Keep Austin Weird...

... is the offical slogo for Austin, TX and I have to say they do a pretty good job of keeping it very different from a typical Texas city.  We spent 3 nights there this week (I had a marketing conference and Matt and Claire came with me) and we got a small glimpse at Austin living. It was hot and humid - I missed the desert.

Austin is the fourth largest city in Texas behind Houston, Dallas and San Antonio and it's definitely the most liberal. We never expected to see quite as many Vote Obama bumper stickers in Texas. I guess it's kind of like the Salt Lake for Utah - if you aren't conservative but you want to stay in the state, you move there.

The marketing conference was good, the food in Austin was better. We had some great Tex-Mex and BBQ - I think I researched places to eat more than any other attraction. My favorite were the migas breakfast tacos at Maria's Taco Express - it's eggs, cheese, onions, peppers and broken up tortilla chips in a flour tortilla. Both Rachael Ray and Diners Drive-Ins and Dives had gone there and it was a cool, funky place with great prices. Highly recommend it. We also went to a really cool place called The Oasis - a huge restaraunt that sits above Lake Austin and has something like six levels of outdoor seating so you can view a great sunset over the lake while you eat.



While I went to the conference during the day, Matt and Claire made good use of the hotel pool and went exploring to the state capital building, searched for parks, and spent the aftenroon at a local children's museum.


If we ever go back, I hope we get to hear more of the live music that the city is famous for - bringing a toddler into one of the many bars on Sixth Street wasn't really an option, but we did walk through the area to check out the local scene. We also got to spend some time with my cousin Shelai and her family, which was too short but very sweet. We are so happy they drove to meet us from Dallas!