One of my childhood friends, Derrick, is moving from Portland to Austin (a few months too late Derrick!) to take a new job. So in honor of him I decided to put together a post in honor of our last place of residence, along with some advice. To all our Austin friends, I've probably left something out, so feel free to leave comments and let me know what I've missed that Derrick should know.
The Austin skyline. Spend some time downtown and take in the music scene. 
Oh and the new "Keep Portland Weird" slogan? They stole it from Austin. Seriously. Austin had it first. And they both are weird places in many ways.
Derrick, you must go see the capital. Don't miss the Texas State History Museum either, and make sure to take a picture by the huge Texas star outside.
And "Remember (to go see) the Alamo" -Yeah it's in San Antonio and not Austin, but you've got to take a trip down there sometime. There's the Riverwalk, Sea World, and Six Flags down there too. And although I never made it to Schlitterbahn (halfway between Austin and SA in New Braunfels) - it's one of the best waterparks in the country.
Make sure and see some of the caves in the area.
And of course, you must eat lots of barbeque. From Rudy's...
...Or the Salt Lick - you can't really go wrong
All this being said, I'm still a proud Oregonian and only once did "Y'all" manage to slip out of my mouth. A quick language tip:Fixin' - verb. To do something. "Y'all fixin' to go to the movies (to eat dinner, to go to church etc)?"
Derrick, you can also enjoy being a bandwagon fan of the Texas Longhorns (don't worry, many Austinites are). Austin has a lot of neat restaurants like the Hula Hut, Iguana Grill, Alamo Drafthouse, Shady Grove, Chuys (I like the steak burrito with the boom-boom sauce), and many others, so you shouldn't go hungry. You can also enjoy Zilker Park, Barton Springs Pool, and Town Lake (aka Lake Austin, aka, the Lower Colorado River, aka Lake Travis depending on where you are in the city). (I love parenthetical comments).
I'm sure Derrick will have a good time in Austin. The people there are genuine and friendly from our experience and there are a lot of people around his (and our) age.
5 comments:
WOW! Sounds like we may have to take a trip there someday! There is tons to do! I must agree tho...I love Portland...my cuzns are there and my bro was born there..can't go wrong with Oregon. :-)
Nice summary of our amazing, wonderful city. He'll love it here. What's not to love.
Okay, I'll name a couple things since I brought it up. You'll most likely be freaked out by all the insects, bugs, spiders, creepy, crawly things when you first get here. You really get used to them after a while and they aren't that bad.
Plus it's kind of unpleasantly hot and humid in the summer months, but everyone has AC cranked up. You'll need a sweater or jacket for indoors.
Other than that, you will LOVE it here! We moved here from Colorado in 2000 and don't want to leave. At least I don't!
Thanks Tyler! And let me thank others for your comments. I hear nothing but nice things about Austin and I welcome it with open arms. Only two more days until I get there!
Tyler,
I am thinking of moving to Bismark, North Dakota. Could you put together a travel guide for me. I would love to know where i could get a good veggie burger. Derrick, if you read this. I remember you. Aren't you left handed?
Tyler I think that you hit on a lot of the really high points of Austin, but I too am going to add a few things that we like to do.
During the summer months there are tons, and I mean tons, of outdoor concerts and shows to go to and the majority of them are free.
Kelly was so right that the humidity can really get to you, but there are so many different places to cool off, lakes and rivers to go swimming and canoing, tubing, and boating. Plus because of the crazy summer heat almost all local/ city pools are free to the public. And if you are living in an apartment it is pretty much a guarantee that they have at least one pool. There is no better way to beat the heat.
And there are so many different places to eat I think that you could eat out three meals a day for years and never hit the same place twice. But Tyler was so right about the BBQ, you will love it.
Welcome to Austin.
Post a Comment