youhas is: visiting Austin and elsewhere in Texas!

[youhas]

Man, I can't even remember how many of these travel-related posts there have been in the "youhas is" series. More than I really would have expected, that's for sure. Anyhow, to the matter at hand:

I will be spending next week faffing around Texas, where I have been assured that the stars at night are big and bright. I'm flying into Austin, which means that my plans involve being in "the Greater Austin Area" - which roughly translates into "more or less Texas in general" given my pig-headed approach to road-tripping. My current vague plans involve meandering around south of I-10 and north of the Mexican border, but that is subject to whimsical and arbitrary change. In any event: I seek places to go and things to do. Things I am always interested in:

* Regional chain restaurants. I forever love that what is a commonplace eatery in one part of the country is a zany novelty for someone a few states over. In-N-Out is a normal part of life for me, though logically I know its franchises exist in only five states; meanwhile, things like "Chick-Fil-A" and "Zaxby's" and "Waffle House" feel like weird parallel-universe constructs whenever I come across them. So anyhow: are there any such chains in Texas that I should be aware of, that I would never come across in northern California? That might legitimately be enjoyable? Asking you sure as hell beats combing through four scrillion Wikipedia pages; feel free to clue me in!

* Weird non-chain restaurants tucked away in unexpected places. Both "this place is several blocks off the main drag in a major city, but so worth visiting" and "this place is in the goddamn boondocks but serves up awesome goods all the same" offerings apply. It's always fun, finding a random-pants excellent sushi place 1200 miles from the nearest ocean or whatever. Not that it needs to be a regionally out-of-character place to qualify: "Texas is known for its brisket, but Cool Location X simply DESTROYS all comers with the brisket experience" is also awesome-sauce information. In short: do you have a favorite place to offer, which will spare me days sifting through bullshit Yelp reviews? This would be an excellent time to provide content!

* Supremely weird randomness. My absolute favorite road trip event may have been the time I was meandering through the Appalachians in Georgia and stumbled upon a Bavarian Alpine village, which was arguably the least probable thing I could have expected and broke my brain for a short while. That... would be hard to top, yes. But I'm always open to being directed towards such weird, weird things. An ornate graffiti fresco on a building in the middle of nowhere? An outdoor art project that bills itself as being the largest fiberglass recreation of a chickadee in the world? Sure, why not? I love eccentric garbage like that.

Caveat: I pretty much do all my road-tripping from daylight to twilight, so those hours are at a massive premium. Hence me mostly asking for things I can either enjoy (a) relatively quickly, like restaurant meals, or (b) at my leisure once I've halted travel for the night. "Here is a bar / arcade / whatever where you can people-watch for two hours at 8pm!" is a more lucrative opportunity than "here is an amusement park / miniature golf plaza / whatever!" where I'd need to burn a full couple of daylight hours. Hope that makes a modicum of sense.

OK, that's enough framing exposition out of me. Thanks in advance for any pointers anybody might be able to share.
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[youhas]

Man, I can't even remember how many of these travel-related posts there have been in the "youhas is" series. More than I really would have expected, that's for sure. Anyhow, to the matter at hand:

I will be spending next week faffing around Texas, where I have been assured that the stars at night are big and bright. I'm flying into Austin, which means that my plans involve being in "the Greater Austin Area" - which roughly translates into "more or less Texas in general" given my pig-headed approach to road-tripping. My current vague plans involve meandering around south of I-10 and north of the Mexican border, but that is subject to whimsical and arbitrary change. In any event: I seek places to go and things to do. Things I am always interested in:

* Regional chain restaurants. I forever love that what is a commonplace eatery in one part of the country is a zany novelty for someone a few states over. In-N-Out is a normal part of life for me, though logically I know its franchises exist in only five states; meanwhile, things like "Chick-Fil-A" and "Zaxby's" and "Waffle House" feel like weird parallel-universe constructs whenever I come across them. So anyhow: are there any such chains in Texas that I should be aware of, that I would never come across in northern California? That might legitimately be enjoyable? Asking you sure as hell beats combing through four scrillion Wikipedia pages; feel free to clue me in!

