Well, it was supposed to be. Due to flight problems with United (twice!) it took us 2 days to get home. So the actual itinerary for these pictures is:
Scheduled:
San Antonio – 1 day
Austin – 1 day
Unscheduled:
Austin – 1 more day
Chicago – 1 more night
Had a fantastic time. Star of Texas Inn in Austin is wonderful. They are so trusting and accommodating. The room is tiny, but unless you’re trying to do gymnastics it doesn’t need to be any bigger. It has everything you need: bed, tv, desk, claw foot bath tub, robes; cookies, DVDs, and earplugs downstairs. Austin Motel was an equally small room, less accommodating, but a pretty awesome place to shack for $69.
(In direct contrast, Chicago’s Hilton is huge, luxurious, expensive, and overcharges you for everything. Life skillfully handed me the contrast between the lifestyles of the rich and boring and the down home comforts of good people making do with what they have. Speaking of Chicago, did you see the latest mylow news? Joe Biden?)
South Congress is old school and still has loads of the Austin personality I missed. I lived in Austin for 5 years 5 years ago and honestly don’t recognize most of the place anymore. Traffic seems like a hell of a thing. Luckily we left the rental car at the Inn and walked Austin proper. Got some leg cramps and a farmer’s tan out of it. (He was nice enough to lend it to me.)
I went on this trip just tagging along with Mia who was going to San Antonio for a conference. We had planned to drive to Austin, I was going to reunite with my old town, and we’d fly back to VA from there.
So I didn’t plan any of this:
We just happened to be at San Antonio for Fiesta, a big celebration and parade.
We just happened to be in Austin for Eeyore’s Birthday, an annual festival where I bought a didgeridoo back in the day.
Disc golf wasn’t even on my radar when I lived in Austin; I learned that in Richmond. So I made sure to at least try it whilst there even though I embarrassed myself by accidentally picking up another dude’s disc thinking it was mine, finishing the hole, and then walked away with it until he came shouting after me. We played a few holes of disc golf (note to self: airport security does NOT appreciate disc golf) at Pease Park and then walking down Lamar we stumbled onto where they were setting up the festival. A tattooed fellow exiting the place and pushing his kid in a stroller shouted to us, “It’s all corporate! Eeyore is dead!” which was an awesome way to start.
There were beer taps everywhere, but I tend to forget that you can’t just stick a beer tap anywhere and have beer come out of it; we had to wait for them to unload and hook up the truckload of kegs. Sadly, I couldn’t join the rest of the stoners in dreaded bliss, but I hung around around the drum circle and inhaled as much as possible.
(Took a load of pictures with Mia’s high tech camera. I’ll find a place to post those pictures too – should be amazing stuff.)
Bras were thankfully shunned, but the number of bare, painted titties dancing in the drum circle has reduced from scads of em back in my day, sadly, to only 2 in present day. And those ones hung so low I couldn’t make out the nipple from the bottle and honestly didn’t want to.
They just happened to be playing the YES album Talk when setting up the stage for the band, and I stood there and shamefully had goosebumps listening to The Calling.
(I truly felt that was supposed to inspire me to do something, but if the universe wants to hit on me it needs to be VERY specific. I’m often clueless to flirtations; I really need to be told directly or with very pointy gestures.)
At Book People, I just happened to see the ex-gf I was with for 5 years that brought me to Austin in the first place. (I didn’t see anyone else I recognized at all the entire vacation.) A guy just happened to be setting up Tarot readings by the eastern philosophy section where Mia was reading. Mia and I both had our first Tarot readings at book people. We both just happened to get The Hanged Man which is a card I resonate with highly.
My hanged man was in the present position, which he said meant that I am unsure of what to do, but was well aware of my stasis and indecision. (true)
I just happened to have my last/centerpiece card be blank ~ he said this is a holdover from the blank Nordic rune tile.
The world is my oyster and I am nothing but untapped potential.
One of the final cards in my layout just happened to be Justice and man, do I want Justice for this world. I always have.
I truly hope this is something I am destined to see and will try to help bring about somehow.
It can’t be found in a legal system, that’s for sure.
We just happened to walk back from Magnolia Cafe (Migas!) in time to see the bats fly out of the Congress Street bridge.
We went to one of my old hang-outs on 4th street, Fadó Irish Pub and this guy and a woman walk in and sit at the table behind Mia and I. For some reason I take note of this and looked at them several times. Then we went to the new Ginger Man (when I went there it was in a different building back in the day) and the place was totally empty! We sat on the back patio and had some nosh and pints and then the same guy and his girlfriend just happened to come and sit in the empty patio as well.
They recognized us from Fadó and told us they had stopped there waiting for Ginger Man to open. I made a joke that we would see them at the airport next and they asked where we were from. Richmond, Virginia. It turns out the guy used to live in Virginia doing counter-intelligence work. They tried to talk us into moving to Austin; told us that the real estate was cheaper, etc. (Maybe he was a plant! I felt like several things were trying to get me to move back. Was that the message or was it showing me the present in the light of my past?)
As we were leaving Ginger Man Mia went off to pee and I told the bartender the story that had just taken place outside.
He said, “Counter-Intelligence, what is he a school teacher?” which I thought was so awesome I wrote it on the darts chalkboard to preserve it for prosperity.
(Other quote of the day was miss Mia, when the San Antonio hotel concierge asked her something about her husband and then apologized and asked if I was actually her husband. “He’s not my husband,” she said, “but he’s worthy of the title.” Ooh, see! I said I need to be told things directly.)
We just happened to be caught in the first major rainstorm Austin has had in a year on the day we were to leave.
We sat at Jo’s Coffee Pit in open air with a roof over our heads and rain coming down hard all around us and drank Tecates with lime and Mia read and I surfed Blackberry style and watched the soaked passers by till it was time to get the cab to the airport.
Hate to use this terminology, but I do feel blessed.
Hard to believe there were times I didn’t want to live anymore.
So glad I stuck around.
So, here you go. Have some pics.
It’s always an adventure when you let things just happen.
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies!!