Austin notes
Am I in Texas or California?
“Don't mess with Texas.”
“Everything is bigger in Texas.”
“You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.”
Texans are a proud people—proud of their heritage, proud of their freedoms, proud of convenience. Texans just simply DGAF… from the way that they drive, to their attitude and their unashamed portion sizes for food.
So as SXSW takes the stage there this weekend, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on my experience living there for the month of February. Here are my notes.
This was my fourth time in Austin and definitely the most memorable because like the other places on our journey, we lived there and settled into a routine, getting grounded and living like a local.
Austin is the capital of Texas and the fourth-largest city in the state. It’s different than the rest of Texas, but it’s still Texas. It’s the cool, liberal spot with tasty food, live music, and it’s nicely positioned in Hill Country which has lakes, rivers, and well… hills. If I had to live in Texas, in or around Austin would be my spot. The nice thing about Austin is that everything feels close—most stuff is within a 20 minute drive, and traffic is never usually like California-traffic levels.
I’ll be completely honest, I have mixed feelings about Austin. I know that writing that will upset a whole host of people who’ve recently bet on the place within the last five years (and there are a lot of reasons about why it’s a great bet). But I think there are three ways to think about different places you visit:
Is this place fun for a weekend?
Would this place be fun for a few weeks?
Could I actually live here?
Before I give you my answer, let me tell you more about our experience…
Annie and I arrived in Austin to cold, freezing temperatures as we came from mild winter temperatures and sunny days in Charleston, South Carolina, which were lovely. During our first night in Austin, everything froze over. Over the course of the next two days all the trees were destroyed because the branches broke off, and when the sun finally broke through the clouds, it looked like a post-apocalyptic hellscape.
What’s funny is that every time I’ve been to Austin, the weather has been nothing short insane, either insanely hot or snow. The swings there are so drastic. During my trip to ACL trip in 2019, it was 90 degrees when we arrived and the following day was 40. Where else do you have 50F degree swings in a day?!
Anyways, just one week after the icy 28 degrees that destroyed all the trees, it was 80. It’s just impossible to plan for the weather there. That said, once the sun finally decided to stick around, we thoroughly enjoyed it (versus the cold and gray and rainy of the PNW in which we’re used to this time of year). It felt like tropical at times and and there were countless chirping birds. Our backyard was a big playground for the cats.
Compared to what we were used to, Austin doesn’t have a ton of nature. "But we have Lake Travis and greenbelts,"… yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. There are parks and lakes which are nice but there’s not a ton of elevation.
What did surprise me was Fredericksburg which is just outside of Austin. It’s a massive wine region—in fact, it’s the second largest AVA in the nation. It’s beautiful region that is dominated by its hills and is less populated. We didn’t get to go wine tasting because we passed it on our way out, but would love to check it out next time I’m back.
But that’s what you do in Austin… you eat and you drink. There were an overwhelming number of bars and restaurants. The staples there are (obviously) Texas BBQ, and tacos of all varieties. I ate tacos nearly every day which rekindled my affinity for them. I was either ordering them out or making them at home on a near daily basis.
We had our 5-year anniversary dinner at Olamie and it was tremendous—definitely some of the best food we’ve had on this trip. The issue is that there are always lines, especially when ordering BBQ.
We got some BBQ a couple of times and it was the best BBQ I've ever had... what should I have expected? Unfortunately we didn’t wait in line at some of the famous places like Franklins… but we did go to The Salt Lick, which was an obscenely Texas experience. Out in the country, there are tons of ranch-style breweries on massive plots of land. You’ll see no shortage of Millennial parents with their kids, people listening to music, eating, drinking, laughing. It's fun and I loved the the community aspect to it all.
People were mostly friendly, though there was a rushed sense of urgency about many folks, kind of like what you might see from Californians (probably because many of them were Californians).
The essence and identity of Texas can be appreciated and there is an overwhelming sense of "don't mess with Texas.” Though to be fair, Austin is not representative of the rest of Texas—many Texans would be furious with me for comparing Austin to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, etc. Oddly, people there are hyper-individualist while valuing community at the same time. There’s certainly an emphasis on family and God and church.
Not going to lie, driving in Austin is horrendous. I haven't seen so many accidents in my life. They’re due to a combination of factors like attitude, high speeds, poor city designs, and drunk driving. When you look at the numbers, they have a higher rate drunk driving and related deaths.
Cost-wise it felt similar cheaper than California but still definitely not cheap. At times, it was surprisingly expensive, and sometimes for the amount of money you’re spending, the value just isn’t there.
I sound like I’m ragging on Austin, but we did some cool stuff: like go to the East Austin Comedy Club which was a freaking blast, visit their phenomenal farmers markets, and checked out an interactive art exhibit called Wonderspaces where they had trippy art installations.
Austin is a college town. Thinking back on our experience, I think that living there would be perfect for someone in their 20s and single. If I were that age again, I could easily see Austin outcompeting places like NYC, SF, LA in many ways. Austin’s just fun and has a mellow vibe.
But for livin’-livin’, Austin ain’t for me. I still love the place for visiting and thoroughly enjoyed our month-long stay there. During this year on the road, I'm finding what I like and don't like, and for me personally, I just crave nature and elevation—there's not a ton of that. Also, Austin is similar to Portland in many ways, so from that perspective I’m probably judging it a bit more harshly.
In fact, my Australian co-founder Dave came to stay with us for a few days, and he sometimes tends to be a bit of a pessimist for whatever reason (sorry Dave), and feels compelled to point out all of the flaws with America. Despite his incessant pointing out of flaws, I found myself defending Austin, standing up for it because there are beautiful things about this place.
There's a lot to love about Austin—we ate extremely well and we met some cool people. Y’all have a good time no matter what.
Highlights
Thanks for reading! Forward this post to a friend. Thanks!