* Weird non-chain restaurants tucked away in unexpected places. Both "this place is several blocks off the main drag in a major city, but so worth visiting" and "this place is in the goddamn boondocks but serves up awesome goods all the same" offerings apply. It's always fun, finding a random-pants excellent sushi place 1200 miles from the nearest ocean or whatever. Not that it needs to be a regionally out-of-character place to qualify: "Texas is known for its brisket, but Cool Location X simply DESTROYS all comers with the brisket experience" is also awesome-sauce information. In short: do you have a favorite place to offer, which will spare me days sifting through bullshit Yelp reviews? This would be an excellent time to provide content!

* Supremely weird randomness. My absolute favorite road trip event may have been the time I was meandering through the Appalachians in Georgia and stumbled upon a Bavarian Alpine village, which was arguably the least probable thing I could have expected and broke my brain for a short while. That... would be hard to top, yes. But I'm always open to being directed towards such weird, weird things. An ornate graffiti fresco on a building in the middle of nowhere? An outdoor art project that bills itself as being the largest fiberglass recreation of a chickadee in the world? Sure, why not? I love eccentric garbage like that.

Caveat: I pretty much do all my road-tripping from daylight to twilight, so those hours are at a massive premium. Hence me mostly asking for things I can either enjoy (a) relatively quickly, like restaurant meals, or (b) at my leisure once I've halted travel for the night. "Here is a bar / arcade / whatever where you can people-watch for two hours at 8pm!" is a more lucrative opportunity than "here is an amusement park / miniature golf plaza / whatever!" where I'd need to burn a full couple of daylight hours. Hope that makes a modicum of sense.

OK, that's enough framing exposition out of me. Thanks in advance for any pointers anybody might be able to share.
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[11yearoldkid]

DUDE FUCK YES FINALLY! When (exactly)are you coming? I would LOVE to show you around (I can only if it is on a weekend). I don't where to start. If you brought a bike, I would recommend just first biking downtown, which is so much fun in itself and you get to see what's what. Kayak on Town Lake. Definitely go here and find some other places on that road. Artz' rib house, some really good greek places, and extremely weird shops are on there. Some places in the heart of downtown would be Austin Java (Lavaca and 2nd), Sno Beach , Hut's Hamburgers (best hamburgers you will find in texas, 6th and West Ave), Home Slice (on Congress) , and if you have 25 dollars to spend, go to The Salt Lick and get the all you can eat. I promise you will never feel more full in your life. And go to Rudy's (look up a location, there are multiple). If your into (chamber) music, you should try to attend some UT performances (I can tell you what's good and what's not), if you're coming in the next day or so you are probably too late to get tickets for anything big.

I really need a paragraph break. Ok. Also, GO DOWNTOWN AT NIGHT TIME. I really wish I could do this now (I'm 16) but the Austin music scene is the best in the world. Practically every place you go has live music. You will never not hear music buzzing in your ear. If you want to go on a hunt, this sign is an Austin icon, and, without using the interwebs, try to find it. I'll give you some hints if you need them. And, of course, even WE do have the cliche museums you can go check out, the biggest being the Bob Bullock Museum, but there is also the Austin Art and some others I don't know about.

I'm just a little overwhelmed that you are coming here, so I'll be adding stuff as I need to. Ask me any questions you have. Can't wait!

Edit 1: Reading back through your post, you should stay here and travel downtown for 2 days at least.
_________________

JCirri wrote:

Matt wrote: No, its only 10000. I am going to ban the next person who types THOUSANNNNNNND TEN THOUSANNNNNNND!

My life.

[11yearoldkid]

DUDE FUCK YES FINALLY! When (exactly)are you coming? I would LOVE to show you around (I can only if it is on a weekend). I don't where to start. If you brought a bike, I would recommend just first biking downtown, which is so much fun in itself and you get to see what's what. Kayak on Town Lake. Definitely go here and find some other places on that road. Artz' rib house, some really good greek places, and extremely weird shops are on there. Some places in the heart of downtown would be Austin Java (Lavaca and 2nd), Sno Beach , Hut's Hamburgers (best hamburgers you will find in texas, 6th and West Ave), Home Slice (on Congress) , and if you have 25 dollars to spend, go to The Salt Lick and get the all you can eat. I promise you will never feel more full in your life. And go to Rudy's (look up a location, there are multiple). If your into (chamber) music, you should try to attend some UT performances (I can tell you what's good and what's not), if you're coming in the next day or so you are probably too late to get tickets for anything big.

