2009-06-12
keeping Austin weird
by kenny
I have wanted to go to Austin for some time now. Home of Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, and the late great Aramdillo World Headquarters, Austin is well known for it's music scene. But we didn't get to experience any of that. I'm pretty sure that you have to spend more than a day in the city in order to get the feel of the place and learn to love it. Someday I'd like to come back and give it all a fair shake.
We stayed at an RV park in south Austin for 2 nights. We kind of just crashed the first night, weary from the road and thankful for showers and air conditioning. The next morning we set out for Flip Happy Crepes, served up fresh out of an Avion-a silver aluminum travel trailer similar to an Airstream. We shared a chicken, mushroom, caramelized onion, and Gruyere cheese crepe followed by a lemon curd and blueberry crepe for dessert. Yum! Then we set out to find parking and explore the city. It's not usually easy for us to find parking in cities, and Austin was no exception. We heard a rumor that the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum has public parking, but when we arrived we were bombarded by signs warning us that parking was for museum guests only. So to the museum we went. And we were not disappointed. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum is the only free presidential museum in the country, and it is well-worth visiting. We were more than happy to hang out in the air conditioned museum during the hottest part of the day.
After hanging out with LBJ, we headed to 6th, and Red River streets to check out the scene (which wasn't that happening at 3:00 in the afternoon). We paid 3 bucks to walk through the Museum of the Weird (Shrunken Heads! Freaks of Nature! The Fiji Mermaid! Texas Bigfoot! Mummies! Giant Lizards! Unexplained Phenomena! The Supernatural!). Fun. From there it was on to the Museum of Ephemerata, which was closed for the month of June (boo!), and the Cathedral of Junk, which was open.
We topped off the day with a visit to the Mean Eyed Cat bar. If we lived in Austin, this would be our watering hole. The entire place is one, big tribute to the Man in Black, the beer is cheap, and the live music is good. The only down side is the lack of decent bar food (they were even out of chips and salsa).
After 2 bottles + 2 pitchers, it was time to go home. Actually it was the incoming storm that prompted our swift departure from Mean. The wind kicked up something awful, lightning struck, and the rain came. By the time we got back to the RV park, it was a monsoon. I was drenched to my underwear after less than a minute outside. It was glorious. Austin ended up getting something like 6 inches of rain in 45 minutes. What a great end to the day!
We stayed at an RV park in south Austin for 2 nights. We kind of just crashed the first night, weary from the road and thankful for showers and air conditioning. The next morning we set out for Flip Happy Crepes, served up fresh out of an Avion-a silver aluminum travel trailer similar to an Airstream. We shared a chicken, mushroom, caramelized onion, and Gruyere cheese crepe followed by a lemon curd and blueberry crepe for dessert. Yum! Then we set out to find parking and explore the city. It's not usually easy for us to find parking in cities, and Austin was no exception. We heard a rumor that the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum has public parking, but when we arrived we were bombarded by signs warning us that parking was for museum guests only. So to the museum we went. And we were not disappointed. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum is the only free presidential museum in the country, and it is well-worth visiting. We were more than happy to hang out in the air conditioned museum during the hottest part of the day.
A Brief History of LBJ as Told by Some Random Kid (1:36)
An Animatronic from the LBJ Museum (1:13)
An Animatronic from the LBJ Museum (1:13)
After hanging out with LBJ, we headed to 6th, and Red River streets to check out the scene (which wasn't that happening at 3:00 in the afternoon). We paid 3 bucks to walk through the Museum of the Weird (Shrunken Heads! Freaks of Nature! The Fiji Mermaid! Texas Bigfoot! Mummies! Giant Lizards! Unexplained Phenomena! The Supernatural!). Fun. From there it was on to the Museum of Ephemerata, which was closed for the month of June (boo!), and the Cathedral of Junk, which was open.
We topped off the day with a visit to the Mean Eyed Cat bar. If we lived in Austin, this would be our watering hole. The entire place is one, big tribute to the Man in Black, the beer is cheap, and the live music is good. The only down side is the lack of decent bar food (they were even out of chips and salsa).
After 2 bottles + 2 pitchers, it was time to go home. Actually it was the incoming storm that prompted our swift departure from Mean. The wind kicked up something awful, lightning struck, and the rain came. By the time we got back to the RV park, it was a monsoon. I was drenched to my underwear after less than a minute outside. It was glorious. Austin ended up getting something like 6 inches of rain in 45 minutes. What a great end to the day!
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