Lone Star: The National Beer of Texas

In keeping with my theme of beginning to travel more extensively within the United States over the past year and a half, I had a great opportunity this past year to take a trip to a state that I had never been to before: Texas. The mother of them all, this giant southern nation state is so big in size and personality that sometimes the residents consider it to be its own country. Now what would bring me to Texas suddenly after 23 years of neglecting to ever visit the Lone Star state, you ask?

Enter Amelia. Best friend of many years decides to take on an Americorps position in Teh-hass where she'll tutor little Spanish-speaking kids to help them get their literacy skills up to speed. Oh, and did I mention all the tutoring will be done in Spanish? Yeah, this is no easy feat, even for someone who has studied the language for years, and I'm sure it can't be fun when a 6 year old corrects you on a grammatical error or makes fun of your gringo accent. However if you ask her about it, she'll tell you that although it's really challenging work, it's very rewarding. I admire her for investing so much of herself in this kind of service work; I always say she's down in the trenches, doing the painstaking work of eliminating social injustice! Making sure that the next generation of kids are equipped with great literacy skills so that they'll keep up in school instead of fall behind (and potentially drop out) and that is a HUGE contribution to be making to society on a daily basis. I think the biggest contribution that I make on a daily basis is making sure that no Facebook friend's comment goes unliked (wouldn't want them to suffer the paralyzing self-esteem drop from thinking that their cyber musings are unappreciated!). Okay, okay, I'm not that unimportant, but sometimes it feels like it when my friends are off saving the world, one niño at a time. So now that I'm finished with that rant, on to my trip to Texas...

Amelia lives in Austin, which is located in central Texas, a few hours south of Dallas and west of Houston, many, many miles from Chicago. I was very fortunate to have racked up enough frequent flyer miles for a free, round trip domestic flight (that's what flying to and from Vietnam will do for you, hooray!) so I decided to use it on this little viaje to the south. I went in March when it wasn't too hot (temps were in the 70's most days) but it was still a glorious respite from the god-awful wrath that is winter in Chicago. Right from the airport Amelia took me to Callahan's General Store where we browsed among the offerings which included:

Cowboy hats (it's Texas, how could you not?)

Pet accessories

And pets! (baby goats, to be specific, which were hanging out in, not outside of, the general store!)

This was a great first-taste of Texas, between the livestock roaming inside the store and out (there were chickens in a coup outside as well) and the strange but endearing knick knacks. I was in Texas for 5 days, so I got to see a lot of different sides of Austin (not just squirrel underpants). Amelia took me hiking in the Barton Creek Greenbelt, which was to say the least, very beautiful. I never pictured Texas being so green! But there we were, hiking through a lush riverbed insulated by trees and plants, smack dab in the middle of what I assumed would be all desert-like.

Amelia, elated that I came to visit :) By the way, this is now the picture that shows up on my phone when you call, ha.

Hiking in the greenbelt was one of my favorite activities of the whole trip. I kept thinking how great it was that there's such a beautiful place where you can be fully surrounded by nature right in the city (Chicago, take note: I would like one beautiful river basin greenbelt, within the city limits, pronto!). My other favorite thing we did was visiting the food trailers. Vendors prepare and sell their delicious bounty right out of a trailer in little "trailer parks" around Austin, and different trailers come and go all the time. But it's not just your average hot dog stand or ice cream truck, no, these trailers are selling eccentric, gourmet street food, if such a quirky category exists. For example, I scarfed down a Predator and Prey bratwurst made from rattlesnake and rabbit meat from the Wurst Tex trailer.

Don't believe me? Check out the ingredients from the menu!

om nom nom

It was incredible. (p.s. when have I ever not liked any kind of hot dog?) But this was RATTLESNAKE meat, you don't get much more hard core than that! These trailers are so cool because they serve every kind of food imaginable (suchi, korean barbeque, waffles, ice cream, you name it, they serve it) and they're cheap (not to mention the incredible people watching opportunities). I also enjoyed a massive cupcake from Hey Cupcake! with the requisite "shot" of whipped cream pumped into the middle of it. Wondrous. Food is such a great way to experience a place, and the food trailers along Congress Street in Austin are, in my opinion, the best way to experience this place.

You can't go to Austin and not experience live music on 6th Street, (Austin is basically the live music capital of the world) so Amelia made sure that I got to do that. If you're a music fan, I'm sorry because I'm pretty uncool (read: embarrassing) when it comes to music (ask anyone who has sifted through my CD collection) so if you were expecting that when I went to Austin I would find all the super awesome, underground music that only super cool legit music fans know about, you would be incorrect. But I did, however, dance in the street like a fool and sing at the top of my lungs to a live band's version of "Your Love" by The Outfield while on 6th Street (I know a good music moment when I see it). 6th Street was full of energy even late, late at night, and it's not for the faint of heart. I'm glad I went and would love to hear more live music if when I return to Austin in the near future.

One of the last stops I made on my trip to Texas was to Magnolia Cafe, which has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (love that show). Amelia, her roommate Carla (also known as DeCarla) and I chowed down on some absolutely delicious grub (I had a baked sweet potato with brown sugar butter and bacon pieces...heaven) while also perusing one of Austin's free newspapers. Amelia read aloud some of the "missed connections" posted in the paper, and we all got lost in a nice little moment of sappiness while eating on the back patio. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone visiting Austin; it was quirky, the food was delicious and it's also right across the street from Hey Cupcake!...bahaha.

So I know I didn't get to see all that Austin has to offer in a quick 5 days, but I did get to see a good representation of the many things you can do there...go hiking, listen to live music, eat at the food trailers, do some of the best people watching imaginable. It was a great introduction to Texas and the Southwest as a whole, and it got me excited to hopefully revisit this part of the country again soon.