Continued from here
…we also went to the seaside on the previous weekend…
Not at all “kiss me quick” hats and Brighton rock…but a wonderful little apartment (one of Home Away’s finest!) right down on the beach at Port Aransas on the Gulf of Mexico coast and no, it wasn’t a freebie!.
Sun, sea and relaxation. We British know how to do the Gulf of Mexico with our own little nuances…that cup of tea in a flask that Katie carried all the way down to the beach tasted devine following on from the cheese and Branston Pickle sandwhiches!
Matthew and Katie exerted themselves playing (and losing) their Frisbee and then wiled away the time flying the kite whilst I got sunburned doing absolutely nothing!
That evening we ate in a recommended restaurant and celebrated Matthew’s ’30 and 3 weeks’ birthday which was simply fabulous…in fact we ate out and about at so many different places during my stay and each one seemed to be a different theme. I feel as if I have eaten around the globe in the last 3 weeks….so much so that I too, now resemble a globe and the diet starts NOW!!. There’s a down side to everything I guess.
Of all the things that occurred during that weekend though the pelican has got to be an unexpected bonus….just as Matt said “I wish he would move, do something or take off so I could get a good shot” the bird lifted off from the very high post and flew towards Matt and his hastily lined up camera and divebombed me but Matt got the shot.
In fact we both got plenty of pictures and the pelican landed on the pier and waited for the fisherman to hand feed him some catch! A memorable day.
I’ve said all of the above without mentioning music! Well apart from Willie and the crazy rednecks. Can I say that in a blog? They are such HUGE fans.
So imagine if you will a whole selection of blues, jazz, pop, folk, country and western……. the list is endless and it’s all available most of the time. On my last night, Katie and Matt took me to the same Jazz club Kez and Dai visited and yes Kez, I did write on a dollar and it is now pinned to a post next to the bar. I saw the two supplied by Kez and Dai, so whoever goes next has to find them so you could be there for a while!
We had a Mexican Sunday brunch listening to Spanish guitars and you can find whatever you are looking for and more in Sixth street including apparently, half naked women dancing in windows and the bucking bronco challenge also available for all to view through the window of a bar.
I imagine it is a bit of a challenge after several pints of beer too. I didnt volunteer…either to try and stay on it or even to drink several pints of beer!
BUT ………. (and yes I do know a proper sentence can never start with the word ‘but’) one of the most magical scenes was simply arriving home one Tuesday evening after a lovely supper to find Matt and Katie’s neighbours (3 young lads) making up a musical trio consisting of double bass, banjo and guitar doing their own off the cuff session on the front porch of the condo and singing along.
It’s a Tuesday for crying out loud, it was 10.30 at night and there is this wonderful sound drifting along the street with the warmth of the evening and ….it just fine, chilled and dandy and nobody thinks to complain.
I loved it!!!
I cannot write an Austin blog without mentioning the river. It is the Colorado river which runs through the City and at one point it flows through Zilker park which is so much more than an expanse of greenery. By that I mean there is a cafe, a swimming pool built within the river….. no azure blue plastic linings here….you can fly kites, visit the botanical gardens, (Katie and I did and they are wonderful, well worth a visit and they even exhibit a dinosaur) you can play frisbee golf ….yep there are baskets hung in the trees to aim for and a complete course to follow…. a kid’s playground of course, with a wall of musical xylophone type things….and then there are the boats!
We took out a canoe for three hours and spent a magical afternoon paddling (okay, Katie and Matt did most of the work and I did most of the exclaiming and the photo taking) with another Katie style picnic and more tea!! The river is such a relaxing place to be if only because the residents use it all the time for their dog runs, jogging, cycling and walking. Young mums and dads run whilst pushing 3 wheeler buggies with babies on board as part of their training and I was privileged enough to spot a local man who is renowned for his transvestite tendencies……pedaling passed me, across the bridge, simply wearing a diamante thong.
Matt tells me he has never seen him but his name is Leslie! (edit Matt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Cochran)
We attended The Salt Lick – an out of town BBQ…………..Imagine wooden benches, a huge indoor fire with a couple of cows on it (Sorry Kez don’t look at the pics of this one!) all inside a huge a shack with a live musician…actually by Austin standards I am not sure if he was alive…….. let alone playing live as he was hardly audible but I imagine the atmosphere on some nights would be…it’s got to be said somewhere…awesome.
Katie uses this phrase a lot ….about lots of things but then again she’s almost a local by now.
Matthew obviously is as he made a faux pas at work the other day referring to himself and his team as ‘us Texans’ or some such thing!
I also cannot complete this without mentioning the “two steppin’” evening we went on with some friends of K&M. Many thanks to Chuck who bravely took me and Katie, for a twirl around the floor…..one at a time of course without either of us having the vaguest idea what we were supposed to be doing.
You were right Katie, we should have gone earlier in the evening for the lessons!! I assume you will be fully trained up by the time I return?! But the experience was wonderful….so many folk of so many different ages and all of them simply having the best time and loving to dance.
To be honest Austin is a lively, young, entertaining and very beautiful city so it would be hard to know why any young people wouldn’t fall in love with it and want to be part of it. It seems to me that Katie and Matt are under it’s spell and I for one don’t blame them. I doubt they will ever really feel away from home because once you’ve been out and visited them you will want to return.
If I have blabbed on for far too long maybe I should have said “An experience of food, music and exercise….it’s all there and all awesome!”……………. but you see it is SO much more than that!
