We left Marfa after lunch and drove seven hours east to Austin. This drove took us from the desert of West Texas to the hill country of central Texas. Caylan was surprised that Texas had trees. We drove through the heavily German town of Fredericksburg. It was hard to not stop at one of the variuos farm stands selling peach ice cream.
We arrived in Austin around 7 pm. We walked Jane along a dirt path that follows a river through the city. The weather was warm and there were hundreds of Austinites/Austinians outside running, rowing, walking, and swimming.
We stayed with a college friend of mine, Kathryn. She lives in a beautiful townhome near downtown. Her husband was out of town so we parked in a garage. LUXURY. On the way into Austin, I texted that we would like to eat Indian, barbecue, or at a gastropub (that means a bar with notably better food than "bar" food). Kathryn knows good food, but wasn't keen on Indian, so she only responded with bbq and gastropub options. Caylan and I looked at the menus online and chose the Salty Sow, a new gastropub in East Austin. The restaurant boasts that it uses "local and sustainable ingredients in a modern farmhouse atmosphere" (and Caylan rolls his eyes because this is very trendy). I spent the next 3 hours mastering my pronunciation of "sow." HOW! not sew/so.
We arrived at Kathryn's and jumped in the car to make our reservation time. Jane stayed back at the house (in the car, in the garage with the windows cracked) and Kathryn gave us a drive-by tour of the city. We liked Austin. Once at the Salty Sow, we ordered margaritas. I had a blood orange rita and Caylan chose one with cilantro and serrano peppers frozen in ice. We then chose a variety of tapas (small plates) to share family style - triple fried duck fries, brussel sprouts (my favorite), arugula salad, and crisp chicken thighs. The weather was balmy and we comfortably enjoyed what was likely our last outdoor dinner of 2012. Somehow we avoided the weirdo Austin Halloween crowd.
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We had a lot of fun catching up with Kathryn. Several times we lamented that Lauren wasn't there with us! Kathryn did a killer job talking us into returning next year for ACL (Austin City Limits), a big music festival in Austin. Fingers crossed.
Kathryn, like most normal people, had to work the next day. We, on the other hand, enjoyed a casual morning. We ran and went to Mozart, a charming coffee and pastry shop situated on Lake Austin.
Next stop: Waco!
We arrived in Austin around 7 pm. We walked Jane along a dirt path that follows a river through the city. The weather was warm and there were hundreds of Austinites/Austinians outside running, rowing, walking, and swimming.
We stayed with a college friend of mine, Kathryn. She lives in a beautiful townhome near downtown. Her husband was out of town so we parked in a garage. LUXURY. On the way into Austin, I texted that we would like to eat Indian, barbecue, or at a gastropub (that means a bar with notably better food than "bar" food). Kathryn knows good food, but wasn't keen on Indian, so she only responded with bbq and gastropub options. Caylan and I looked at the menus online and chose the Salty Sow, a new gastropub in East Austin. The restaurant boasts that it uses "local and sustainable ingredients in a modern farmhouse atmosphere" (and Caylan rolls his eyes because this is very trendy). I spent the next 3 hours mastering my pronunciation of "sow." HOW! not sew/so.
We arrived at Kathryn's and jumped in the car to make our reservation time. Jane stayed back at the house (in the car, in the garage with the windows cracked) and Kathryn gave us a drive-by tour of the city. We liked Austin. Once at the Salty Sow, we ordered margaritas. I had a blood orange rita and Caylan chose one with cilantro and serrano peppers frozen in ice. We then chose a variety of tapas (small plates) to share family style - triple fried duck fries, brussel sprouts (my favorite), arugula salad, and crisp chicken thighs. The weather was balmy and we comfortably enjoyed what was likely our last outdoor dinner of 2012. Somehow we avoided the weirdo Austin Halloween crowd.
.jpg)
We had a lot of fun catching up with Kathryn. Several times we lamented that Lauren wasn't there with us! Kathryn did a killer job talking us into returning next year for ACL (Austin City Limits), a big music festival in Austin. Fingers crossed.
Kathryn, like most normal people, had to work the next day. We, on the other hand, enjoyed a casual morning. We ran and went to Mozart, a charming coffee and pastry shop situated on Lake Austin.
Next stop: Waco!
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