I [heart] Austin!

The good news: Turns out I'm not too old to rock 'n roll. The bad news: David says there's more to come in New Orleans.

Yesterday started off innocently enough. For the first time since tearing myself away from Doug's embracing hospitality, David and I savored coffee and a light breakfast by the hotel pool without pressing to get dressed.

You can see my computer there, the daily blog just completed and posted.

Continuing our leisurely morning, David and I indulged in a rambling morning stroll along Lady Bird Lake. Why it's called a "lake" we couldn't quite figure out; as far as we could tell it had way more in common with a river than anything else. But since Austin treated us so well, I'm more than willing to give the city the benefit of the doubt.

Don't we look relaxed? It's quite the popular spot and there were lots of avid joggers, walkers, and dog owners for company. There were also several interesting distractions. First was the parcourse area, where David performed quite admirably.

Then came a random encounter with a quite large goose, who accosted us begging for food. Reminded me of the homeless folks who come up to your car begging at intersections.

At some point along our walk, we decided to stock up on car snacks at the Mothership—a.k.a. the original Whole Foods. It was truly the religious experience of the trip.

The store is a HUGE paean to gustatory satisfaction (and WAY larger than its Rockville progeny). Not to mention its artistic merit, as this still life of (some, not all) tomatoes shows.

Of course we bought far more than we intended, which assures us that, whatever Gulf disaster may strike next, we are well provisioned.

We toted our goodies back to the hotel which, we figure, put us at about 3.5 miles of walking for the morning. I can't begin to express how good it felt to be in workout clothes for 4+ hours!

Changing into something a wee bit more respectable, we walked across the bridge to another part of town for lunch.

We had seen Perla's the night before and David thought their oysters would be a perfect lunch. I liked the idea of sitting and being misted nonstop!

Our waitress was a recently minted MFA sculptor named Dawn. Fresh faced, funny, and full of good food advice, we put ourselves in her hands. It was a banner day for me -- first time I've ever tried oysters (not bad, almost even delectable), octopus (after being assured over and over that it wouldn't be rubbery, which turned out to be true), and five cocktails at lunch.

That's a snap of our fried green tomatoes with crab Louis. And here's a snap of Dawn providing stellar customer service. It was all perfect.

Having wiled away most of the day in sybaritic delights, we returned to the hotel to shower and get ready for the evening. But first, we stopped off at the pool and dangled our feet in the water. What we had expected would be a five minute stop turned into nearly an hour when David rescued an errant pigeon that was helplessly flapping its wings and trying to extricate itself from the pool. Once on land, it was too wet to fly, and sat helplessly in our hands.

David repeatedly tried to get it going, but the bird was quite simply moribund.

Eventually David set it by a tree and off we went, hoping it would be gone by morning. We had 9PM reservations at La Condesa, a restaurant that deserves top billing on your Austin itinerary. We had thought no place could top Perla's. We were wrong! Overwhelmed by how delicious and interesting every menu item sounded, we put ourselves in our waiter's hands. He did not disappoint. The high point was the entree, described on the menu as spicy guava-glazed ribs pork ribs, sweet plantains, pickled onion, queso fresco, salsa verde and cilantro. To die for and not at all captured in this photo!

And then we were off to the Broken Spoke for some two-steppin'.

What a great scene! I taught David how to two step (my old days at the Junction coming back to me) and we laughed as we managed to navigate the heavy traffic on the dance floor. We hooked up with two young ladies we had met in Marfa; around 12:30, Dawn, our waitress from Perla's, joined us as well. (That David! He can amass a harem in a matter of minutes!)

Once we'd closed down the Broken Spoke, we headed to another club, this one pounding out the techno beat. I tried to beg off but I think the "kids" loved the idea of someone so completely out of place joining their festivities. While perhaps the least flattering picture ever taken, this photo of David and me gives you an idea of what I thought of the placehow we were faring by 2AM.

I think my graying hair grew an inch from the experience!

Dawn dropped us at the hotel, at which point I headed up to bed. I don't know what else went on, only that for the kids the party was just getting started. Not sure if David had slept or not when he woke me up at 8:30 to get on the road.

And now, groggy and fighting a not unpleasant headache, we're packing up to head to New Orleans today. Wish me luck!

PS - David found the bird in the exact same spot this morning. Bummed, he walked over to see how it was doing, at which point it flew away.