Lost In Austin

Get it? Rhymes. Hey friends, it's my turn to put a few words down on the page and this time it's about a trip to Austin I took with the wife a couple of weeks ago. We have always wanted to go there, and thanks to Delta bumping us last fall we were able to fly their for free (not a cheap place to fly surprisingly). We rented a car when we landed, and much to the chagrin of the rental car guy who desperately (forcefully?) tried to upsell us on a new camaro ("a lot more power in this one") we drove out in our chevy cobalt with black leather interior. For the record black leather interior in Austin is closely ranked with other great ideas like a ski-mask in Ecuador and wool sweaters while visiting the sun. We stayed at the Hotel San Jose, a newly and nicely renovated 50's motel with a hip patio/bar area and a nice pool. However, prior to checking in we went straight from the airport to Iron Works BBQ. It came recommended to us, but I honestly found it dry and uninteresting. I went for brisket since Texas is beef country, Anne's BBQ beef sandwich was better, but mostly because the sauce masked the dryness of the meat. Full and undeterred, we checked and went straight to Barton Springs Pool. This place is pretty cool, and I'd recommend it to anyone heading to Austin though it's probably best enjoyed when it's really hot. This place is a giant (HUGE actually) natural spring swimming pool. The edge is cement and rectangle like a typical swimming pool, but the inside is all natural spring with a natural bottom (feels like walking in a river or lake...full of ice). There is a diving board on the side, and watching people go off that is occasionally impressive but mostly hilarious. Watching knees buckle as they are unable to withstand the recoil of the board is entertaining to say the least, and many backs and belly's were busted during our stay. Anne went off of the board twice, both times playing it safe with a standard dive. I finally jumped in after fearing that I might actually cook if I didn't go soon. The water was subzero, and even after 10 minutes I was nowhere near used to it. I clawed my way out of the water and lay in a fetal position on the hot cement as my bluish skin restored it's healthy paste tone. OK, maybe that was an exaggeration but the water was damn cold.
We headed back to the hotel afterward and hit up the pool area for some cold beers and michelata's (a sort of bloody mary-esque drink with beer as the main component instead of tomato and vodka). The water here was very toasty and felt great after the natural spring. We then hit up a shower and a quick nap before off to dinner. We ate a known tex-mex place called Chuy's. This meal more than made up for the subpar BBQ we had earlier. Excellent margaritas, chips, salsa, and the food in general was delicious. We lucked out on the wait, since only one table in the restaurant is for two people and we were the only party of two there, so while everyone else waited 45 minutes to sit we were sipping drinks and munching on chips and salsa at our table. After dinner it was back to the hotel to drop off the car and taxi over to the Broken Spoke. An Austin institution for honky tonk music and dancing. We paid $20 for a two step lesson and drank $5 pitchers of Lone Star beer all night. As for two stepping no one felt threatened by my dancing prowess but I wasn't the worst one there which was my goal. Also the women's bathroom was equipped with stalls that had American flag shower curtains for doors, and the men's room only had a trough urinal (god forbid you have to drop a deuce) which was inhabited by the largest cricket I've ever seen. If crickets fiddle their legs, this one could have sat in with the band. After a night of "two-stepping" and beers we decided we'd had enough for the day and headed back to the hotel. The cab ride home confirmed that the Austin cabbies have no idea where anything is and they don't know where they are going very slowly. Additionally, when I finally got my phone out to look at a map, they don't understand where you are telling them to go despite the fact that outwardly they appear to be fluent in english. I guess I'm used to cabbies here, but these guys were beyond imagination, and the subsequent one we took did nothing to dispel this notion. Upon arriving back at the hotel, we decided a bed time snack was in order and decided to head up to a pizza place we had heard was good earlier in the day. We asked a couple of people if the place was good on our way there and they said it's pretty good "unless you're from New York or something". It was actually pretty good, but I'm not sure they were exactly making authentic New York pizza. Admittedly, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to try to get that there. From then on we stuck with the food the locals are known for and had great meals.
The next morning we woke up late and had brunch at another tex-mex restaurant down the street from the hotel called Guero's. The food here was also amazing, tex-mex is absolutely the way to go down in Austin. With our belly's full we headed out for a drive around Austin, we saw the campus some different neighborhoods and basically just took in the city. It's really nice down there and aside from the heat, it doesn't feel like any place I've been in Texas before. We headed back to the hotel and spent a little more time out at the pool hanging out. Then showered and got ready to go out to a dive bar we'd read about called Ginny's Little Longhorn. The attraction on Sunday's at Ginny's is chicken shit bingo. Which is a little misleading in that it's not really bingo. They set up a huge board painted with squares, each square has a number painted in it. Over the top of the board is a small pen made of chicken wire. You buy a ticket for two dollars, and the lady that owns the place, Ginny, puts her chicken, Penny, in the pen. Whatever number it shits on is the winner, and the person with that ticket wins all of the money that was spent on tickets. It's really a hell of a lot of fun actually. They serve $2 bottles of Lone Star, free chili dogs, and a damn good band plays in the corner. It was an awesome day really, and I would highly recommend it. Ginny even let Anne hold the chicken. We headed back to the hotel again, and went out for some really nice oysters and other food a cool restaurant that I forgot the name of and called it a night again.
Finally, on our last day there we woke up and went for breakfast at Magnolia Cafe. This place had some really good traditional breakfast food, and massive portions. After breakfast, I picked up some vintage shirts that I found on a sale rack for $5 apiece, a steal. We then drove around Austin a little more and headed outside of town to a place called County Line BBQ. It was located down on the banks of a river and was in a really cool spot. However, again the food was not that great. So far I was disappointed in the quality of BBQ here. I know that Salt Lick is supposed to be the mecca of BBQ here, but it's pretty far out of town and for a short stay we didn't want to devote that much time to going out there. After lunch we drove off the highway and sat out by Lake Austin which was nice for bit, and then we headed back to check out and make our way back to the airport. Coincidentally the same day that President Obama was there. After checking in and going through security, we got to watch Airforce One take off, which was a lot like any other plane taking off however it is worth noting that it is massive plane. After that bit of interest had passed I was happy to see that Salt Lick has an outpost at the airport. I figured I might as well give it a try on my way home. I wasn't particularly hungry, but I'm so glad I did. The brisket sandwich I had was unreal. By far the best BBQ I had in Austin. I can only imagine that the actual restaurant puts the airport version to shame. I will not make the mistake of skipping that place the next time we go back, which we definitely intend on doing.