheepishly to climb quietly over people to the only two empty seats next to each other. The amateur performers were mildly funny - I think we laughed the loudest at the guy who pretended to be an elementary school teacher and that we were his class. He said there was a birthday in the class and then looked my way. “Happy birthday! What’s your name?” So I told him Kat. And he says, “Kat? No. Susan. Let’s sing happy birthday to Susan!” So everyone sang happy birthday to me, Susan. J And that was our first day in Austin.
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