Austin Part II

After The Foals concert on Thursday night, we still had two full days left in the Austin.  I had to put in some hours for work and stopped into the BackOffice Associates to hang out with the team and get online.  The guys in the office pointed me to an awesome lunch spot in downtown that consisted of a collection of food trucks.  They highly recommended the Korean Mexican fusion truck called Chi'Lantro.  The kimchi tacos and kimchi fries were the best.

6th Street is hopping

I met up with Rameen, his girlfriend Katie and their Austin friend Christy that afternoon.  We all went out on 6th Street for some bar hopping but I couldn't tell you which ones we visited.  I would compare 6th Street to a mix between downtown Nashville and Bourbon Street in New Orleans (minus the open containers).  It has the country flare of Texas mixed with the concentration of bars and street closures to cars that you get in New Orleans.  6th Street is the center of South by Southwest and even though we were about a month late to see it.  Maybe next year.

On Saturday Rameen and Katie left to spend Easter with Katie's parents but Christy was cool enough to let me hang out for the rest of the weekend.  She brought me over to a friends' place and we hung out for a while, then took their boat out on Lake Austin (actually a reservoir created by a dammed section of the Colorado River).  One of the guys was Australian, so we had a lot to talk about.

Zappa wake surfing on Lake Austin

A few of the guys took turns wake surfing.  I had never seen it before, but they start out being pulled by the boat like a wake board.  Then they eventually let go of the rope because the forward force of the wake.  I never took a turn - growing up I never had any luck wake boarding, water skiing or anything else, plus I was having fun taking pictures with my new camera.

The guys were drinking a cocktail from a big thermos called Cariboo Lou that was pretty good.  I'll have to remember it whenever I'm looking for an easy drink to make.  They got the name and the ingredients from a TECH N9NE song, and I quote:

Half a bottle of 151
Off of the jug one cup of Malibu rum
Baby that's what's up
Then you fill the rest of the jug
With pineapple juice, and it's cracking

On Saturday night we hit 6th Street again and started out at a whiskey bar called Tenoak.  I noted this bar in particular because the bartender served me what might be my new favorite bourbon - Willett Reserve.  It's sippin' whiskey, not for mixing - just how I like it.  Thanks to Christy for putting me up an extra night in her house even though we just met!

On a side note, my friend Will got his undergrad degree at UT and made these recommendations.  I didn't get a chance to check any of them out, but will the next time I visit the city.  And there will be a next time.

Brunch/Breakfast tacos

• Juan in a Million - really cheap and really good, probably won’t leave hungry
• Maria’s Taco Express
• Torchy’s
• El Chilito

Lunch

• Texadelphia - great cheesesteaks, chips & queso, the one on the main drag is the original and the best
• Chuy’s - good Tex-Mex
• El Arroyo - good at Tex-Mex at the end of 6th Street
• Dirty Martin’s - good, greasy burger close to campus

Drinks

• Trudy’s - home of the Mexican martini (they’ll stop you after 2)
• Iron Cactus - good place to grab drinks and watch 6th Street from bird’s eye view

BBQ

• Franklin’s - someone told me that this place was really good, it started as a food truck and just opened a regular restaurant
• Stubb’s - food is ok, but usually have good live music
• County Line - all you can eat, not as far of a drive as the Salt Lick; probably 20 minutes from downtown
• Iron Works - good spot close to downtown

I'm on a boat, mate

It’s getting close to my first trip home and I’m starting to get excited about it. There’s enough going on here to keep my mind off of the trip for the most part, although I’m already lining up dinners and nights out with friends. I also found out that my friends Tim and Erin (not together-together... I don’t think???) are coming to visit in July. I am REALLY looking forward to hitting the Cross with Tim.

The Cali girls had a few visitors last week, Natalie’s twin sister Jennifer and Jenna’s best friend Alicia (gorgeous). Alicia knew a guy from Sydney named Simon that met up with us for dinner on Monday night. Simon studied abroad and became friends with her at Arizona State.  He was a really funny guy and we got on from the start. He had a really thick moustache (that he was very proud of) and a shaved head, which in itself is hilarious for a 23 year-old. He invited us out to his boat on Saturday night at the Royal Yacht Club in Point Piper, so we all planned to meet him there.  (Alicia and Simon on the boat pictured)

I didn’t really know what to expect when I showed up with 4 girls to a boat party. It ended up being Simon and 3 friends, sitting on his boat in the dock with the music cranked up. The boat was really nice - big enough to have a main deck with cabin below as well as the small second story steering area (sorry for butchering the naval lingo).  I still haven't figured out how he can afford it.  We all just sat on the docked boat and joked around. It was a bit cold, probably 60 degrees or so. When you walked out to the edge of the dock, it was really peaceful and quiet, which wasn’t the scene back at the boat.

It was the last night in Sydney for the Cali girls’ visitors, so they started to pair off with a few of the Aussie guys (to the amusement of the rest of us). We cranked the music up and that’s when it got interesting. A few of Simon’s friends showed up around 2 am absolutely hammered. Simon and a few of them stripped down to their boxers and started doing cannonballs into the water between the dock and boat – an area about 5 feet wide. I convinced the most smashed guy not to try to do a back flip in that confined space, but he still managed to cut up his arm jumping in or getting out.  Then they started trying to break dance on the dock which was hilarious. I took pictures with someone else’s camera, I’ll try to track them down and post.

By the end of the night ALL of the girls found an Aussie guy to make out with. I wasn’t looking to get lucky with anyone, but I knew that I would be catching a cab back to Coogee by myself.  I'm hoping to hang out with Simon and the guys because it would be good to get some Aussie guy friends - I have definitely been lacking in that department.