Hello all,

This blog entry is written after a fantastic two days in Ausin TX, following a 14 hour car journey from Phoenix.

Jensen and I split the drive into two and drove 7 hours each, starting at 22:30 on the Sunday night and arriving in Austin on the Monday afternoon (2 hours ahead) after a few 'gas' stops, a border patrol and a getting a little sleep when we could.

We looked around Austin in the day time, post check in and shower. As you will be able to see from the photos (forgive the inaccurate and non-standardised citing method) we saw the Texas state capitol building and surrounding grounds (cue generic jumping shot) which was a surprisingly old building. Most things on the West of the US are very new and so to see a city with a lot more culture and character was pretty refreshing. Making our way down to 6th avenue saw the presence of a plethera of bars an restaurants, all gearing up to host live bands for the evening's entertainment. It seemed like a very cool place to come and spend a night out, if only we weren't so tired.

So we headed just out of the centre of Austin for a bite to eat at a place called Hoover's Cooker. I had a local dish called a Po'boy (just a sandwich) with, of course, chips. It was actually lovely and seems to be a staple food here in the South. The day then saw our early retirement, in preparation for our day tomorrow.

The next day, after Jensen had made our lunch (see one of the photos...... that was my citation by the way), we drove to the south part of Austin, near the river. There were some open fields and lots of trees around, perfect for a picnic. There was also an area called Barton Springs. It was a section of the Austin River that was closed off, with concrete sides and a diving board put in place. On each side there were grassy banks to lay on in the sun. It was such a cool place to chill out, play guitar and have a dip when you got too hot.

The night we had a few drinks at a bar called Bikinis. All the waitresses and bar ladies were in jean shorts and bikini tops. The majority of the clientele comprised middle aged men, unsurprisingly. We then caught some live music at a place called FRIENDS. Some improvised bluesy solos and aggresive keys playing, coupled with a bored blues drummer. We then had dinner at a Mexican place and headed out looking for another bar to enjoy. We found a place that had pool tables and table football, along with this game called shuttleboard. It was essentially the same premise as curling, except it was plays with smaller 'stones' and on a smoth acryllic surface covered in extremely fine sand. There are some photos of this, and I have a video that I will try and upload when I have time. Jensen and I met two guys from Colorado, whom we challenged to a pairs game. We dominated of course. It was cool to meet some new people and do something a little different.

In review, we decided not the review, the book...... (sorry that was a little quote for Matt and Alex)

In review, Austin is a very cool place. Clean, green and full of character. It had a relaxed atmosphere lots of things to do. I would definietly come back.

Now on to NOLA, so long Austin