Christmas Eve in Austin

Christmas Eve dawned crisp and clear, warm enough for capris. Headed for the att phone company downtown which turned out to be across from the Market and Seattle’s Best Coffee. Was treated to a really superior salesman who handled everything related to my phone with style and grace and went over to have a coffee and pastry while waiting. Looked over our list of the 10 best things to do in Austin and tried to plan the day accordingly. First on the list, after getting a phone of course, was to check out Town Lake, or Austin Lake, which is part of the Colorado River that flows through town. This part of Austin is truly delightful, with greenbelts, and I think the entire city was out running or walking or rowing or biking along this beautiful parkway. Next on the agenda was the State Capitol, but since it was a state holiday we only got to see the grounds and exterior, which were lovely, and didn’t have to pay parking to boot. Drove south on Congress Street to the SoCo area which is eclectic and filled with shops. One thing about Texans, they love to shop, and many of the “best things to do in Austin” are related to shopping. SoCo was quiet on Christmas Eve however, so we just drove by and looked as we continued on to Barton Springs and Zilcher Park. This truly is a best thing to do in Austin, the location of the fall Austin City Limits festival and more than 300 acres of paths, trails, picnic areas, an arboretum, sculpture gardens, and the river flowing through the middle. Barton Springs is a natural limestone spring in the middle of Barton Creek that has a long pool, 1/8 mile long, 68 degree water and crystal clear blue colors. People were actually swimming! Down below the pool was a natural area of the creek where there was shallow water and a gentle current where Abby played in the water and swam for a long time while I tried to catch up all my phone calls since I finally had a phone again. Christmas Eve. We had a park hot dog there and continued on reluctantly to our next adventure on the 10 things to do in Austin.


Next adventure was to drive out to Lake Travis. This wasn’t anything like I had imagined the Austin area to be like. It was huge and developed, and the houses were bigger than anything I have seen in California and covered the hills all around the city for miles and miles. The hills were covered with ugly oaks and junipers with very little open space and the lake itself was a huge but very long narrow body of water that was basically invisible because of all the development. We drove many miles through this ugly stuff, all generic, and it felt a lot like it feels to drive through suburbs of LA. We were in the Geo and the roads in spite of the development were rough and bumpy, the sun was glaring and the driving gave Mo a headache. A rare thing. Couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Once back in downtown Austin, we tried to find a place to relax and have a pizza before we went downtown again for some music and then later to a Christmas Eve service. But don’t ever try to find a local pizza on Christmas Eve, we drove and drove up and down the main streets of Austin, north on Guadalupe and Congress, back to South Congress, back and forth on 5th and 6th and nothing. Finally, at the far end of town up beyond 37th street there was a Chili’s, so we gave in to generic and had a great supper there and a celebratory glass of wine. At 7 we drove downtown to the bar that was supposed to have some live music, but once more internet advertising proved to be wrong and the bar was dark. So we drove back over to the St David’s Church where the 6pm service was ending and the 7:30 pm service that was advertised wasn’t happening and we had to wait until 8 to go to the later service.

This was a part off Austin that is the central gathering area for the homeless, there is a large distribution point just 1 block east of the church and lots of people milled about asking for handouts. It was a bit scary in the dark, and we parked on 6th street and tried to be sure we were careful around the alleys. I know better than carrying anything when in the city in the dark, but stupidly I had that huge cat lady bag and didn’t want to leave it in the Geo either since it had my phone, my money, everything.

So off I wandered through the dark streets, watching the alleys furtively with my big old lady Laurel Birch cat bag held tightly under my arm. We walked up 6th a ways to find the Driskell Hotel, a truly magnificent building that was decorated beautifully complementing the many stained glass skylights and huge pillars in the lobby. The hotel was an historic one, and had the distinction of being a favorite hangout of LBJ, and was the place where he and Ladybird had their first date.

The church was an old one, an Episcopal church, and really quite lovely in it’s simplicity. There were also many stained glass windows but at night you couldn’t see the colors, just the images that were there. When the service started there was some great music, a soprano soloist that was sweet as something celestial, and a big pipe organ. The Episcopal service was much like what I remembered from my days going to Catholic Midnight Masses with my grandmother, except that it was all in English instead of Latin. The procession was beautiful with the choir members walking the aisles holding candles and singing. Even the sermon was delightful with the woman who was the presiding bishop speaking in tones that were calm and poetic. I told Mo that if church had been like that when I was a kid I might have really loved it. No guilt, just lovely music and soft kind words. I didn’t feel one bit of the negativity that sometimes overwhelms me in the presence of patriarchal organized religion. It just felt ritualistic in a good way, remembering somehow the good parts of it all.

Left the church and wound our way home back through the Hispanic neighborhoods, enjoying the lights and sounds and especially happy to return to the little house waiting at the HWY 71 RV Park.

