When in Roam

Austin

January 8–15, 2021: Austin

We left Dallas and drove literally 190 miles straight on I-35 South to Texas’ capital city. Waco was halfway down the pike. Based on the large volume of billboards there, they’re very proud of their brand, which doubles down on both cowboy and gun culture. I felt like I had to walk like John Wayne when we stopped at the Mickey D’s to powder my nose, pilgrim. Very impressed by the chain’s bathroom quality assurance program. It’s been consistently high throughout our trip, which has included over 20 pit stops to date.

At first, we were a little leery of our Austin Airbnb entitled Designer Home near University of Texas, 3.3 miles north of the state capitol on Congress Ave. It was in a neighborhood that seemed a bit funky, a couple of blocks from the railroad tracks. But, upon further examination, after checking in, driving to the local supermarket for provisions, and checking out the homes on Red River St., we were mistaken. It seems that property value has gone through the roof here, almost as fast as Tesla stock. It’s a modern treehouse, about 1,000 square feet, that sits over a garage in an unassuming yet charming neighborhood of Hyde Park.

Spent the rest of the day making inroads on my sous chef designation. I made Carol’s guacamole all by myself. Yes, I’m puffing out my chest as I write this.

We had some sweet potato chili with wine as we checked out The Undoing. After this week’s violent insurrection, I had no patience for further investment in a slow-motion wreck of what, at first blush, seemed to be a murder and the undoing of a rich couple’s marriage. I was all for exploring what seems to be another theme in the show, the disparity between the haves and have-nots, but the real events of this week made that clear as day.

On our first full day in town, we drove 25 miles southeast of Austin to my cousin Elene aka Leenie’s house and barn in Dale, Texas. FYI, only family and friends from back in the day get to call her Leenie — so don’t go getting any ideas now. According to her, we are first cousins, once-removed. I have not been able to wrap my head around genealogical relationships. I prefer to think about them as family org charts. My dad’s oldest sister was my Aunt Henrietta, aka Aunt Hen. Her nickname made sense to me because she lived in a rural area, Ellenville NY. Leenie is one of Aunt Hen’s granddaughters. The last time I recall seeing her was December 23, 1972. The reason I remember that day is because it was the date of the Immaculate Reception, arguably one of the top five most amazing plays in NFL history. I was a thirteen-year-old sports-obsessed preadolescent watching the game from Aunt Hen’s home and, at one point, Leenie popped by to say hey. Through Facebook I’m thankful that I’ve been able to reconnect with all four of Aunt Hen and Uncle Abe’s granddaughters, but Leenie is the first one I’ve seen since back in the day.

It was wonderful and fascinating to spend the afternoon together, sharing her day-to-day life, which is sooo different from mine. We got to meet her pooches, Shayna and Roslyn, who, in addition to being wonderful animals, protect her goats, Wine and Summer, from coyotes at night. We also met her Bay Morgan mare, Velvet, and her friend’s horse, Geronimo, who also live in her barn.

We drove to Lockhart, where we ate her fav BBQ, Black’s. I had a turkey breast sandwich and sides that were phenomenal! Imagine spending time with someone from your family for the first time in 48 years? So thankful to have had this opportunity.

Then it was home to freshen up. Probably for the first time in my life, this included removing dog, goat, and horsehair from my garments. We turned it around to dine and imbibe under the heated outdoor patio at La Mancha, with a former manager of mine and his better half. I’ve been fortunate enough to report to and work with Adam more than once over the last decade. And it was meaningful to me for Carol to meet him and Sheri, as I haven’t had many occasions where my personal life and professional life have intersected. What’s better than great conversation, coupled by great food and drink!

We couldn’t have asked for a more well-rounded and special day. Especially after the past week. Felt so good, that we actually gave The Undoing another chance, and consumed episodes two and three. The enjoyment came from trying to predict the twists and turns. For my money, at this point, I thought Donald Sutherland’s character orchestrated the hit.

