Texas, Part the First: Southeast Texas and Austin

Texas is too big.

As we passed through Texas, Joy told me that she hated Texas, but couldn't help but like their attitude about Texas being the Real 'Murrka, or being the only thing it needed, because Californians are the same way.

There were American flags everywhere - I mean everywhere - matched in ubiquity only by the Texas state flag, closely followed by Whataburgers and Sonics. This would be fine - I mean, hey, it's not like I didn't know what to expect; I've been to Texas twice before. But driving through is a wholly different experience than flying in and staying with friends for a few days. People were not quite as friendly as in the Deep South, but certainly still warm and nice. Southeast Texas was uneventful enough, aside from the sharp right turns you have to take to get off and back on the highway and the pervasive presence of pickup trucks and SUVs. No joke, for a long while it was like for every car you saw on the highway, there were easily nine truck-type vehicles. There were signs that actually said "Don't Mess with Texas." The scenery mostly unremarkable except for the big, big sky - which was really lovely, full of big clouds, puffy and in fun shapes. There seems to be truth to a lot of this hype.

Around Houston, we got a system warning from the car (it has a computer - fancy!). After a brief moment of real concern, we figured out (by consulting the manual) that the issue was a need for an oil change, and after a call to the rental car company and the help from a very cute guy in a nearby pickup, we changed the oil (five freakin' quarts) and rolled on. We got to Austin mid-evening, and there, the shiny bright best part of Texas revealed itself to us.

I have a friend in Austin, but unfortunately, due to the shortness of our stay and facebook fail, we weren't able to meet up with him - as it was, our visit felt sadly rushed. The people in Austin were very friendly - friendlier than elsewhere we'd been in Texas - and blessedly weird. Austin is a city with style, a little sass, and plenty of personality, and it was a pleasure to be there, even so briefly. We stayed at the Hotel San Jose, which is quite an impressive boutique hotel in South Austin, quite close to bars, shopping, and downtown. The room was a lovely little luxury, with minimalist decor (concrete floors, bamboo shades, just one poster of Jack Kerouac on the wall), high quality, hip accoutrement in the room (Dr. Bronner's peppermint liquid castille soap for body wash in the bathroom, as well as Havaiana chanclas/flip flops, a hemp robe, and delicious goodies like Haribo gummies, pistachios, high quality chocolate) you could buy, and lots of very private nooks and crannies that made you feel you were at some desert oasis resort rather than in the middle of a major city.

The first thing we did was go out for dinner at a nearby Mexican place called Guero. Now, technically, I've eaten Mexican food before. Or at least something very close to it. And my friends who have lived in California or Texas' grousing about the lack of Mexican food on the East Coast always made me roll my eyes a little (much as I imagine my expounding on the utter shitshow that is pizza or bagels outside of the New York metro area has made them roll theirs). But seriously - I had been aware of the existence of Mexican food, but I'd never had anything like this before. The beef was perfectly seasoned, the sauces clever and complex, the ingredients fresh and hand-prepared - what?

I need to get a mole while I'm out in this Southwestern land.

After dinner, we decided to take a little walk down South Congress Avenue. By the time we'd finished our meal, it was already late, and the shops already closed, but the character of the area was already apparent even when the lights were off. In our travels, we found this little cluster of Airstream RVs selling different types of foods, and we stopped at one with a big ole cupcake on top aptly named, "hey cupcake!"

Inside, we found a gorgeous, friendly girl named Jamie who was fun to chat with. Turns out, she's originally from a part of New York very close to where my parents live, a plus-size model, and pretty awesome. She gave us four cupcakes for the price of one, and was kind enough to let me take a couple of pictures of her.

We wound up at the hotel bar, which is this secluded, outdoor, beautiful little place with winding vines on trellises and tasty shandies and a super friendly staff. It's apparently a popular spot where people in Austin go for the hip-but-relaxed ambiance, and the people there were really friendly as well. (Though one dude came up to us all flashing his business card and telling us how he was the VP of some company or another and was this big deal and had just been to China and literally, seriously straight up told us that he went there with $13,000 and in fifteen minutes of conversation I think possibly asked one question about either of us. He paid for our drinks and wanted us to come downtown with him and his friends. We let him get our drinks, but declined his invitation.)

After a delicious night's sleep at the hotel, we wanted to have time to get something to eat, go shopping, and check out the springs in Austin before we rolled out that late afternoon/early evening. It was hot as hell, but we did all three of these - more great Mexican, fantastic little shops (vintage, antiques, novelties, art). The springs were nothing like I'd ever seen before - just this big, natural spring in the middle of a park in the middle of Austin with tons and tons of people just swimming around, laying out on the grass, treating it like the beach. We didn't go in for lack of time, but it was really pretty and neat to see.

I'm not sure if we could call it the highlight of our day, since it was a pretty good day, but one of the more exciting things about Austin was going to the Original Whole Foods Evarr. (This is not to take anything away from Austin, but rather to emphasize the awesomeness of this Whole Foods.) It was freaking huge - I mean H U G E. Clean and gorgeous and modern and friendly, tons of prepared foods and treats and eats - we stocked up for the rest of the trip there, which was a Good Plan. Candy and gas station snacks were starting to wear on me, at least.

Jesus, this is rambling. All of these things seem so trivial in writing them down, but the city was just so enjoyable. The vibe was hip, friendly, creative, and weird, the nighttime crowd was fun, and the city seemed to have tons of things to do, as well as tons of unique, interesting, and very lovely architecture and design. I could definitely see spending a good deal more time there - though next time, I'll definitely fly in.