Travel with Terri
It’s Weird – It’s Austin!
By Terri Farris
Famous for its live music scene, Austin, Texas is the gateway to the Texas Hill Country and provides visitors with a unique travel experience. Where else can you find an abundance of live music, a bridge full of bats, a rich history in government, a top tier university with historical landmarks and some of the strangest shops around?
Let’s start with the music! Austin’s 6th Street downtown is the center of Austin’s vibrant music scene. Whatever your music preference, you are guaranteed to find it in one of Austin’s nearly 200 music venues ranging from bars, clubs and restaurants to performing arts centers. For my visit I ducked into Nunos on 6th Street. Anywhere else this dark bar with an eclectic mix of patrons would be considered a “dive,” but in Austin it comes alive with the Blues. You never know who may stop in for a jam session. Ain’t nothing like the Blues! www.nunosonsixth.com
Just outside the downtown area is South Congress Avenue. This funky section of town is home to the Continental Club. Touted as the “granddaddy of all local music venues,” the Continental Club has been the premier club for live music in Austin since 1957. In the 1960’s it became the first burlesque club in Austin with dancers like Candy Barr and Bubbles Cash dancing onstage! In the 1970’s the Continental Club booked an incredible lineup of musicians including Stevie Ray Vaughn. www.continentalclub.com
South Congress is also home to some of the funkiest shops you will find anywhere! Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds and Electric Ladyland (yes, that is the full name of the shop!) is rumored to be the place Bob Dylan has shopped for retro outfits. There are costume shops, retro clothing shops, retro furniture shops and just about anything weird you want to find. In fact, the local motto is “Keep Austin Weird” and South Congress Avenue certainly does its part!
If you happen to work up an appetite while shopping in the land of weirdness, Guero’s Taco Bar located at 1412 South Congress can take care of that hunger! Reminiscent of the old cantinas in Mexico, Guero’s serves delicious Tex Mex cuisine and offers hand-shaken margaritas made with fresh-squeezed lime juice. There’s nothing weird about that! www.guerostacobar.com
For late night eats, check out the Magnolia Café whose mottos is “Everybody knows- everybody goes!” Breakfast is served 24 hours or choose from a menu of soups, sandwiches, burgers and other entrees. Good food – available all day and night with a sign outside that reads “Sorry, we’re open.” www.themagnoliacafe.com
The “Keep Austin Weird” motto seems very appropriate when you consider that Austin is home to an estimated 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats. The bats quietly roost under the Congress Avenue Bridge over Lady Bird Lake from April through October. Thousands of locals and visitors flock to the bridge at sunset each day to watch the bats make their exodus into the nighttime sky! The bats consume an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects nightly saving Austin thousands of dollars in pest control!
The University of Texas also calls Austin home. Encompassing 350 acres in downtown Austin, UT boasts one of the country’s largest student populations and is consistently recognized as one of the nation’s top university. In 1966, the 307-foot clock tower on the campus of the University of Texas was the sight of a mass killing when Charles Joseph Whitman opened fire from the observation deck killing 14 people and injuring 32. It was the worst massacre at a university until the 2007 killing spree at Virginia Tech. Today access to the clock tower observation deck is under tight security. Visitors can arrange for a tour by contacting the Texas Union at 877-475-6633.
Austin is not only the live music capital, the capital of weird and the capital for the bats – it’s also the capital of Texas and no visit to
Austin would be complete without a tour of the Texas State Capital. This spectacular National Historic Landmark is made of Texas “Sunset Red” granite. At the time of its completion in 1888, it was considered to be the seventh largest building in the word. Today it stands 14 feet taller than the U.S. Capital. One of the most impressive features of the building is the magnificent dome at its center. Another impressive feature is the use of the Texas star! From the top of the dome to the door handles, to the flags and the chairs, the star is there to remind you that you are in Texas – just in case you forget! www.tspb.state.tx.us
For more information on the activities and sights of Austin – weird and not so weird – visit http://www.austintexas.org/
Terri is a freelance writer with regular columns on travel, chocolate and bar reviews. She is busy each month visiting new places to bring unique travel destinations and events to you. Yes, it is a sacrifice – but she is willing to do that for her readers! You can see more of Terri’s writing at www.examiner.com where she is the National Chocolate Examiner and at www.barzz.net. You can contact Terri at [email protected].