The next day we participated in a Zoom b’day party for one of our dear friends that included a BarNoneTrivia.com game. Then we were dusted with two inches of snow, and lost power for a couple of hours. That’s how they roll in Texas. Had to cuddle for warmth. You gotta do what you gotta do! The power returned and we had a couple of glasses of vino to accompany our sweet potato chili, and watched the last three episodes of The Undoing. Carol called it a day and I watched the Browns beat the Steelers to win their first playoff game in 25 years. Go, Browns!

On Monday, we drove an hour and fifteen minutes down 1–35 S to The Alamo in San Antonio, which is not to be confused with Alamo, Texas, which is five hours south by car. I wasn’t aware of how far apart they are from each other geographically.

Architecturally, the Alamo’s New World Spanish ecclesiastic style — off-white bricks of various shapes and sizes — reminded us of, and probably inspired, the design work of local Austin institutions, such as the exterior walls of the Austin Convention Center’s entrance.

Here’s some context of what led up to and occurred during the battle that made this mission-turned- fort, famous:

- Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821

- Many American settlers moved to Texas and became Mexican citizens

- Mexican General Santa Anna was elected President in 1932

- Constitutional changes that centralized and strengthened the national government were instituted in 1835

- Texians, as they were called then, declared their independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836

President/General Santa Anna and his troops arrived on February 23rd, laid siege to the fort for 13 days, and then attacked on March 6th, 1836. They killed every soldier in the fort, estimated to be between 182–257, but not the women, children, nor slaves. Between 400–600 Mexican soldiers were killed as well.

Although Mexico won the battle, it lost the war. Sam Houston, who was there, advised against going to battle, and then left. He enlisted a ton of men and defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. Fast forward nine years and Texas became our union’s 28th state.

The crowd was sparse on the gray, 48-degree day that we were there. Guess our fellow visitors, like us, didn’t have the luxury of waiting for a warm sunny day to tour. We were expecting it to feel legendary but to my chagrin, all of the signage, and the prominent placement of the gift shop and refreshment stands, made it feel more like a Disney attraction.

While in town, we also checked out a snippet of the 15-mile-long San Antonio River Walk near the Alamo. It, too, felt like a theme park attraction — an outdoor lazy water ride, sans flume, on a cold day, if the park were closed. I was here years ago for work in the warm weather when the place was hoppin’, and this was not that time. I look forward to coming back in the new normal and savoring this place, as well as how we continue to evolve as a country and a people.

Yep, I’m workin’ hard to put out that good karma. I appreciate ya for doin’ the same 😉.

On the way back to Austin, we stopped in town so Carol could get a fix of Home Slice Pizza. Seems that in the South, very few of these establishments:

1- are familiar with the concept of offering only a slice of pizza, vs. a whole pie

2- serve pizza without smothering it in parmesan cheese

What’s up with that? Can someone explain it to me? And, while we’re at it:

- Mustard and ketchup are standard prefixed hamburger condiments?!

- No gas station, convenience store, hotel, or restaurant offers milk when serving coffee? Only those little cups of original, French vanilla, or hazelnut heavy cream. Where’s the whole, 2%, skim, almond, or, dare I say, oat milk?! Really?!

I know what you’re gonna say…, “You’re in TEXAS. Stick to bar-b-que, or Tex-Mex.” I know, I know.

We ate dinner watching last week’s 60 Minutes with Nancy Pelosi walking Leslie Stahl through the damage done by the domestic terrorists that trampled through the Capitol building last week. To calm down we watched a bunch of Pixar shorts. Very soothing. Highly recommend checking ’em out if you have Disney+. We closed out watching the first two episodes of Scorsese’s documentary Pretend, It’s a City on Netflix. As New Yorkers, it was fun picking out all the locations they filmed Fran Lebowitz at, especially The Players Club and the Hall of Science. I’ve never seen one person provide a greater percentage of laugh track than Scorsese does in this series.