I really need a paragraph break. Ok. Also, GO DOWNTOWN AT NIGHT TIME. I really wish I could do this now (I'm 16) but the Austin music scene is the best in the world. Practically every place you go has live music. You will never not hear music buzzing in your ear. If you want to go on a hunt, this sign is an Austin icon, and, without using the interwebs, try to find it. I'll give you some hints if you need them. And, of course, even WE do have the cliche museums you can go check out, the biggest being the Bob Bullock Museum, but there is also the Austin Art and some others I don't know about.

I'm just a little overwhelmed that you are coming here, so I'll be adding stuff as I need to. Ask me any questions you have. Can't wait!

Edit 1: Reading back through your post, you should stay here and travel downtown for 2 days at least.
_________________

JCirri wrote:

Matt wrote: No, its only 10000. I am going to ban the next person who types THOUSANNNNNNND TEN THOUSANNNNNNND!

My life.

[GuitarHailz]

11yearoldkid, do you not know about the Texas get together thread? Check it out! youhas will be here in Austin all weekend. He's crashing at my place for a couple nights but there is a get-together at Deschain's as well. You're welcome to visit either/or.

As far as local chain restaurants you have to check out, definitely Whataburger. They're all over Texas and I think some in Oklahoma, but they're our regional burger place and worth going to over any other spot if you want fast food.

This post is probably the best overview I can find of the "best of" in Austin. But it depends on what kinds of things you like to do. Downtown is fun, but if you're not a drinking-and-clubbing type, certain parts can be sort of a turnoff. I don't recommend 6th Street as much as I recommend Stubb's or some of the other music venues. But 11yearoldkid has the right idea. If nothing else try to get some BBQ from the half-dozen or more awesome places (The Salt Lick, Franklin's, South Side Market in Elgin or Rudy's here in Austin).

I could write a lot more, so I'll edit this post after work for others.
_________________

[GuitarHailz]

11yearoldkid, do you not know about the Texas get together thread? Check it out! youhas will be here in Austin all weekend. He's crashing at my place for a couple nights but there is a get-together at Deschain's as well. You're welcome to visit either/or.

As far as local chain restaurants you have to check out, definitely Whataburger. They're all over Texas and I think some in Oklahoma, but they're our regional burger place and worth going to over any other spot if you want fast food.

This post is probably the best overview I can find of the "best of" in Austin. But it depends on what kinds of things you like to do. Downtown is fun, but if you're not a drinking-and-clubbing type, certain parts can be sort of a turnoff. I don't recommend 6th Street as much as I recommend Stubb's or some of the other music venues. But 11yearoldkid has the right idea. If nothing else try to get some BBQ from the half-dozen or more awesome places (The Salt Lick, Franklin's, South Side Market in Elgin or Rudy's here in Austin).

I could write a lot more, so I'll edit this post after work for others.
_________________

[youhas]

I'm touching down at AUS late evening on Friday 4/13, at which point I'll be enjoying the ScoreHero-in-Austin get-together through the weekend, deferring to my charming hosts on where we're going and what we're apt to do. Come early Monday morning, I have no real itinerary outside of wailing on my rental car and making progress on my aggressively inane visit all counties everywhere project, returning to the airport for some moderately unhappy morning flight back home on Friday 4/20.

I do appreciate the suggestions along with the links and extended commentary! I have no idea what degree of in-Austin-proper time I'll be burning this time around - really depends how the weekend unfolds and/or how ahead or behind schedule I end up running with my road trip - but I love having local-inspired options foisted upon me. So thank you! If there's anything else you feel compelled to add to the suggestion bucket, I am happy to fully consider those options. As of this writing, "get back to Austin proper on Thursday night and kill buckets of time before getting on that Friday morning flight" is probably my most wild-card crazy-go-nuts opportunity.

(For various reasons, I'm kind of heavily incentivized to use JetBlue destinations, so my projected schedule has me probably revisiting Austin at least twice in the semi-near future. There are other visits I need to shoehorn in there - Anchorage 2013 or bust! - but even if worst comes to worst, logistically, with zero schedule mesh, I'll undoubtedly be returning sooner than later. Doubly so, considering that I actually know locals who might be up for a schmooze and all that.)

