OWH Memorial Undead Topic

We stay in Austin for a week after Houston. We'll hit it.

 

We lived in Austin for little over a year. It was a cool college city back in the day. Streaking was replaced with the Halloween parade (NSFW or kids) on 6th street. Armadillo World Hdqtrs (music venue) is gone. The AFB is now the city airport.

 

@gcbvol I stay at the JW Marriott in Austin. It is central to everything.

I enjoyed the hour long tour of the Capital. It included painting of Jim Bowie, believed to be the only one painted from life and is a reminder of why Texas is a part of the U.S. and not Mexico.

Lady Bird Lake runs next to downtown and has great walking/running trails.

March-October 1-2 million bats live under the bridge over Lady Bird Lake. It is an event to watch them leave at sundown.

Kerbey Lane is a must for breakfast or brunch. It is located in a former residential house converted into a restuarant.

Roaring Fork is a great restaurant for Steak, etc.

Franklin's BBQ is very popular and famous. People start lining up early early morning for an 11:00 opening. High School/College kids make money saving a place in line.

Rainey Street District and 6th Street for nightlife

 

I have never been to Houston or Austin, but I can say without a doubt that you must make Dallas an absolute AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Worst town I have ever been in.

[uck fay] Dallas.

 

I didn’t hate Dallas when I was there but it just seemed Generic Big City to me.

 

Austin is like an oasis in a crappy Texas.

 

“Ditto”

- JFK

 

Funny you mention a house converted to restaurant. Best Mexican I ever had was "La Tapa Tia" (sp?). House -> restaurant in old east part of town. Recommended by a local guy. Wife & I took my parents and my brothers when they came to visit. (Dad paid for our food of course.) Late 70's. Each room had TV mounted up high. Before flat screens were invented. Saw Nixon resign. No reservations. Line to get in, down the residential street sidewalk.

We lived in apt complex north of river. Cheaper back then. Wife worked at old Ramada Inn on river along Riverside Dr. just over I-35 (?) bridge. Riverside rooms w/balconies were always booked when the hi-speed boat race came to town. She likes to recount the tale of meeting Willy Nelson and working with a lady that was married to one of the band members of Bob Willis & The Texas Playboys. The old old Barton Springs swimming hole was a thing back in the day.

Austin is a cool city. I stayed at that Austin Marriott years later when I came back on business. Colleague tried to teach me how to swing a golf club in my room. I had no idea what the hell he was saying. 6th Street had been upgraded to nothing but bars and they held a Halloween parade down it. It was drunken college-kid debauchery in costume.

 

It still is very popular for swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking, etc.

 

Yep. I got stationed there coming back from SE Asia. We had asked for anything east of Miss river to be closer to family. We got fricking Texas. We both envisioned desert and such. We were pleasantly surprised. They had hills and water.

We had a good experience, other than the old lady babysitter's invitation to her church, where the preacher told the congregation that all Jews, blacks and any other church were going to hell if Jesus came to Austin today. Your only hope was to come to this church. They started talking in "tongues". It freaked us out and we were both indoctrinated courtesy of the good old Tennessee Southern Baptist. So you know it was something. I think they called themselves Born Again Pentecostal? It was a tad concerning. We told the old lady that we found another church and only used her in babysitting emergencies for our daughter.

The vitriol between the Texas and TAMU fans made me feel at home. I understood that.

 

+1 I can only add that I have had a layover at Houston's airport and that I looked at part of Houston on Google Maps Streetview for some reason once. Neither helped my want to ever go there.

 

Totally understand. The Houston area is massive with an 80-90 mile diameter.

 

Beautiful! Thanks so much! A couple of those were on the list, but now get to research and add more. We've also picked 3 distilleries to visit in Austin area. Should be fun.

We're staying in San Leon now.

 

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Padre Island was a hot spot for the locals back in 70's. Got a Tx buddy that was overseas with me. For that reason I excuse him for being a Longhorn. Came from some little town outside of Dallas. And his family has a camp in Louisiana. He ended up getting a Business MS from Harvard and retired as City Manager for some little TX town on the Gulf Coast. He did alright for himself.

You should enjoy Austin.

 

It's got great food but is loaded with hipster douche bags.

 

History buff NYY in the news recently:

https://nypost.com/2026/02/02/lifes...-artillery-shell-discovered-in-patients-butt/

 

Clicked to see if they used the phrase shellshocked and was not disappointed. Could have worked in a "fire in the hole" though.

 

They did. With a subtle, "evacuated the facility."

"Fearing a potential fire in the hole — and hospital — medical personnel alerted the bomb squad and fire brigade and evacuated the facility."

 

Friday night we went to the Blount Chamber awards, and after it they had a casino night with the fake money and it was a all around good time.

Had one of the most hilarious hands I've ever had playing blackjack. Ended up splitting a pair of jacks 5 times by the time all was said and done. Won 3, pushed 2, lost 1.