The next day’s weather was consistently chilly but, with only a few days left in town, we forged ahead from the north, where we’re staying, straight down Red River St. to:

- University of Texas: Only school I can think of where in addition to knowing their cheer, “Hook em’ Horns!” I take great delight in being able to deliver the hand motion (extended forefinger and pinky, while holding the rest of the hand in a fist). Are there any other educational institutions that can compare to that? We knew we were getting close to campus when we started to see a lot of burnt orange (Pantone color 159U for those keeping score) coupled with their iconic Texas Longhorn logo, which refers to their mascot, Bevo. Like the other campuses we visited to date, there was no place to park, and not much to see. The closest we got was a drive-by of the LBJ Presidential Library parking lot.

- State Capitol: It’s an imposing building in distinctive red granite from Burnet County. As soon as I stopped to get a quick pic, a Texas Ranger started walking slowly but deliberately towards Sweet Chariot. We were on our way before I could see if he resembled Chuck Norris.

- Sixth Street: When I was here years ago visiting my Cousin Adam, who was teaching at UT, the street was packed and we heard some great blues at a little joint whose name escapes me. Now though, just about everything is shut down aside from the legendary Driskill Hotel, where among other things, LBJ and Lady Bird had their first date.

The next day, we ventured out to South Congress, aka SoCo. A lotta trendy joints. For instance, we saw our first brick-and-mortar Allbirds store (there are only 13 of them nationwide)?! And our first TOMS store (they sell sneakers, sunglasses, hoodies, and tees online + java in their stores). By then, I was ready to wade through a sea of guacamole to cross the street. We drove to the Barton Creek Greenbelt, savored hiking a trail in only a sweatshirt, and watched a couple of dudes finish a rock climb.

Afterwards, I had the pleasure of meeting up with one of my fav colleagues for a beverage at Cherrywood Coffeehouse in East Austin. I’ve worked with Julia at a few companies and it was great meeting on her turf. It may have been the first time we’ve ever spoken without referencing Salesforce.com (she’s a sales ops guru).

After an hour spent that felt like 20 minutes, it was home to our Austin treehouse to deliver a Moms Demand Action training.

Our last day in town included another meet-up with another former colleague. There’s a special relationship you develop with your corporate counsel when you’re teaming up to close enterprise deals, and I was fortunate in being able to work with Suhayb on many of them. My fav part — aside from getting to signature — was the internal sideline chat during negotiation discussions. Now that would be a great read! He suggested we dine outdoors at Jewboy Burgers. You can’t make this stuff up! Wonderful when you can pick up right where you left off, even if you haven’t connected in three years.

Carol and I checked out Rainey Street on the south side of town. It was still home to the same great BBQ and craft brew bungalows and food trucks that I savored eating at — but now they were backed up by 20+ story new high rises?! The Austin/Round Rock metropolitan area population has grown 80% since 2000. And, with Oracle and Tesla relocating here, and Apple bringing another 7,000 jobs, this place is red hot.

We strolled nearby Lady Bird Lake, a reservoir that feeds off the Colorado River and offers a great view of Austin. The running/biking path that parallels the river is perfectly situated to watch rowing teams and kayakers on one side, and downtown on the other.

We closed out our time in the Live Music Capital of the World aka the Violet Crown City at The Line Austin’s rooftop bar. It delivered another vantage point of the lake we just walked, offering us a chance to replay the afternoon and further commit it to memory.

For our last evening, we met a friend of Carol’s from Girl Scouts and her hubby, who had protected Austinites as a public servant. We drove just north of the city for some fine Stiles Switch BBQ. I played my bi-weekly-get-outta-jail card for some brisket, and, boy, we never served this recipe at Passover seder! I threw in some pulled pork, homemade coleslaw, and washed ’em down with a couple of Shiner Bocks for good measure. The conversation centered around two favorite Texas pastimes: smoking meat and college football. When in Roam! I hear the legendary announcer Keith Jackson calling “Whoa Nellie,” as I write this.

Onward to Lubbock, Texas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico!