Austin

A mostly East Austin visit

/ Greg / Leave a comment

Luckily for me, this was my second visit to Austin. On my first a few years back, I had plenty of time to check out all that Austin has to offer. I had seen and experienced enough to know where I’d focus my very limited time on this past visit – food and craft beer. While I’ll need a third visit to Austin to make my first pilgrimage to Franklin Barbecue, I did manage to get to another of the city’s best reviewed barbecue joints. In East Austin, about a fifteen minute walk from where I was staying sat La Barbecue, a perfect amalgamation of restaurant, craft beer store and tap room. A real slice of heaven for someone like me.

La Barbecue

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A million bats under my feet

/ Greg / Leave a comment

The last word on my Austin visit back in October goes to one of that city’s most famous attractions.  Each summer evening, the world’s largest urban bat colony flies out from under the Congress Avenue Bridge into the night.   And by largest, I’m taking about more than a million bats taking flight over the course of a few minutes.

Wanting to get a prime spot on the bridge, I arrived about 30 minutes before sundown where a good crowd had already taken their places:

Waiting on the Congress Avenue Bridge

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Favourite travel experiences of 2015

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Another year has passed, and I again feel fortunate to have watched a great deal of the world pass below me out an airplane window on journeys east and west of Halifax.  After a stretch of years traveling where food wasn’t as much of a focus, for a second year in a row, many of my favourite travel experiences have to do with food and drink or have a meal as a focal point to a memorable moment.  The other unifying theme this year was “quiet” with many of my favourite experiences being unexpected, subtle, or reflective in nature.  After time spent in British Columbia, Southern California, Mexico, Texas and Spain, here are my favourite travel experiences from 2015.

1. Tapas with my wife in Madrid – Thinking this would be a more difficult trip for my wife to enjoy the food culture of Spain (as she must eat a strict gluten-free diet on account of Celiac disease), we were both blown away by Taberna la Concha in the La Latina neighbourhood near our rented apartment.  The dedicated gluten-free menu and the quality of the food gave my wife an authentic Spanish experience.  It was so good, we went back another night and had a second amazing experience.  To see her face light up on those two nights (like mine was for the other nights of the trip) was a great thing to see.

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Touring the Texas State Capitol

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I hadn’t formally planned a tour of the Texas State Capitol building when I visited Austin, but while wandering around the grounds, I considered popping my head inside to check on a tour and to steal at least a few minutes of air conditioning on a baking hot afternoon.  That air conditioning was needed because I first explored the grounds outside what is a truly beautiful building.

Texas state capitol building

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Texas through tacos and barbecue

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I have a confession to make.  Nearing the end of a week in Texas spent sampling some really good craft beer and eating almost solely at barbecue and taco joints, I thought about ordering a salad.   Luckily, I didn’t follow through on that crazy idea until I got back home.

On my first day in Houston, after taking in an exciting Astros game, a short walk got me to Jackson Street BBQ.  It was almost next door to the ballpark, and even if I tried to get lost, my nose would have been able to follow the smell of smoky meat right to their front door.  My first Texas barbecue experience was delicious as I tried the sampler plate with sausage, ribs and brisket, a side of beans, and an Oktoberfest ale from Saint Arnold Brewing:

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Exploring public art in Austin

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Aside from the baking hot temperatures and the smell of barbeque wafting around what seemed like every corner, I didn’t feel like I was deep in the heart of Texas during my Austin stay.   The city felt beautifully out of place compared with all of my preconceived notions of “Texas-ness”.  In exploring a few parts of the city on foot, the vibrant and plentiful public art reinforced the “Keep Austin Weird” vibe that I fell for within an hour of first arriving.

Right across the street from my motel on South Congress Avenue was the “I love you so much” mural on the wall of Jo’s Coffee (a place I would later laze away a few hours with a book).  The simple mural by Amy Cook was a scrawled love letter to her partner Liz (the owner of Jo’s Coffee).  Simple and profound, I felt the love directed to me each time I walked past.

"I love you so much" at Jo's

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Texas craft beers and bars

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One week in Texas, split between Houston and Austin, gave me plenty of opportunities to sample a number of craft beers from the state.  The refreshment of the beverages (and the air conditioning in the bars) was much needed as the temperatures were pushing into the 30s the entire trip.  Here are a few of the beers I got to try and a couple of the craft beer bars I visited in Houston and Austin:

Mongoose Versus Cobra – Houston

On the way back from a Sunday afternoon Houston Texans game, I got off the train a couple of stops early so I could pop into Mongoose Versus Cobra.    This was my kind of bar – very laid back and mellow.  Here I tried two Texas beers – on the left, an Uncle Billy’s Lazy Day Lager, and on the right, a Buffalo Bayou 1836.  I liked the 1836 the best with its malty taste and dry finish.  It was unique and reminded me of a cross between a British bitters ale and an American pale ale.  I couldn’t resist perhaps the perfect beer snack of chicharrón with chile sauce, salt and lime.

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Deep in the heart of Texas

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I’m home and a bit bleary-eyed from my late night flight back from a week split between Houston and Austin, Texas.  This was a really nice short trip.   I started off with a couple of days in Houston, making it into the city just in time for first pitch of an Astros-Rangers game between two teams fighting for a playoff spot. Some delicious barbeque, a college football game and then a Sunday spent at a Texans NFL game made for an eventful visit.


After a final morning poking around Houston, I hopped the shortest flight of my life and 31 minutes later landed in Austin and immediately felt at home.  Austin was authentically quirky, filled with great food, interesting art and friendly people. It felt like the kind of city I could happily live in, even if it would take being able to develop the willpower necessary to not subsist on a diet of tacos and barbecue brisket.

A nice first taste of Texas, literally and figuratively.  More to come in the weeks ahead…