1700 Miles to Austin – Part 11 – What I’ve Learned, One Month In

Today marks exactly one full month of living in Austin.  Take that in for a second.  One.  Full.  Month.  Hardly seems possible.  At this point, I expected to be done with this blog.  Pictures of the apartment, a proper send off, etc.  But that hasn’t been the case.  So, before I do my final two posts, let’s take a look at some of the things I’ve learned since landing in the Lone Star State.

– Austin is massive.

– The city has the same stuff New York has, only spread out amongst 272 square miles of hills, valleys, Tex Mex joints and interstates.

– A Texan’s favorite thing in the world is being Texan.

– At any given moment, 65% of the population is wearing Longhorn burnt orange.  On game day Saturdays, the number jumps to 85%.

– Driving puts hate in Jamie’s heart, but she’s getting better.

– Flyovers, soaring highway connections tangled above a maze of roadways, are fun to drive on.  Think a tamer version of a roller coaster’s first hill and you’re halfway there.

– Forget East Village weirdoes.  There’s nothing more fascinating than people watching in a shopping mall at 2:00 in the afternoon.

– Bats.  Thousands of bats.

– Austin is home to three major lakes, Lake Austin, Lake Travis and Lady Bird Lake.  Don’t let them fool you.  They’re really rivers.

– Looking at a weather report in August Austin is senseless and unnecessary.  It’s always 100 degrees and sunny.

– Austin hipsters look just like Brooklyn hipsters, only with burlier beards and friendlier dispositions.

– You know how some NYC bars sell only American craft beer?  Austin has places that only sell Texan craft beer.

– Shinerbock is fine cheap alternative to PBR, but the rest of the line is decent yet uninspiring.

– As an addendum to the above statement, Saint Arnold Brewery, Thirsty Planet and Independence produce quality suds.

– 6^th Street on the weekend is a mad house.  It’s as if the worst of NYU’s undergrads upchucked from the University of Texas onto a six block stretch of fratty bars and nightclubs.

– Rainey Street, a dusty stretch of killer eateries and dog friendly pourhouses, is our favorite spot so far.

– Food trucks.  ‘Nuff said.

– Working from home is lovely in stretches, maddening in others but the pluses outweigh the cons.

– Ming is allergic to grass.  He much prefers running around on the parking lot concrete.

– Having a movie theater across the street is fantastic.

– The scenery of Austin is awe inspiring as you cruise northward towards the Hill Country. Slate colored cliffs hug the highway as a blanket of tree tops paint the landscape with lush green brush strokes.  The sky hovers massive over the city, wide, blue and limitless like the far off horizon of the Atlantic Ocean.

– I love the quiet but miss the bustle.  Enjoy the clean air but crave Manhattan’s perpetual motion.  Austin is lovely but it’s not home yet.

– Yet.