Edit to add: Hailz ninja'd me a bit, but it's past 6am here and I am way too tired to reformat my original post. Whee!
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[youhas]

I'm touching down at AUS late evening on Friday 4/13, at which point I'll be enjoying the ScoreHero-in-Austin get-together through the weekend, deferring to my charming hosts on where we're going and what we're apt to do. Come early Monday morning, I have no real itinerary outside of wailing on my rental car and making progress on my aggressively inane visit all counties everywhere project, returning to the airport for some moderately unhappy morning flight back home on Friday 4/20.

I do appreciate the suggestions along with the links and extended commentary! I have no idea what degree of in-Austin-proper time I'll be burning this time around - really depends how the weekend unfolds and/or how ahead or behind schedule I end up running with my road trip - but I love having local-inspired options foisted upon me. So thank you! If there's anything else you feel compelled to add to the suggestion bucket, I am happy to fully consider those options. As of this writing, "get back to Austin proper on Thursday night and kill buckets of time before getting on that Friday morning flight" is probably my most wild-card crazy-go-nuts opportunity.

(For various reasons, I'm kind of heavily incentivized to use JetBlue destinations, so my projected schedule has me probably revisiting Austin at least twice in the semi-near future. There are other visits I need to shoehorn in there - Anchorage 2013 or bust! - but even if worst comes to worst, logistically, with zero schedule mesh, I'll undoubtedly be returning sooner than later. Doubly so, considering that I actually know locals who might be up for a schmooze and all that.)

Edit to add: Hailz ninja'd me a bit, but it's past 6am here and I am way too tired to reformat my original post. Whee!
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[thecaptainof]

Isn't that Daniel Johnston frog mural thing in Austin?

...s'all I've got, I could surely be more help if you ever make it over to London.
_________________

yksi-kaksi-kolme wrote:

Wow Mr. Mad, who fucked your buffalo?

[thecaptainof]

Isn't that Daniel Johnston frog mural thing in Austin?

...s'all I've got, I could surely be more help if you ever make it over to London.
_________________

yksi-kaksi-kolme wrote:

Wow Mr. Mad, who fucked your buffalo?

[youhas]

[youhas]

[thecaptainof]

[thecaptainof]

[alexhaz64]

Wait, you don't have chic fil-a in NorCal? o.O Kinda surprising, though I have to admit that they really only recently cropped up in SoCal.

I do wish I could do something like this, at least meeting up with SH people. Oh well. Have fun in Austin
_________________

2:59 alexhaz64: I'm like 6th place on that song
2:59 alexhaz64: pretty neat
2:59 alexhaz64: :p
2:59 JohnnyGrey: No Alex, I don't care how good your score is
2:59 JohnnyGrey: DAMMIT
2:59 alexhaz64: XD
alexhaz64 flexes
2:59 psxfreak101: too slow on the trigger there, boyo
2:59 alexhaz64: that seems to be the case all night
2:59 JohnnyGrey: I've been too slow a few times tonight
2:59 JohnnyGrey: GDSAKj hfask
2:59 psxfreak101: XD
2:59 alexhaz64: LMAO
2:59 alexhaz64: OMG
psxfreak101 actua-loling

[alexhaz64]

Wait, you don't have chic fil-a in NorCal? o.O Kinda surprising, though I have to admit that they really only recently cropped up in SoCal.

I do wish I could do something like this, at least meeting up with SH people. Oh well. Have fun in Austin
_________________

2:59 alexhaz64: I'm like 6th place on that song
2:59 alexhaz64: pretty neat
2:59 alexhaz64: :p
2:59 JohnnyGrey: No Alex, I don't care how good your score is
2:59 JohnnyGrey: DAMMIT
2:59 alexhaz64: XD
alexhaz64 flexes
2:59 psxfreak101: too slow on the trigger there, boyo
2:59 alexhaz64: that seems to be the case all night
2:59 JohnnyGrey: I've been too slow a few times tonight
2:59 JohnnyGrey: GDSAKj hfask
2:59 psxfreak101: XD
2:59 alexhaz64: LMAO
2:59 alexhaz64: OMG
psxfreak101 actua-loling

[youhas]

[youhas]

[GuitarHailz]

Taking this opportunity to bump this thread and say that this was an awesome weekend+Thursday and we are eagerly awaiting your return to the Austin area. Travelling glitches aside, hopefully you had a good time. Achievement whoring, Alamo Drafthouse, mexican food and Whataburgers abound!

Once you regroup you'll definitely have to do the rundown of all the counties/cities you visited, since I sort of got the reader's digest version. What was your favorite place you visited on your road trip? Best food?

P.S.

I'll never forget your rendition of various songs on RB1. I'm probably going to laugh about that for the rest of my life.

youhas sings: Mississippi Queen!
♪ OooOoOoOooooooo ♪ BREAD

The robot, it speaks!
_________________

[GuitarHailz]

Taking this opportunity to bump this thread and say that this was an awesome weekend+Thursday and we are eagerly awaiting your return to the Austin area. Travelling glitches aside, hopefully you had a good time. Achievement whoring, Alamo Drafthouse, mexican food and Whataburgers abound!

Once you regroup you'll definitely have to do the rundown of all the counties/cities you visited, since I sort of got the reader's digest version. What was your favorite place you visited on your road trip? Best food?

P.S.

I'll never forget your rendition of various songs on RB1. I'm probably going to laugh about that for the rest of my life.

youhas sings: Mississippi Queen!
♪ OooOoOoOooooooo ♪ BREAD

The robot, it speaks!
_________________

[youhas]

"The robot only spoke for 0.7 seconds, true. But still: baby steps!" Always good times, steeping in some RB1 vocal nostalgia for a bit. I need to dig around and see if I can find that "Kool Thing" video - "hwhite! male! COR-po-rate oppresSION!" - recorded at one of the random SH-in-NorCal gatherings.

Thanks tons for letting me play Intrepid Couch Surfer for the weekend plus Random Bonus Thursday. Totally had a marvelous time schmoozing with you and yours, and look forward to hanging out during my future Austin-based travels, whenever those might be - more a matter of "when" than "if", really. Next time you'll have to give me some sort of semi-guided tour of a handful of bits of the downtown area, choosing arbitrary venues to inflict upon me. (Though I did manage to make it to both the "i love you so much" and "Hi, How Are You?" "murals", as folks mentioned upthread; thanks to those who suggested those.) Anyway, to the trailblazing questions at hand:

Finally got around to updating the big board. This visit is the aimless mass of forest green counties in Texas, mostly between I-10 and the Mexican border. That makes +52 for the trip, for a new grand total of 1074. Past the one-third mark, finally! (And past the 40% mark for Texas itself, which has more counties than anywhere.) Logged 2166 miles on the rental car, the vast bulk of it in the four days of long-haul county-acquisition travel. Improbably enough, I have fairly close Google Maps approximations for all four days of my trekking about: Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday. (If you did not know I was county-hunting, "path through Texas chosen while on a ketamine bender" would be a reasonable guess, honestly.) Most major cities - Houston! San Antonio! Galveston! Corpus Christi! Laredo! - I don't really visit so much as drive near, or at best dip my toes in for fifteen minutes before deciding I've gotten a reasonable "vibe" of the place before heading on my way. Not that I'm against cities as such; I just prefer to have a local steering me to "good" places if I'm going to burn my time in them.

My favorite place was probably the Alamo Drafthouse, honestly. It's an excellent movie theater concept; I'd somehow been completely oblivious to its existence; if one (or someplace like it) existed within a half-hour's drive of my home, my compatriots and I would be there all the damn time. (Who doesn't want to eat Real Food in a movie theater? While not dealing with chatty fuckheads texting away for two straight hours?) Folks who lobbied to make sure we stopped in there at some point during the weekend were very clearly making The Right Choice; I am appreciative.

My favorite place that I found on my own was probably this random indie Mexican restaurant in Rio Grande City or thereabouts, with a completely generic name like "Rita's" or "Lola's" or something. (I didn't get a chance to record the place's name, on account of my cellphone trying to lock onto a Mexican cell tower at the time.) I'm pretty sure I was far-and-away the whitest person in the establishment. But their combo platter was ridiculously generous for the money, and it contained foodstuffs I'd never come across before, and it was all absurdly fresh and tasty. I mean, it's probably toned down a shade from an actual street cart in Juarez or whatever... but 90% of the experience for 5% of the hassle is a trade I'll make any day of the week.

Unexpectedly quality driving experience: US-377/277 through Texas Hill Country from Rocksprings to Del Rio. Google Maps inferred that this might be some sort of glacial slog, but no: it's a gently curving road through nice rolling hills, both aesthetically pleasing and capable of being traversed at 70mph. Unexpectedly soul-destroying driving experience: US-90 from Comstock to Marfa. No cell service; no FM radio; no charming little towns; no nothing. No matter how fast you go, it's like driving through hundreds of miles of a Samuel Beckett play being staged on a moonscape somewhere. Could spend the rest of my life without doing that again.

