Tuesday, May 25, 2010

we lurve you austin (oh yes we dooo)

after an eight hour drive we finally spotted the austin city skyline. after a slighlty chaotic dance through some crazy traffic, we found ourselves in east austin. as we wove our way to the second flickr stop of the trip to erin's happy place, we were welcomed with a kaleidoscope of color. east austin is a lot like the small pockets of los angeles with its kooky colored houses and brightly painted buildings. i could feel at home here.

we pulled up to erin's happy house with its red dutch door and chatted away like old friends. she is as sweet as i imagined ans just as funny. once her guy came home we trekked on over to local favorite, the shuck shack where mr. a-go-go & i split a catfish poor boy and enjoyed the warm humid night and excellent company. the next morning we were up for a south congress adventure as erin planned to give us a tour of one of her favorite streets packed with color and fun. she had planned a meet up with another flickr friend (hi melinda!) who arrived with hugs and smiles as if we had always known each other. after some tasty breakfast tacos and crazy coffee concoctions at jo's we were on our way.south congress reminds me of melrose from its eighties heyday. quirky shops, lots of color and crowded with people enjoying the city. we sampled a piece of chocolate covered bacon, picked up postcards, took jumping photos and had yet another lovely meet up in between with dee & her daughter. we all had so much fun i imagined i could live in this artful city.after a filling lunch from chuy's our group got smaller and the rest of us went in search of a working photobooth. we never found one. after cramming ourselves into one at one off the amy's locations we planned our shots, stuffed our dollars in and got all cheek to cheek and fish faced but the strip never came out. we hopped in the car and drove to another amy's location and wedged into the much smaller booth there only to find it didn't even want eyes and fish faces anyway. we are nothing if not adaptable.after a few more stops to visit with melinda's brother & sister-in-law's soon-to-be-opened shop, we ended our day and relaxed into the evening sharing stories and going over the many, many photos i took. i am so very happy to have finally visited austin and to have met these wonderful women in real life. if only we had more time to really explore the city and see it's galleries and museums. we'll be back, we will. we'll be back to play ukes with erin, listen to ben's awesome record collection, thrift with melinda, cook with dee and of course visit the friendliest, if not craziest, whole foods i have ever encountered. austin, we quite liked you!

5 comments:

  1. ...and Austin LOVES you!! You always have a place to stay anytime you get a craving for breakfast tacos, Shuck Shack po' boys, ukulele jam sessions or local color. HAPPY TRAILS!!! xoxo

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  2. Austin is super cool but we didn't get sprayed with the "I'm moving to Austin!" spores.... at least not yet.

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  3. but we'll be back for a visit...maybe some fall coming soon!

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  4. jek -- invite the girls to SLO this fall. They are cute!

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  5. Just as long as you don't move there... the West Coast is missing you dearly. Be safe.

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