inaugural trip to austin: the highlights

i won't bore you all with every single detail (ok maybe i will) of our very first weekend trip to check out our new city, austin. i hope you enjoy the photos even though we have a regular old camera and not a fancypants DSLR.

food
apparently there's a huge food-out-of-a-trailer thing happening in austin. so fun. we didn't try any (yet) except for hey cupcake! in the trailer park on south congress. the line was redonk and the vanilla dream cupcake was quite good. i have to stay true to my nyc roots and still vote for magnolia and billy's, but hey cupcake! definitely gave them a run for the money.



shopping
there are so many boutiques and vintage shops and i barely even scratched the surface this past weekend. i did spend a few minutes in emeralds on n. lamar and picked up a boyfriend blazer (which i'm wearing today) for a mere $58, and i'll definitely be frequenting places like uncommon objects for one-of-a-kind home decor items.

parks
the outdoor culture in austin is pretty awesome, not to mention it was a steamy 80+ degrees (on average) while we were there. we went for a run on the river trails and there were loads and loads of people out running.


music
being that this past weekend was ACL, the live music options were endless. we were Losers with a capital L and didn't see any (unless you count having to navigate our way around the massive line outside stubbs for thievery corporation...we were on our way back to our hotel). we're saving it up for when we're legit austinites and not tourists.


apartments
we toured practically every single apartment building within a three mile radius of downtown austin. i think we found one! we're waiting to hear from the leasing company so it's not official yet. i'm still blown away that we can get twice the square footage, twice the bathrooms and twice the bedrooms in a brand new building with a balcony, parking and a pool for LESS than what we pay here in ny/nj. now all i need is a job so i can have fun furnishing it.



bats
who knew austin has the largest bat colony in north america? there are about 1.5 million bats that spend their summers in austin living under the congress avenue bridge. every night at sundown they come out all at once for their nightly feeding. it's pretty awesome to see.


fire ants
i have a WOUND on my foot from where i was attacked by fire ants while watching the bats. it hurt like a mo-fo and i am now so scarred i don't plan on ever sitting down in texas grass or walking through it with flip flops again. ever.

miscellaneous random things a non-resident would notice
1. the fire hydrants are painted silver.


2. all of their traffic lights are horizontal instead of vertical. i've seen horizontal ones before but usually at large intersections or on bridges or something. but every single one in austin is horizontal.


3. i found a moontower! "party at the moontower." - dazed and confused


4. practically every building has a sign on the door specifying that no firearms are permitted. this one was on the door of a residential building's leasing office. amazing.


5. there's a pizza place called hoboken pie that's jersey inspired. chuckle chuckle.