More about Austin

When we first got to Austin on Friday afternoon, we decided to go for a walk on a local hiking trail. We hopped in the van, drove a couple of miles, and parked in a “Best Buy” parking lot. I was dubious. Where are we? Why are we here? Why aren’t we at a trailhead?

John said all we need to do is walk past the enormous liquor store and then along the road for less than a block and there it will be. Meanwhile 3 lanes of traffic crawled bumper to bumper trying to get onto the freeway whizzing overhead. This was not an auspicious start to a hike.

So we walked along the busy road, past a concrete water detention basin and suddenly we were here, and it was beautiful.

I was somewhat taken aback by the chain link fence topped with razor wire but that disappeared after a hundred yards or so. And then the only way you could tell you weren’t deep in the woods was the freeway noise.

It was a heavily used trail, but most of the dogs were leashed. And there wasn’t any dog poop anywhere, which sort of astounded me. So did the beautiful creek that most people seemed to take for granted.

The cactus thriving in the mud among the oaks seemed odd too.

The whole trail was very beautiful.

We walked back along the freeway frontage road to the Best Buy parking lot as it was getting dark.

The next morning we took our bikes down to the trail around Lady Bird Lake. It was a stunning Saturday morning, and half of Austin was down there. I found the bicycling quite challenging, weaving in and out of all the different people and their conveyances. Joggers with kids in strollers and dogs on leashes, and dogs in strollers and kids in carriers, people with canes and walkers, people in large groups, all going different speeds.

Here’s my initial impression of Austin-tonians or whatever they call themselves. (I just looked it up, apparently it’s Austinites.) First, they seem very diverse. It’s not just that one family looks one way and another family looks another way. The diversity is within the families.

It almost felt like Austin was ahead of San Francisco in the tolerance wars, because there seemed to be a comfort level in Austin that just took diversity for granted. Like they weren’t fighting anymore because there was no need to fight anymore. Like the shift had finally happened and it was no longer an issue and there was no longer anything that needed asserted or proved. Unfortunately, I’m sure there are still tensions; I’m not that naïve. But from a surface, outsider’s point of view, everyone seemed very comfortable with gender and racial configurations that did not conform to traditional expectations. Maybe they’re just more polite about it.

Secondly, the dogs are part of the families in an intense way. I saw dogs in backpacks, dogs in baby slings, dogs in strollers, dogs in baby carriers towed behind bicycles, handicapped dogs in hind-quarter wheelchairs, dogs strapped to people’s waists, dogs strapped to people’s bikes, dogs strapped to people’s wrist, dog’s strapped to people’s children…and no dogs peeing or pooping anywhere. I want one of those Austin dogs that doesn’t pee and poop in public. In Singapore it’s illegal to allow your dog to let loose in public. In Austin it’s apparently at least considered in poor taste.

Oh, and one more funny thing. Austin is quite a large city (maybe about 2 million?), and I almost never heard any cars honking. Probably the quietest big-city traffic I’ve ever experienced. Except when they did honk. Every once in awhile someone would finally get pissed enough to honk, and then oh boy. They LEANED on that horn. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK. It went on so long I thought that horn would surely run out of air, like a saxophonist drawing that last note out so long it makes you hyperventilate for him.

After biking, we ate lunch at a lakeside cafe. Here’s what came up when I put the generic word “restaurants” into my map app. This is probably not the results you’d get in most parts of Texas (just guessing). What is “Japanese soul food”? And “Eco-chic”? I understand”Health-conscious”. But is “Bohemian vegetarian” any different than regular vegetarian? Apparently “Veggie Heaven” is vegan. Is it called that because all the veggie’s died?