After packing up the car and checking out, we headed to Kerbey Lane Cafe for brunch and to digest the trip. Then we headed back to the airport the long way, snaking through town to get a last look. We dropped off the car, checked in early, caught some live music at the airport, and chilled out.
Thoughts on Austin: A fun place to visit but we’re not moving there.
It took us a couple days to figure it out, but in the end we realized it’s just because we didn’t “connect” with the city like we did with Portland. Austin is a fun place with no shortage of events to keep anyone busy every night of the week. There were more tattoo parlors and art galleries than I’ve ever seen. This clean city is full of trees and parks. It has excellent programs for recycling, building green & efficient houses, and enjoying the outdoors. Austinites are progressive, artistic, and proud to be Texans. People were really friendly and easy to strike up a conversation with. There was excellent food to be had. Everywhere we looked we saw the longhorn logo emblazoned on something; either a flag in the front yard, tee shirts, or chrome logos on the cars. Housing can be incredibly cheap, depending on what you are willing to give up for the cost. There is a lot of driving required in this town; no mass transit to speak of and things are far away from each other. Gas we reasonably cheap. The freeways are covered with grass and trees and work efficiently. They drive American cars. The city demographic seemed to be mainly Caucasian until the outskirts where it switches to predominately African American and Hispanic. Unless you’re at the Red Fez...