To Austin

December 23 on the road again heading for Austin to spend a couple of days exploring that famously eclectic city. Found the campground along HWY 71 after a few fumbles early enough that there was still time to go into town and begin to see what all the hoopla is about when people talk of Austin.

The HWY 71 RV park is on the southeast side of town, which is the older part of Austin and there were a lot of Hispanic neighborhoods as we drove through this older part to get to downtown. Again, a big advertised visitor center for the city, supposedly open till 6 had a note on the door that they had closed at 3pm. Another big sigh until I managed to get the attention of a woman inside who grudgingly handed me a map of the city through the old door.

The visitor center is right on 6th Street, what is know as the bourbon Street of Austin. This time of year and this time of day though was less than exciting except for the many homeless people all around. There were several bars and some older looking buildings but with the University of Texas on break and most families home for Christmas, it was pretty quiet. Found a neat old Irish Pub in an historic building that had an original bar that had been assembled and disassembled in Dublin before being brought here and rebuilt here in Austin. Had Irish Coffee’s and bar food while three footballs games broadcasted at once on the big screens, while checking out the Austin map and planning where to go next.

One of the things I had read that was not to be missed in Austin was the Whole Foods Market, the main headquarters for the famous food chain. Downtown Austin is pretty easy to navigate with numbered streets following sensible block patterns unless they run into a river or the capitol or something like that, so finding the store was easy. And what a store it was. I walked in while Mo tried to park and was awed and overwhelmed. It was every food lover’s delight, with acres of wine, miles of cheeses, walls of olive oil, and rows and rows of bins of nuts, seeds, and grains. The store was as big as a Wal-Mart but seriously high end. The people were filling the aisles and overheard conversations were fun, especially the woman counting on her fingers as she eyed a huge ham. The meat section was every cooks dream, with tenderloin filet roasts that were 25 bucks a pound and about 2 feet long and huge crown roasts of pork with all the cute little hats on the end bones. By the time I made it to the salad bars, I was completely overwhelmed with choices, and there were several separate little food bars where people were eating different varieties of food. I have never seen a place like this. The final topping to the extreme nature of the market was the ice skating rink on the roof, where people from Austin came to ice skate as a part of their shopping Christmas experience. Amazing.

After that it was late so traveled back through town watching the moon rise over the Capitol and then across the river to our little park back 20 miles south in Bastrop.

37th Street Austin Christmas


There are no words for 37th Street in Austin at Christmas. It’s just a small short street in an ordinary neighborhood with an amazing history of people coming together to do something special. Mo and I read about it in the 10 best things to do in Austin, and decided to go find it. It really is the BEST thing to do in Austin at Christmas. Don’t miss it. Pictures can’t catch it and words fail me. Tacky, crazy, glitzy, and completely out of control and completely wonderful, we walked 37th street with hundreds of people and were delighted as children by the lights and colors and laughter.

crossing Louisiana

On Saturday we left New Orleans early and continued westward through Louisiana. Following the historic Old Spanish Trail HWY 90 was the plan so that we could see more of the real area rather than the artificial world of the Interstate. The real world of Louisiana is certainly not a place I need to see again, and the rough roads made it feel like I was riding a bucking bronco most of the day. Took hours and hours to go just 150 miles and the day was supposed to be an easy 300 miler but at 3:30 in the afternoon there were still 15 0 miles to go. Not a fun thing when it’s windy and trying to find the RV park and set up in the dark. After watching many miles off trashy trailers and garbage and dumpy stuff along the old highway we bailed and got on I-10. What a relief that was! The trash gave way to open road and scattered off ramps with the general generic stuff, but at least it was clean.

A bit of a bright spot in the morning included several miles through the swamps off the gulf coast. Found out that the difference between a swamp and a marsh has to do with trees in the water versus herbaceous plants in the water. The swamps were endless, with bayous appearing occasionally. Also found out that the official definition of a “bayou” is a small waterway off a larger waterway with slow moving water. The bayous we passed were trails winding off into the swamp, but didn’t see any boats or people in them, and more often than not there was floating trash. Sad.

Stopped in an historic town called Morgan City, looked for the Visitor Center which for no explainable reason was closed even though it was listed as open. Christmas, I guess. Wandered through the town to search for historic buildings, and found a huge seawall holding the river back all along the main street, which actually had nothing off interest at all. Maybe the view of that huge blank seawall was the draw, who knows. Found an alternate bridge over the river that looked pretty scary, in bad need of a paint job and left the burg behind as we continued west.

Keeping to the HWY90 route gave the opportunity to travel to Avery Island, another bright spot in an otherwise fairly dismal day. Avery Island is the home of the Tabasco Plant, and consists of thousands of feet of old salt dome that forms a hilly landscape that stands out dramatically surrounded by Louisiana flat wet fields. Took the factory tour, watched the video, walked the lovely grounds, and checked out the Tabasco Country Store. While there a couple of guys showed up on bicycles who left San Diego about 20 days ago. Hmmm, same as us in a motor home! They were headed for Florida and it was fun visiting with them for a bit. Tabasco sweet pickles, silk scarves, tee shirts, and recipes filled the store and tasting Tabasco flavored vanilla ice cream is an experience quite unforgettable. I didn’t buy any.

