Deep in the Heart of Texas

(They're Texas-size pictures!)




























On our way to Austin, we stopped for a short time at driving range in Houston, TX. And, after just a few minutes in the "armpit" of Texas, we drove on to get to the much nicer Austin.

In Austin we stayed with Alicia and Rachel (Thanks girls!), our friends from Tufts. That first night, we had our official introduction to delicious Tex Mex-- melted Queso dip and stuffed avocados at El Arroyo were my favorite. And, of course a round of watermelon margaritas...

Alicia was an incredible tour guide and even wrote out a full list of everything we needed to do in Austin before we left including grabbing an Iced Turbo from Jo's coffee for breakfast and a slice from Home Slice, the best pizza place in town, for lunch. Alicia and Rachel's apartment was in an ideal location on South Congress St., an awesome street full of way too many Vintage stores and some nice cafes south of downtown. Austinites are way hipper than the rest of Texans and Congress st. is where the hipsters gather. (Greg is rolling his eyes right now).

On our second day, we did the tourist thing and visited some of the monuments. We first visited the Capitol building. We learned about the six flags of Texas (fyi: Republic of Texas, US, France, Spain, Mexico, and the Confederacy). We learned about the Texas revolution, the fact that the dome of the Capitol is higher than the dome of the US Capitol ("everything is bigger in Texas"), yaddah yaddah yaddah. Our tour guide, though, was a tiny blond girl from Moscow, complete with a very strong Russian accent and a struggling grasp of the English language. The effect was odd, but entertaining.

After the Capitol we went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. It was very well laid out, but tended to skip over some of the less proud moments of the state's history. Our favorite part was the plaque that explained how, while Texas (or Tejas) still belonged to Mexico, more and more US Southerners started immigrating in. As a result, a Mexican Government official observed that the culture of Texas was shifting from hispanic to anglo. Eventually, that observation led to a new law forbidding new immigrants from the US. Stop me if this sounds familiar. We then watched a Texas-themed IMAX movie which was essentially an hour long advertisement of the state, with no important information. Oh, then again we did learn that the corn dog (or "corny dog") was invented at the Texas State fair. I stand corrected.

Twice during our stay in Austin, we ate at Torchy's Tacos, which is just a trailer on the side of the road, but which blows the competition away. Never have I had a taco which comes even close to being as good. Different ballpark ... different league. Some of the tacos we tried had eggs, fried avocado, fried poblano peppers (yum!), bbq pork, fried chicken, feta cheese with carnitas.

Saturday night, we went out to 6th St., which is basically a big Frat party on the street. Hoards of college age kids stumble down the street from bar to bar, most of which have outdoor patios. We had a great time hanging out with Alicia and Hexar over a few drinks and checking out the scene.

On our third day, we went with Alicia and a few of her friends to San Antonio for the day, as the yearly Fiesta festival was going on. We visited the Alamo, checked out all the food stands (amazing), listened to some live music, walked down the riverwalk, and played a crap load of word games (I love word games ... 1 guess for who is writing this paragraph). Finally, we discovered that San Antonio bars make the weakest drinks in the country. That's right ... I'm calling you out.

On our forth day, we went on a winery tour with Alicia and her BF Hexar. One highlight was the crazy guy at the Fredericksburg Winery (he showed us his favorite book, "What Texans should know about the other 49 states", in which every page was empty). Texans sure love their sweet wine. I was especially surprised to try several different types of sweet red wine-- who has ever heard of sweet Merlot? Also, to our surprise, I asked how one winery makes their sweet red wine and they said they "just add sugar".

After a full day of wine tasting, we headed to Cooper's BBQ in Llano, TX, an awesome place where you pick pick out your meat at the pit before entering the restaurant. We stuffed ourselves with incredible beef brisket and pork ribs dipped in thin, vinegary BBQ sauce. Just check out the picture! (coming soon)