So my long awaited trip to Austin just came and passed - and it was everything that everyone said it would be.
Nebraska and I have been planning this trip since last year to see if it would be a place we would possibly want to set up home at. It finally came together the day after my zine fest here in Brooklyn.
When we first stepped out into Austin it was so beautiful, sunny, just the right amount of warmth and wind to keep you from sweating balls and reminded me a bit of my childhood growing up. There was a lot of the beach city vibe going on in austin - tons of great local art adorning all of the local businesses, and the people were so friendly.
We had a lot of occurrences where we were so surprised how friendly the people were here - one lady at a thrift store I slipped into loved my hair so much that it caused her to reach out and grab it for whatever reason. Lots of random people greeted us on the street [people our age - which is generally unheard of] to say "hello" or tell me they liked my outfit. We did get the toothless man trying to score some donuts when we accidentally pulled out the iphone to figure out a location once. Everyone was also incredibly active there - people were running and doing some form of exercise most of the day - when we went to the local spring there were people doing laps - lots of cyclists and bike lanes to accommodate them. It took us about 10 minutes to get to wherever we wanted to go in the city - and was relatively simple to figure out all of the different highways and downtown roads. There were little stores and things to see around every corner - it was a very interesting city to just walk around in.
Of course the food was great - we sampled tons of different places, of course mexican - but we found a little secluded macrobiotic place that had a cafeteria style setup, had poutine and brews @ Frank, sampled one of the many food trucks that boasted takoyaki! A plus from New York was all of the places took cards - I am used to having to check beforehand to make sure if they do or not - or if there is a limit - I never realized how stressful it was - especially since it is a hassle to have to find your bank some where.
The house we stayed at was lovely, with tons of light and a lovely waterfall shower, the neighborhoods were quite varied from old to modern houses, and looked very quaint and welcoming.
We discovered a really fun japanese arcade which had a DDR machine and some other games I had never heard of but were fun - and hit up a local bookstore [Domy Books] that had a large selection of zines which I was super excited about. There seemed to be a lot of events going on during the end of the week [we were only there for monday and tuesday] and every food franchise you could ask for. (which we did partake in a late night run to Sonics Drive-In)
Overall it was wonderful - and admittedly I was kind of depressed to come back to New York - everything just seemed so shiny and new and full of adventure there (I forgot to mention we went exploring a bit in the woods near the local spring - which I haven't done in years - it was a treat to be able to do that on a whim) . That and of course I missed Nebraska. It was our first vacation together and besides me finding out that I can't stand his driving (sorry boo!) he was the best companion! We had lots of long talks and got really silly as well - he got me the Sailormoon T when I freaked out about finding it, and a sweet Donut Zine I found as well. We made more plans for the future and I'm pretty sure he loved it as much as I did.
We don't know exactly when we will be able to move there - we have to get a lot money stuff in order and do a bit more planning before it happens - but hopefully before having to endure another winter in brooklyn or nebraska.
Now enough of that boring stuff - onto the pictures!
These are all from our Instagram(s) : Jemibook : is mine, and : marcustegtmeier : is his!
We also had our own disposable camera's that we took lots of pictures with as well - so it will be fun to see what develops from those - I'll be sure to post them as well!
Talk to you later!