Leaving Avery Island, however, takes you back into the Louisiana boring flat dirty stuff, so getting on the freeway again was a good thing. Finally crossed the state line into Texas at sunset, and it was one of the longest sunsets I have seen. The glow just lasted forever. We both laughed because the minute we crossed into Texas things started feeling better, more familiar somehow, more western, more open. Amazing that even Texas could feel good. Drove by Vidor when my sister used to live and opted out of a side trip to the gulf coast because of her vivid descriptions of smells and trash on the beach. I have seen enough good beaches that I didn’t need to waste time to find out about this one. Thanks Sal.

The campground we chose from the CampClub USA book was right along the freeway, was open, was very small, called Turtle Bayou. The proprietor was a very friendly older man full of helpful conversation and offers off assistance as we set up for the night. The space was right at the front of the park, a pull through so we could get going fast in the morning, so it wasn’t until we left the next day that I saw the really pretty bayou right there in the park.

New Orleans

This morning we woke and made a plan for “what to do in New Orleans if you have one day” from the Frommer’s internet site about the city. The plan worked fairly well and we walked to the French Quarter and began out day with Café au Lait and bignettes at the famous and historical Café Dumonde on Decatur Street. Classic New Orleans experience, with lots of street actors, street art in the square, and people sitting around drinking coffee. Then a walk along the Mississippi on the Moonwalk to the ferry that took us across the river to Old Algiers. Didn’t get off the ferry and just rode it back, but got a great view of the city from the river and some historical information about Mardi Gras displayed well in the terminal.
The fog was lingering, in fact it never lifted all day so I bought a warm fuzzy jacket that said “bourbon street” and we explored some of the shops on Royal Street and ate the traditional “Muffaletta” sandwich at a restaurant that was probably as old as the city itself. The sandwich is a treat of ham, pastrami, salami, some cheeses on a soft big round seeded roll with olive salad pickles and peppers piled high. One was plenty for two people and the internet search had already warned about this so it wasn’t a surprise. Walked through the French Quarter winding our way home and had a chance to visit the oldest above ground cemetery in the United States at St Louis Cemetery. It was fascinating, and in the fog made for way too many photo opportunities. We even found the tomb of a big family who emigrated from Malta in the late 1700’s and produced some very prominent New Orleans citizens.

We took a nice long break at home, reading and watching some tv, resting our feet, writing, and left on the little golf cart one more time to walk to the Canal Street stop for the street cars that go to the Garden District. The St Charles streetcars are historic electric trolleys, just like the ones in San Francisco without the hills of course. Interestingly, most of the passengers were local working folks and not a lot of tourists. Another noticeable thing about the part of New Orleans that we visited is the lack of Hispanic people, The news reports that the black folks aren’t coming back and the Hispanics are here now, doing the work, but most of what I saw in New Orleans were black people.

The streetcar took us to the Garden District where the houses are huge magnificent southern mansions with their very own New Orleans character. Walking through the streets reminded me so much of the novel “The Witching Hour”. Reading that story by Anne Rice was so graphic to me, in her detailed descriptions of the sights, smells and feeling of New Orleans in the steamy summer. The Anne Rice house called “Rosemont” is right there where I walked on First Street but I neglected to look up the address before our travels there. Looking at the photos later on the internet, though, showed her home to be similar to many that I saw in that neighborhood. It was the house that she wrote about in all her books about the Mayfair witches. Made me want to read the book all over again, but at the moment I am reading Gone With the Wind and thinking about Charleston and Savannah as Margaret Mitchell writes about them with a new mental picture.

Rode the car back to town and began the adventure of Bourbon Street in the early evening. What can I say, it’s Bourbon Street. The most famous on-going party in the country, I guess. I can’t imagine how it must be late at night or especially during Mardi Gras, but it was enough for me to see it as I did, in the early evening. We had a Cajun dinner at Le Bayou while watching the people walk by on the street, most of them laughing and carrying their plastic beer glasses and making a lot of racket. Stores filled with kitchy stuff, a voodoo shop, and of course the bars, bar after bar, all pouring music into the streets, and hotel rooms above the bars with people hanging over the rails made for a great image of what New Orleans is all about. Drinking, I think, and maybe eating is next. I’m glad I got to see it, and probably don’t have to do it again, but it was fun. Wandered back through the streets to the “safe” information center where we phoned the golf cart to pick us up and ferry us across the dark empty abandoned parking lot to our home. Very tired even though it wasn’t that late, but glad to be done and glad to have seen New Orleans In a Day.