Things to Do, Places to Go, and People to See

Three Things You Should Do Before You Leave Austin

1. View a Texas sunset from the decks at The Oasis [6550 Comanche Trail on Lake Travis] or from the top of Mount Bonnell [Mount Bonnell Road via West 35th St or FM 2222]. The Oasis serves drinks and food, but the drinks are better than the food. If you are hungry, come back to town via FM 2222 and stop at The County Line on the Lake Austin just east of the intersection of Highway 360 and FM 2222 [5204 FM 2222; 346-3664].

Mount Bonnell is a city park area so you will have to bring your own food and drink, but you can see some of the multi-million dollar homes on Lake Austin. The peak of this city park offers a great view of the Hill Country, but there are over a 100 steps to the top of the 775-foot climb.

2. Attend the Hippy Hour on Tuesday nights at the Continental Club [1315 S. Congress; 441-2444] to see and hear Toni Price. Toni Price performs between 6:30 PM and 9 PM. The place is usually packed and you may not get in immediately, but wait since people are always coming and going. Small cover charge for the Hippy Hour.

If you are hungry, try Guero's Taco Bar [1412 S. Congress; 707-8232] or Jovita's Mexican Restaurant (Tex-Mex) [1619 S. First; 447-7825]. Jovita's has live music most nights between 8 and 10 PM.

3. Go to the Broken Spoke in South Austin [3201 S. Lamar; 442-6189] on Friday or Saturday night. 'The Spoke' is a true Texas honky-tonk dance hall. The dancing begins at 9 PM. You can eat in the restaurant in the front. Try the Chicken-Fried Steak. Even if you don't know the Texas Two-Step, you will enjoy listening to 'real' country and western music and seeing the latest western fashions. Maybe you will get to see The Geezinslaws, Gary P. Nunn, Dale Watson or Alvin Crow. Cover charge on Friday and Saturday nights.

Texas' oldest dance hall is Gruene Hall (pronounced green hall) [in Gruene; 803-606-1281] near New Braunfels.

Three Foods (and One Beverage) You Should Try Before You Leave Austin

1. Shiner Bock - Shiner is the preferred beer in Austin even though Shiner only sells about 1% of the beer in Texas (Anheuser-Busch has about 50% of the beer market in Texas).

2. Tex-Mex - Try El Azteca [2600 E. 7th; 477-4701], El Arroyo [1624 W. 5th; 474-1222 & two other Austin locations], and El Patio [2938 Guadaloupe; 476-5955].

3. Texas Barbecue - Try Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q (eat-in or take-out) [11570 Research Blvd; 418-9898 & two other Austin locations], Artz Rib House [2230 S. Lamar; 442-8283], Stubb's Bar-B-Q [801 Red River; 480-0040], The County Line [on the lake at 5204 FM 2222; 346-3664 or on the hill at 6500 W Bee Caves Road; 327-1742] and The Salt Lick (Cash only & BYOB) [18300 FM 1826 near Driftwood, Texas, 858-4959].

4. Chicken-Fried Steak - Try Hill's Cafe [4700 South Congress Avenue; 512-851-9300], Threadgill's [Original at 6416 N. Lamar; 451-5440 or World Headquarters at 301 W. Riverside Dr; 472-9304] or the Broken Spoke [3201 S. Lamar; 442-6189].

Austin Must Try Restuarants

Where to Buy:

1. Western Wear - Shepler's (The World's Largest Western Stores) [6001 Middle Fiskville Road near Highland Mall; 454-3000] and Allen's Boots [1522 S. Congress Ave.; 512-447-1413 and other locations].

2. Souvenirs and Gifts - Guitars & Cadillacs

3. CDs - Waterloo Records [600-A North Lamar; 474-2500]

4. Ice Cream - Blue Bell available at grocery stores and Amy's Ice Cream [10000 Research; 345-1006 in the Arboretum and other locations]

5. Clothing - Outlet malls (Prime Outlets and Tanger Outlets) in San Macros.

6. Hamburgers - Whataburger [various locations], Hut's [807 W. 6th St.; 472-0693].

7. Books - BookPeople, the largest bookstore in Texas [6th & Lamar, 512-472-5050].

Other Things to Do, Places to Go and People to See

1. Texas State Capitol Building [11th Street and Congress] - Completed in 1888, it is the largest of all state capitol buildings and is second in total size only to the National Capitol in Washington, D.C.

2. [Bob Bullock] Texas State History Museum [at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr Bld & North Congress Ave] - Bob Bullock often talked about opening a state museum in Austin and pushed through plans for the museum before retiring from public office in 1998. His work in state government spanned four decades, including eight years as lieutenant governor and 16 years as comptroller. Bullock died on June 18, 1999.

3. O. Henry Museum [409 E. 5th] - Visitors may tour the 1891 home and view personal belongings of Austin resident and short-story writer William Sidney Porter (also known as O. Henry).

4. Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum [2313 Red River] - The museum includes a collection of more than 45 million pages of historical documents, a re-created Oval Office, personal items from President Johnson's life and rotating exhibits.

5. Bats at the Congress Street Bridge [call 416-5700 for emergence times] - From mid-March to early November, about 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats live under the Congress Avenue bridge at Town Lake. The bat colony generally emerges up to an hour before dark.

6. Stevie Ray Vaughan Statue on Town Lake hike-and-bike trail. - With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the 1980s. His tragic death in 1990 in a helicopter crash only emphasized his influence in blues and American rock & roll.