(Fun fact: if you are reliant upon FM radio for musical entertainment? And you've found nothing but country music and Spanish-speaking stations for the last couple hours? It's amazing how quickly one's standards for "quality listening" can be modified. "A station promising back-to-back LMFAO songs? Oh, thank god.")

Quirkily charming thing I regret not going to: weird little hole-in-the-wall barbecue places, where the establishment has hand-painted ads on their walls or chintzy plastic signs out front, all broadcasting a "no, seriously, we serve the best brisket ever, fuck anyone who suggests otherwise" message to whoever might be reading. I saw a couple of these on my first morning on the road, assuming I'd see them all trip long, but they thinned out in a hurry, which was kind of sad. Quirkliy charming thing I'm OK with not going to: drive-through liquor stores. I mean, they're hilarious! And so many of them appear to be repurposed from barns and woodsheds and other structures of that ilk! But it's not like I needed an 18-pack of Bud Ice at any point during my trip or anything. Also: "picnic areas" which were a single covered table and bench maybe 30 feet off the highway. I'd be hard pressed to imagine a less enthralling location from which a picnic could be endured.

Other random impressions: rural Texas felt a lot like rural North Carolina in places, but with the ratio of religious institutions to barbecue places reversed; this is, assuredly, a compliment. Outside of the weird couple percent of the populace who do crazy hyper-aggressive driving in pickup trucks for no obvious reason, pretty much everyone else was unfailingly polite, to the point where people on random rural roads will drive on the shoulder and/or almost plow themselves into a ditch so your impatient ass can pass safely. And downtown Austin gives off the same sort of energy that Portland, Oregon, or Santa Cruz, California, do: this place is weird, but by design, so kindly just run with it.

That's everything I can think of off the top of my head, anyway. I'll add more later if I think of anything. Or feel free to lob questions in my general direction; whichever.
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[youhas]

"The robot only spoke for 0.7 seconds, true. But still: baby steps!" Always good times, steeping in some RB1 vocal nostalgia for a bit. I need to dig around and see if I can find that "Kool Thing" video - "hwhite! male! COR-po-rate oppresSION!" - recorded at one of the random SH-in-NorCal gatherings.

Thanks tons for letting me play Intrepid Couch Surfer for the weekend plus Random Bonus Thursday. Totally had a marvelous time schmoozing with you and yours, and look forward to hanging out during my future Austin-based travels, whenever those might be - more a matter of "when" than "if", really. Next time you'll have to give me some sort of semi-guided tour of a handful of bits of the downtown area, choosing arbitrary venues to inflict upon me. (Though I did manage to make it to both the "i love you so much" and "Hi, How Are You?" "murals", as folks mentioned upthread; thanks to those who suggested those.) Anyway, to the trailblazing questions at hand:

Finally got around to updating the big board. This visit is the aimless mass of forest green counties in Texas, mostly between I-10 and the Mexican border. That makes +52 for the trip, for a new grand total of 1074. Past the one-third mark, finally! (And past the 40% mark for Texas itself, which has more counties than anywhere.) Logged 2166 miles on the rental car, the vast bulk of it in the four days of long-haul county-acquisition travel. Improbably enough, I have fairly close Google Maps approximations for all four days of my trekking about: Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday. (If you did not know I was county-hunting, "path through Texas chosen while on a ketamine bender" would be a reasonable guess, honestly.) Most major cities - Houston! San Antonio! Galveston! Corpus Christi! Laredo! - I don't really visit so much as drive near, or at best dip my toes in for fifteen minutes before deciding I've gotten a reasonable "vibe" of the place before heading on my way. Not that I'm against cities as such; I just prefer to have a local steering me to "good" places if I'm going to burn my time in them.

My favorite place was probably the Alamo Drafthouse, honestly. It's an excellent movie theater concept; I'd somehow been completely oblivious to its existence; if one (or someplace like it) existed within a half-hour's drive of my home, my compatriots and I would be there all the damn time. (Who doesn't want to eat Real Food in a movie theater? While not dealing with chatty fuckheads texting away for two straight hours?) Folks who lobbied to make sure we stopped in there at some point during the weekend were very clearly making The Right Choice; I am appreciative.

