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Keep Austin Weird is the slogan and the locals that feel that way are clearly in for a challenge. The slogan was created to remind people to support local businesses and protect Austin’s heritage. Austin faces the same changes as other cities across the U.S.: big box stores, strip malls and chain restaurants that slowly erode the customer base of the small, independent, or family owned establishments. From our vantage point on Barton Springs Road, just south of downtown near the shores of Town Lake, Austin is healthily weird.

We stayed at Pecan Grove RV Park about a quarter mile from the 400-acre Zilker Park. Our arrival was somewhat delayed by a huge traffic jam caused by the flow of people attending the International Kite Festival at Zilker. Our RV park is aptly named, the tall trees all around us were pecans. Some of them were just starting to leaf out.

Spring was definitely in the air; the temperatures were warm, trees and flowers were blooming, birds were busy finding (and protecting) mates, some had already entered the nest building stage. High above us at a small crook in a pecan a pair of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were arranging small sticks. I discovered them because I was pondering the large amount of sticks on the ground near our RV. Looking up I realized that either they were the worst nest builders ever or that perhaps this was their first nest. After a few days, they finally crisscrossed a few sticks that didn’t fall. Yeah!

Austin was chosen as the site for the state capital by the first President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar in 1839. At that time it was a small community on the banks of the Colorado River known as Waterloo. It was renamed in honor of Stephen Fuller Austin who is known as the “Father of Texas.” Of course, there were people already living in the area long before the Spanish, Mexicans, and Anglos moved in. The Tonkawa, Lipan Apaches, and the Comanches all called the fertile rolling hills of central Texas home.

In typical Texan style they aimed big for the capital. The Capitol building was modeled on the U.S. Capitol but it was built of the bright Sunset Red Granite quarried nearby and it is larger and taller then its prototype. It is still the tallest Capitol building in the U.S. As they say, everything’s bigger in Texas!

Austin is only 541 feet above sea level, and was prone to flooding until the city hit upon the idea of damming the Colorado River which would provide hydro-electric power and prevent flooding. Now there are three artificial lakes in the city of Austin: Town Lake, Lake Austin, and Lake Walter E. Long.

The best part about these lakes are the hiking and biking paths along them. From our RV park we wandered along the path and watched birds feeding (Snowy Egrets, Gadwalls, Mute Swans, American Coots, and Lesser Scaups), turtles sunning (Red-eared Sliders and Texas Spiny Softshells), squirrels scampering, crew teams rowing, and people jogging, running, walking, and bike riding. Of course we kept an eye out for Lance Armstrong, who lives in the area, but no such luck.

Many of the people we watched commuted to their jobs downtown using those paths. Lance (my Lance, not that other guy) used them to get to his conference, SXSW. SXSW was the main reason we were in Austin; Lance has attended the past several years. Although it is such a neat city we would’ve visited there anyway. The conference is ten days of mayhem. There are three parts to it; Interactive (web and computer related), Film (mostly indies), and Music (of every genre). Obviously Lance is there for the web part.

This year was nice because instead of leaving right after Interactive we were able to stay for the whole thing. As an added bonus, my good friend Lisa flew down from Portland for the final weekend of SXSW. We had a great time sightseeing both in Austin and San Antonio. Lance and I were able to play tour guide since we’d already scouted the area.

Austin bills itself as the “Live Music Capital of the World” because it has more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city. On a normal night there are over 100 bands playing in the city. During SXSW though, nothing is normal. Almost every band in America wants to play at SXSW because there is the chance of being discovered and signed by a label. Clearly the music industry is undergoing rapid change with music sharing and new means of dispersion but SXSW is still huge.

Every day starting at about 10am venues throw open their doors to bands and listeners. Some venues charge a cover, some venues require a wrist band or badge, and others are free. Every building with a patio, lawn, stage, or chairs is transformed into a concert venue. Walking down 6th Street is disorienting because so much music streams into the street; music of every type, some of it good, some of it not so good, and all of it loud.

This year’s famous musicians were: Pete Townshend, David Byrne, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, to name a few. We didn’t see any of the big names but we did get a chance to see one of our favorite Austin bands, the Asylum Street Spankers. Wammo, one of the Spankers, told us that their name came from Asylum Street in Austin (now named Guadalupe) and the term describing musicians who played their instruments hard, spankers. Of course, as is evident in their music they enjoy the double-entendre there, too.

We caught the Spankers at a venue on SoCo (as South Congress is known by cool people) which is where we spent most of our time. We had heard that the Continental Club was the place to go to listen to live music (its been around since 1957), so we went. Good thing because we fell in love with a new band, the Mother Truckers. Sassy, smart lyrics, excellent guitar work and four people who know how to have fun = recipe for success. Not only is SoCo famous for keeping the weird in Austin but they are “batty”, too.

Reconstruction of the Congress Street bridge in 1980 had some unintended consequences, 1.5 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats! The expansion crevices under the bridge soon became home to a large bat colony. The bats migrate to Mexico (hence the name) in the winter but most are back in Austin by late February. Every evening around dusk the bats emerge to fly the night air in search of insects. As you can imagine, with all that slow moving water in the center of the city, there are plenty of insects to eat. It is estimated that the colony eats over 10,000 pounds of insects a night! In recognition of their hard work, the city has set aside sections of the bridge as a protected bat area and there are designated bat watching areas.

Austin is not only for revelers, weirdos, and politicians (reminds me of that Mark Twain quote: “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.”). Austin is the also the home of higher learning with the 50,000 student University of Texas. Known as the Longhorns, their sprawling campus is north of the Capitol and is home to the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum.

At Lyndon’s insistence, the Library is free, it is the only one of the 11 Presidential Libraries that doesn’t charge a fee. The archives of the library are vast, over 45 million pages of documents that take up five of the building’s eight floors. I spent an afternoon wandering the museum and I was truly impressed. The Museum chronicled the seven decades of his life, highlighting key American events and, of course, focusing on his years in the Oval Office.

A native Texan, Lyndon married Lady Bird Taylor (also a native Texan) and he had a long and varied political career. Yet he is probably best remembered as the man who became President on 11/22/1963, hours after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Or perhaps, as the President who increased the number of U.S. forces in Vietnam. Previously, I did not associate his Presidency with the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Great Society legislation that created the Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, and Job Corps programs. Always something new to learn!

Of course we had to eat and Austin has plenty of fantastic choices. We walked over to Chuy’s (just down the street) for happy hour a couple nights, then there were a couple fine meals at Güero’s (try the Migas) and for BBQ we drove out to the Salt Lick. It’s about half an hour out of town but its worth the drive.
The road winds through some beautiful rolling hill country so if you can go before dark the view is great. If you like to wash down yummy brisket with a Shiner, you have to take your own because the Salt Lick is located in a dry county (they still have those?!). And you might have to wait, the place gets jammed but they have live music so you can relax and drink a beer.

Sad but true ending to this story: on our second to last day the RV park management hired a company to cut the nest out of the tree because someone complained about the mess the birds were making. Obviously, we didn’t complain. Thankfully, they hadn’t laid any eggs yet. Hopefully they’ll rebuild in one of the trees along Town Lake where it’s a bit more wild.

Photos: View our photos from Austin, Texas and Lance’s SXSW photos.

Notes: We stayed in Austin, Texas from 03/04/2007 to 03/18/2007. Lance wrote about his SXSW experience on his work site.