7. Moonlight Towers [various locations in downtown Austin] - The so-called "moonlight (or moon) towers" in Austin are the only surviving examples of the tower lighting systems that were common in American cities in the late 1800s.

8. Treaty Oak [503 Baylor Street] - Legend says that Stephen F. Austin signed a peace treaty with Native Americans in the early 1800s under this tree that estimated to be between 500 and 600 years old. Before it was poisoned in 1989, the oak was listed in the National Register of Famous Trees as the most perfect specimen of an oak in North America.

9. Barton Springs Swimming Pool in Zilker Park [2201 Barton Springs Road] - Austin's largest park features Barton Springs, a spring-fed natural swimming pool.

10. Guy Forsyth on Sunday nights at Antone's [213 W. Fifth; 474-5314]. Or maybe Rusty Wier on Thursday nights at the Saxon Pub [1320 South Lamar; 448-2552]. Or look for W. C. Clark at either venue.

11. Round Rock Express [The Dell Diamond is located 3-4 miles east of Round Rock, Texas on Highway 79] - This "local" professional baseball team is the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros and plays in the Texas League from April through Labor Day holiday (first Monday in September).

12. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema [409 Colorado; 867-1839] - Dinner, drinks, and movies.

13. Hippy Hollow Park (on Comanche Trail near The Oasis) - This heavily-used park, the only clothing optional public park in Texas, is popular for sunbathing and swimming.

14. Sam and Bob - Radio call-in show on KVET 98.1 FM, 6 AM - 10 AM.

15. Walking Tours of Historic Austin (March through November) [512-454-1545 or 800-926-2282 ext 7226] - Capitol Grounds (60 minutes), Bremond Block (90 minutes), Congress Avenue and East 6th Street (90 minutes).

16. Austin Chronicle - Free weekly newspaper available on Thursdays at grocery stores, etc. Good source for what's happening in Austin.

17. Eeyore's Birthday Party [Pease Park, 1100 Kingsbury, usually last Saturday in April] - If you ever wondered where all the hippies went, they're here on the banks of Shoal Creek in honor of Pooh Bear's pobrecito amigo. For families, it's a festive day with group games, contests, and face painting. For more uninhibited revelers, it's an uproarious costumed romp of drum circles, live music, and wild dancing.

18. Sixth Street is perhaps the best known Austin street outside of Austin. But 6th Street is more than just bars and live music; it's also an interesting mix of architecture and a popular site for events of all kinds. The downtown entertainment district portion of 6th Street is between IH-35 and Congress Avenue.

19. Capital Saddlery [1614 Lava, 478-9309] - This Austin institution, made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker's song about bootmaker Charlie Dunn, was opened in 1930 by "Buck" Steiner [1899-2001]. If it's leather and has anything to do with boots or horses, it's crammed in here somewhere. "Buck" Steiner, a member of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, parlayed a knack fo bull riding into this saddle shop and a ranching empire. Steiner once owned the 5,300-arce Steiner Ranch along Lake Travis.

20. Austin Ice Bats [512-927-PUCK]. Austin's hockey team in the Central Hockey League. The season is from October through March.

21. SoCo - South Congress Avenue offers an eclectic mix of galleries, cafes and vintage shops. Check out Lucy in Disguise, a costume shop filled with retro duds, Under the Sun for clothing and memorabilia from the '40s and '50s, Allen's Boots for Western wear (and a local vibe) and Yard Dog for folk art from the American South..

22. To be continued..........

Key Dates and Celebrations in Texas

Texas Independence Day (March 2, 1836) - The Republic of Texas was born on March 2, 1836 when a delegation at Washington-on-the-Brazos adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence. Four days later, the Alamo fell to Santa Ana. On March 27, over 300 unarmed Texans [prisoners of war] were massacred [executed for treason] at Goliad. [General Ignacio Zaragoza, who led the Mexicans in the Battle of of Puebla, was born in Goliad in 1829. See Cinco de Mayo below.] But on April 21 at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Ana met defeat and for almost 10 years Texas was an independent nation.

Juneteenth is a Texas-wide celebration commemorating June 19, 1865, the day Union Army troops landed in Galveston, spreading the news of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Although The Emancipation Proclamation officially freed the slaves as of January 1, 1863, it wasn't until the end of the war that it had any affect on conditions in Texas.

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday celebrating the victory of indigenous Mexicans over the French invaders at the Battle of Puebla outside Mexico City on May 5, 1862. The victory strengthened national pride even though the French won a short Mexican occupation from 1864 to 1867. General Ignacio Zaragoza, who led the Mexicans in the Battle of of Puebla, was born in Goliad [See Texas Independence Day above.] in 1829. Contrary to what some may think, Cinco De Mayo does not mark Mexico's Independence from Spain. Diez y Seis, Mexican Independence Day on September 16 commemorates Father Hidalgo y Costilla's call to arms against Spain in 1810.

The siege of the Alamo began February 23, 1836 and ended March 6, 1836. The siege and the final assault on the Alamo in 1836 constitute the most celebrated military engagement in Texas history. The battle was conspicuous for the large number of illustrious personalities among its combatants. These included Tennessee congressman David Crockett, entrepreneur-adventurer James Bowie, and Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna. Although not nationally famous at the time, William Barret Travis achieved lasting distinction as commander at the Alamo. For many Americans and most Texans, the battle has become a symbol of patriotic sacrifice.

I wanna to go home to the armadillo,
country music from Amarillo to Abilene,
the friendliest people and the
prettiest women you've ever seen.
                  -- Gary P. Nunn, London Homesick Blues