My favorite place that I found on my own was probably this random indie Mexican restaurant in Rio Grande City or thereabouts, with a completely generic name like "Rita's" or "Lola's" or something. (I didn't get a chance to record the place's name, on account of my cellphone trying to lock onto a Mexican cell tower at the time.) I'm pretty sure I was far-and-away the whitest person in the establishment. But their combo platter was ridiculously generous for the money, and it contained foodstuffs I'd never come across before, and it was all absurdly fresh and tasty. I mean, it's probably toned down a shade from an actual street cart in Juarez or whatever... but 90% of the experience for 5% of the hassle is a trade I'll make any day of the week.

Unexpectedly quality driving experience: US-377/277 through Texas Hill Country from Rocksprings to Del Rio. Google Maps inferred that this might be some sort of glacial slog, but no: it's a gently curving road through nice rolling hills, both aesthetically pleasing and capable of being traversed at 70mph. Unexpectedly soul-destroying driving experience: US-90 from Comstock to Marfa. No cell service; no FM radio; no charming little towns; no nothing. No matter how fast you go, it's like driving through hundreds of miles of a Samuel Beckett play being staged on a moonscape somewhere. Could spend the rest of my life without doing that again.

(Fun fact: if you are reliant upon FM radio for musical entertainment? And you've found nothing but country music and Spanish-speaking stations for the last couple hours? It's amazing how quickly one's standards for "quality listening" can be modified. "A station promising back-to-back LMFAO songs? Oh, thank god.")

Quirkily charming thing I regret not going to: weird little hole-in-the-wall barbecue places, where the establishment has hand-painted ads on their walls or chintzy plastic signs out front, all broadcasting a "no, seriously, we serve the best brisket ever, fuck anyone who suggests otherwise" message to whoever might be reading. I saw a couple of these on my first morning on the road, assuming I'd see them all trip long, but they thinned out in a hurry, which was kind of sad. Quirkliy charming thing I'm OK with not going to: drive-through liquor stores. I mean, they're hilarious! And so many of them appear to be repurposed from barns and woodsheds and other structures of that ilk! But it's not like I needed an 18-pack of Bud Ice at any point during my trip or anything. Also: "picnic areas" which were a single covered table and bench maybe 30 feet off the highway. I'd be hard pressed to imagine a less enthralling location from which a picnic could be endured.

Other random impressions: rural Texas felt a lot like rural North Carolina in places, but with the ratio of religious institutions to barbecue places reversed; this is, assuredly, a compliment. Outside of the weird couple percent of the populace who do crazy hyper-aggressive driving in pickup trucks for no obvious reason, pretty much everyone else was unfailingly polite, to the point where people on random rural roads will drive on the shoulder and/or almost plow themselves into a ditch so your impatient ass can pass safely. And downtown Austin gives off the same sort of energy that Portland, Oregon, or Santa Cruz, California, do: this place is weird, but by design, so kindly just run with it.

That's everything I can think of off the top of my head, anyway. I'll add more later if I think of anything. Or feel free to lob questions in my general direction; whichever.
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[PiemanLK]

[PiemanLK]

[Carltheshredder]

I can understand your pain driving through West Texas; I do it twice a year and it's damn awful. But that aside, I'm glad you enjoyed it here in the great state of Texas.
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[Carltheshredder]

I can understand your pain driving through West Texas; I do it twice a year and it's damn awful. But that aside, I'm glad you enjoyed it here in the great state of Texas.
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[GuitarHailz]

XM Radio is indeed awesome. I had used it with my sister when we were driving across North Carolina. I recently got a new stereo in my car that plays my phone but more importantly, Pandora radio. If you can get a stereo that works with Pandora it's awesome and overall cheaper. I give that option 2 thumbs up.

Though of course in youhas' case he is at the mercy of whatever they give him in a rental car.... next time you'll have to borrow some of our CD's or I'll burn you a mix CD.

Unfortunately though, you have still the worst parts of Texas left to explore. Heading up towards Lubbock or the panhandle is also pretty soul-destroying, however thankfully you will be much more likely to never run out of radio. I made that drive every year out to Colorado with my family as a kid and I fear my soul will never recover (did I mention my parents never let me have a gameboy?)

Anyways, glad it was all around a good time! Awesome to see the map all colored in now, I didn't realize just how far west you made it. Come back and see us now. (Who knows? Maybe we'll plan one of our 2 upcoming weeks of vacation to go out to the bay area and see what there is to see!)
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[GuitarHailz]

XM Radio is indeed awesome. I had used it with my sister when we were driving across North Carolina. I recently got a new stereo in my car that plays my phone but more importantly, Pandora radio. If you can get a stereo that works with Pandora it's awesome and overall cheaper. I give that option 2 thumbs up.

Though of course in youhas' case he is at the mercy of whatever they give him in a rental car.... next time you'll have to borrow some of our CD's or I'll burn you a mix CD.

Unfortunately though, you have still the worst parts of Texas left to explore. Heading up towards Lubbock or the panhandle is also pretty soul-destroying, however thankfully you will be much more likely to never run out of radio. I made that drive every year out to Colorado with my family as a kid and I fear my soul will never recover (did I mention my parents never let me have a gameboy?)

Anyways, glad it was all around a good time! Awesome to see the map all colored in now, I didn't realize just how far west you made it. Come back and see us now. (Who knows? Maybe we'll plan one of our 2 upcoming weeks of vacation to go out to the bay area and see what there is to see!)
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[youhas]

My experiences with XM radio are mostly limited to it being one of my in-flight entertainment options on the airplane itself, where it's a much-appreciated service indeed for killing hours on end. But yeah, I can't remember whether it's something that just doesn't come with the rental car service whatsoever, or whether it's one of those features where they'll charge some sort of exorbitant amount ($9/day or whatever) for the privilege giving you access to it. Either way, nothing I really get to make use of while slogging to and fro.

Hell, I have pretty much zero idea what my in-car interface is going to look like before I'm actually seated in the vehicle - whether there'll be a true auxiliary jack, or a CD player that accepts discs full of MP3s, or just a boring old audio-discs-only slot. So I typically just assume the worst, burn a fistful of random-ass mix CDs, and call it a day. That was the plan this time around, too... only I was running late on all my various logistical planning, my ride to the airport showed up earlier than expected, and "procure audio entertainment" was one of the things that got cut in the ensuing chaos. (I also managed to forget both sunglasses and socks in my haste, of all things. Just a banner moment for trip management for me over here. But at least I remembered my XBOX hard drive!)

Anyhow: you are, of course, heartily encouraged to come on out to the greater San Francisco Bay Area, to see... er, whatever the hell it is we have out here. Alcatraz! The Golden Gate Bridge! Office parks where the Internet lives! That one really windy road! Other things you may recall from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas! There is a sufficiently robust and geographically diverse Rock Band community kicking around out here that I'm pretty sure we could (a) find someone to provide bountiful details and advice towards whatever you might care to do and (b) cobble together some sort of reasonable get-together in y'all's honor should you make it out.
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[youhas]

My experiences with XM radio are mostly limited to it being one of my in-flight entertainment options on the airplane itself, where it's a much-appreciated service indeed for killing hours on end. But yeah, I can't remember whether it's something that just doesn't come with the rental car service whatsoever, or whether it's one of those features where they'll charge some sort of exorbitant amount ($9/day or whatever) for the privilege giving you access to it. Either way, nothing I really get to make use of while slogging to and fro.

Hell, I have pretty much zero idea what my in-car interface is going to look like before I'm actually seated in the vehicle - whether there'll be a true auxiliary jack, or a CD player that accepts discs full of MP3s, or just a boring old audio-discs-only slot. So I typically just assume the worst, burn a fistful of random-ass mix CDs, and call it a day. That was the plan this time around, too... only I was running late on all my various logistical planning, my ride to the airport showed up earlier than expected, and "procure audio entertainment" was one of the things that got cut in the ensuing chaos. (I also managed to forget both sunglasses and socks in my haste, of all things. Just a banner moment for trip management for me over here. But at least I remembered my XBOX hard drive!)

Anyhow: you are, of course, heartily encouraged to come on out to the greater San Francisco Bay Area, to see... er, whatever the hell it is we have out here. Alcatraz! The Golden Gate Bridge! Office parks where the Internet lives! That one really windy road! Other things you may recall from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas! There is a sufficiently robust and geographically diverse Rock Band community kicking around out here that I'm pretty sure we could (a) find someone to provide bountiful details and advice towards whatever you might care to do and (b) cobble together some sort of reasonable get-together in y'all's honor should you make it out.
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas