Austin, TX

Day One - November 2, 2022

HI, FRIENDS! I am really excited to be in Austin this week! My soul decided that I needed to go to Austin, so I didn’t ask questions. (OK, I did ask questions, but when it wouldn’t let up, I decided that I needed to just go anyway!) For those of you who are unfamiliar with my life at this moment, I am currently not working. I am extremely sad that I am not teaching, but I really think  that I need this time to heal a little bit before I can go back to the classroom, which is where I ultimately want to end up when I look for jobs again. However, I am open to wherever the universe takes me, as you can see by this trip to Austin. 

I will begin my trip with last night (or I guess this morning) because I tried to fall asleep around 10:30 last night, knowing that I would have to be up EARLY for my 8:30 flight out of Detroit. However, upon getting into my bed, my brain decided that it was no longer tired and was ready to hunker down on all the important thoughts in the world, like the lyrics to “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. and the plot to that movie I watched in July that was SO TERRIBLE my brain forgot I watched it. (I texted the friend I watched it with [at 2 in the morning], and when he responded at 7, he told me that he, too, had no recollection of the movie and I had to tell him the plot to remind him!) Super glad that my brain wanted to stay up for those thoughts! Super worth-while. (I think that’s how it works when you’re afraid that you’re going to miss your three alarms and then your flight, but I digress.)

While I waited for my flight, I had to stop for coffee to help me survive my day, since I think I got like three hours of sleep maximum last night. I also listened to the Drama Queens podcast while I waited. On the flight, I watched A League of Their Own, which is one of my all time favorite movies. Today, for some reason, it made me cry. (That ending! Dottie is the superior ball player. We all know what REALLY happened!) I asked a friend why it all of a sudden made me cry when it never has before, and, according to them, I am now an emotional person and I wasn’t before. (He might be onto something, and I REALLY hate that!) Other than that, the flight was really uneventful. 

After landing, I got my bag and a taxi to take me to my hotel. We arrived around 11, so I dropped my bag off with the concierge and asked her for some suggestions on what to do with my day. She suggested that I start with food, since I hadn’t eaten, and I went to the place she suggested called Gabriela’s. It was a Mexican restaurant. When I arrived, there was no one there. The door was opened, so I walked inside, and then I walked into the bar/dining area, but no one was there, so I walked back to the little greeting station and waited like three minutes for someone to finally come out! When I sat down, I ordered a marg WITHOUT salt and shrimp tacos. The server brought my marg WITH salt, and it honestly ruined the entire experience and enjoyment. Plus the tacos came in corn tortillas, which also really ruined the experience and enjoyment. There was also this weird soup that came with it. There were beans and what appeared to be a red meat of some kind and a sausage looking thing. Since I am trying to be more adventurous, I made myself try a little bit, even though red meat creeps me out. The broth was very tasty, but I did not eat very much of the soup. 

After I paid my bill, I decided to go for a walk along Congress Ave, which was also a suggestion from the concierge. As I made my way down the road, I stopped in a few shops to browse, and then I was stopped by someone in an organization TO ASK ME FOR DONATIONS! I do not know what it is about me that makes people stop me to ask me to buy things or donate money, but I need to work on this ASAP! (Maybe that’s a side-quest that I need before my next stone will turn up! … If it is, I may be stuck in this space for a REALLY long time, and I DO NOT have the patience for that!) Since I was down Congress Ave, I kept walking because there’s a bridge. Apparently this time of year, there are bats that fly out from it (?) and it looks really cool. I will have to go back around sunset to experience that, but I do not have the energy for that tonight. (UPDATE: it’s not this time of year. It’s spring until early fall.)

Once I got to the bridge, I saw that there was a trail called The Trail Conservancy. There was a map that told me that at the turn around loop, there was Zilker’s Botanical Garden, Zilker’s Metropolitan Park, and the Austin Science and Nature Center, which were some items I had been interested in checking out anyways, so I decided that it would be fun to walk the path to those destinations. It was a river walk that was essentially a dirt road type trail where a lot of people were running, walking, and riding bikes, with trees and the river as the scenic views. 

The first stop was the Austin Science and Nature Center. I think it’s set up as a protection and information style place that people bring their kids. In the building, they had fossils and miscellaneous nature things. Outside they had paths with a pond that was covered in lily pads. There was a “fossil” pit that I would describe as a sandbox type of playground area that kids could rummage through for “bones”. I didn’t pay enough attention to see if they were real or not. They also had animals of varying types, but mostly birds that were in cages. I was reading the information that explained that these animals were either born in captivity or had human attachments, so they would not be able to survive in the wild on their own. There was a second building that had reptiles, like turtles and snakes. (Are turtles reptiles?) 

After this stop, I walked to the Zilker Botanical Garden, and I walked around the gardens. My favorite was the Japanese gardens. They are always so beautiful! There was also a butterfly area that had plants to attract butterflies. It was cool to see the butterflies hanging around. Some of them were so gorgeous! At one point, I sat down in a butterfly chair because my legs were really tired by this point. I walked AT LEAST seven miles at that point, but also remember that I slept like three hours last night! (I really think it was much more than seven miles though!)

Once I was done, I decided to go to the Zilker Park because it supposedly had an amazing view of the city skyline, and I will agree that it was a gorgeous view. Other than that, it was a huge open field where people had their dogs running around without leashes. I didn’t stay long, especially because at this point, it was after three and I could finally officially check into my hotel room. I walked along the riverwalk and through the city until I got back to my hotel. I checked in and immediately opened my suitcase for a change of clothes and my shower items, so I could take a shower. Then, I sat down on my bed to watch some Lucifer with my laptop to begin typing today’s adventure. I didn’t feel like I did THAT much today until I saw that I already have two complete pages in this entry.

By the time I finished typing, I was hungry, so I got ready for dinner. I looked up some that were relatively close to my hotel, and I settled on one called Eureka! (The exclamation is a part of their name.) I ordered a spicy chicken sandwich, which had coleslaw and pickles on it! It was AMAZING! The Western versus Bowling Green football game was on the tv, and the two men sitting next to me were talking about Michigan schools, and it turns out that the one man was originally from Brighton. Small world. Anyways, on my way home from dinner, I stopped for dessert, and I got a donut from a place called Voodoo Doughnut. I ordered an apple fritter that was huge and walked back to my hotel room. Once I got in my room, I ate half of the donut, which was really good, and then I turned on my tv to see that Uncle Buck was on. Obviously, I had to watch Elizabeth’s second favorite movie of all time! I forgot how funny the movie is. I also didn’t realize that I had watched it enough to be able to quote it. 

It is only 7:30 in TX (8:30 in MI), and I am about to pass out, so this is going to be done for now! 

Day Two - November 3, 2022

This morning, I woke up around 8:30 after sleeping mostly through the night! I did wake up at one point because someone was outside screaming explicit statements that were mostly derogatory towards women, but I was able to roll over and fall back asleep! Victory! (For myself, not for women or whoever he was yelling at!) When I woke up, I decided to get ready and prepare for my day. I looked up what I could do, and I mapped out the order that I was going to do it in before I left my room, but I decided that the first stop had to be coffee. I walked my way to a bakery called 1886 Cafe & Bakery, where I ordered coffee and a croissant (because they looked too amazing to miss the opportunity). Then, I walked to the Harry Ransom Center on the University of Texas at Austin campus. 

When I arrived, I was told that there was a tour that would begin shortly, so I decided to join. The first exhibit we looked at was a copy of the Gutenberg bible. Apparently there are very limited copies that exist, and I believe there are only five that are in the United States. The next exhibit were documents and items that were donated by Robert De Niro. I feel bad that I am not a huge fan and most of these artifacts went over my head. However, it was cool to see his annotated scripts and various memorabilia that he had donated. According to the guide, Robert had heard that there was another person in The Sopranos whose script was sold on Ebay, and he did not want that to be the fate of his belongings. After looking at these items, we went to the Laura Wilson exhibit. She is a photographer and a painter (but she gave that up when she had kids), as well as the mother of Owen Wilson. I am not a huge art person, but these photographs were stunning! (You can see the images in her book The Writers: Portraits.) The guide told us that she was upset that the photos taken of writers are all the same and they don’t capture the essence of the writers, so she was on a mission to take photos that did. Her main rule was that there shouldn’t be smiling because smiles are masks that we wear. She also took photos of their writing spaces because those give insight into the writer and how they work. While I did not know much about all of the writers, I feel like these photos were absolutely phenomenal. I feel like they showed a lot about the writers. I was definitely a fan of the exhibit, and I would recommend it! 

Once the tour ended, I headed over to the Texas Capitol building. There was a guided tour that I kind of joined because I feel like you are supposed to learn from people. Plus, there were little pamphlets that were available, but it was kind of confusing to navigate. In the State Senate and House of Representative meeting rooms, there are lights that spell out the word “Texas”. Like the organization of the lights within the chandelier were placed so that they were in the word “Texas”. (Texas seems extremely extra about their love of themselves. Maybe Texas and I are kindred souls.) There were also posters (?) that had the pictures of the people on each side of congress that also contained baby pictures. When someone asked the tour guide, we found out that they were the children and grandchildren of the members of congress and are called “the mascots”. Anyways, the building was very interesting, and when the tour was finished, I wandered into the areas that were on the map that we didn’t covered, and at one point, I was in a sketchy staircase that made me feel like I was trespassing into territory that I didn’t belong to. I felt like I was going to be escorted off the premises for overstepping into areas that I was not permitted to be in, but it turns out that it was all okay for me to be there.

Once I finished at the capitol, I went to The Contemporary Austin - Jones Center. It is free to visit on Thursdays, and it was an art exhibit, so it seemed like today would be the best day to take advantage of something I didn’t particularly care deeply about. I believe (or am assuming) that most of the exhibits (if not all of them) were from female artists. (My feminist side - aka all of me - was excited that it was female dominated and focused.) On the first floor, there were paintings by an artist that were meant to showcase the female experience. There was a second artist that had these two huge pictures that were predominantly vaginas. Then, there was a room that was a video that was extremely confusing to me and made me extremely uncomfortable because this woman was a brown blob that was trailing brown everywhere and throwing the brown looking paint places. I am not going to go into details of what made me extremely uncomfortable, but I could not watch the entire seven minute video because it was just not up my alley. Anyways, after that exhibit, I went up the stairs. There were pictures that were done by a Native American artist, as well as these etchings that were meant as a braille style writing piece. There was also an exhibit about being Black and trans in America. It was an interactive “game” that explained what it was like to live as someone who is Black and trans. (If you are unfamiliar, you should definitely look up statistics about how that demographic is extremely marginalized and in danger for just existing.)

After the art museum, I kind of wandered around and zig zagged my way back to my hotel. I wanted to charge my phone and figure out my plan for dinner. I decided that I was going to go to Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. On my way, someone in a vest stopped me! I SWEAR I DID NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT! He pointed me out and then told me statistics about children living in poverty. I sat through a five to eight minute spiel, which was followed up with asking for a continuous donation. I once again had to explain that I do not have the money to do that at the moment! After I walked away, I texted my friend to explain that there’s something about my face that demands people ask me for money and to ask how I can make it stop. Their response was to “solve poverty.” This made me snort laugh and attract the attention of numerous people in my vicinity. They are not wrong with the solution, but I don’t think I can solve that on my own! 

When I got to the bar-b-que place, I first walked in, and then it felt overwhelming and confusing, so I walked out of the restaurant, and I tried to figure out another place as I circled the block. When I got to a certain point, I decided that I should go back. I stood in this line where you ordered whatever meat you wanted. A man cut what meat you asked for and asked if it was enough. (I am sure it makes sense now why I walked out at first.) After you got the meat, you handed it to another person to weigh, and there were different sides you could get as well. The bartender explained it to someone as “cafeteria style” and it is definitely a fitting explanation. I got mac and cheese to go with my brisket. I then sat at the bar for some water and a drink. 

After I ate my food, a man asked if the seat next to me was available for him to take, and I told him it was. We started to chat about random things, and he asked me about what I did for a living, and when I began to speak, I kind of drew in a breath, which made him tell me that he could tell it was going to be a lot and he told me to go for it. I told him about how I am a teacher, but I am not currently teaching right now, and how I don’t really know what I want to do. He listened to me and said that he was supposed to sit by me tonight. After a bit of conversation, he said that he could tell that I am a teacher and will be teaching again. He also reassured me that I am young and don’t need to have it all figured out at this point. He told me that he is where he is now because he followed the opportunities as they presented themselves to him because he went to school for chemical engineering and then worked in food manufacturing and now he works as an efficiency consultant. He zig-zagged his way to where he is now. On top of that, when I talked about the things I love about teaching and the things that make me mad about our education system, he pointed out that it seemed like I was extremely passionate about different points. He told me that it seems like I know what I want to do, I just don’t know the “where” of it - and he said he didn’t know the answer to that for me either. He did say that he can tell I will figure it out though. I had also told him that I felt like I needed to reread The Alchemist, and he said that it seemed like it was on point for where I am in life. Truth be told, I feel like part of my journey to Austin was to sit next to this random man for him to tell me the things that I already know about the next stage of my journey. I don’t know where it is, but I know that it is within education. I know that it is to learn more to help change the thing that I love more than anything else in the world. (I have mentioned The Alchemist in previous entries, and if you have never read it, I highly suggest it!) 

I know I am talking a lot about this stranger, but I feel like this conversation was so sweet and endearing that I cannot express enough how meaningful it was to me, but I still have two more anecdotes to share from him. I had mentioned that people stopped me on the street to ask for money, and he told me that I am stopped because I smile and “Happy people donate money.” So, to answer my earlier question, I don’t think I am going to be able to prevent people from stopping me because I refuse to give up my smile to deter people from stopping me to ask me for donations and money. The other thing that this man told me was that I seem like someone who is a doer. I am someone who can’t sit on the sidelines and allow things to be what they are, especially when I know they aren’t good enough. I am someone who sees something sitting on the ground and will look around and when I see that no one else is picking up the important thing, I will pick it up. He told me that I seem to be impatient, but impatience doesn’t have to be a bad thing. There can be an urgency of needing to care about something, and it’s okay to want something to be solved. This stranger at this random bar reassured me with all the things I know to be true, and even though I know these things and my loved ones have told me something similar, there is something about someone on the outside who doesn’t know anything about my day to day, real life that just settled the restlessness in my soul. Before we were done, he paid for my drinks and gave me a hug. We walked our separate ways. 

There’s so much more that we talked about, but these were the most meaningful bits of the conversation I had with him. (He also told me I should start the website all my friends want me to because “there are people on the internet who share videos of themselves eating or reviewing toys, and they make money for that, so who is to say that no one will care about your adventures and your writing.” Now please excuse me while I wipe away my tears.) Thank you David from Florida for being my companion tonight. (And in case you are wondering, he was old enough to be my dad, and he was married with children and grandchildren. He was talking to me because his friend’s flight was delayed and he was sitting at a bar, eating dinner alone, which is something that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. All of this was meant in an endearing way. Not at all creepy or like a move in any fashion. No numbers were exchanged upon our separation. It felt like a conversation that was designed by the universe, as he and I both said during our talk.) 

Day Three - November 4, 2022

Today, I woke up around 8:30 again. I took my time to get ready before I made my way to this place called Wonderspaces. Before I left, I knew I needed to get a few singles to pay for the bus fare, and I went to get coffee at a local cafe. I got a blueberry muffin and a coffee. While I was sitting and enjoying my breakfast, my sister texted me and my brother about Christmas and not doing presents among us and their partners. A minute later, I received a call from my brother, and he conferenced a call between the three of us. Elizabeth was so snarky about how she didn’t realize we had a meeting scheduled this morning and how she needed to get prepared for another conference call when it was over. It was definitely an enjoyable call that most definitely could have been a text. (This is meant with the utmost amount of love for both of my siblings. And, no, I'm not just saying that because they were emailed these updates.) 

Once our meeting was complete, I made my way to the bus station for my hour-long bus ride. I had to run a little bit because I almost missed the bus, but I thankfully was able to make it, so I didn’t have to wait for the next one to arrive. It was an uneventful bus ride, but I am proud of the fact that I am getting good at public transportation! It used to scare me, but it scares me a lot less now! 

The place that I went to was called Wonderspaces. It was different art but not art exhibits. You could walk around with your phone and click on what exhibit you were at to learn more about it or how to interact with the display. The first thing was this screen with a ball. You could lift the ball and it changed the screen to be the sun at different times of the day. The next station were these lights that hung from the ceiling. They changed colors and had a pattern that they went in the order of. Then there was this dome style space that was put together with plastic bags and something else that was crinkly. The next thing was this skull type of hourglass exhibit that as you got close to it, there were these metal things that moved from the mouth. There was a robot that made portraits of people that were essentially messy lines that didn’t have a lot of detail, yet they were a lot of detail. (I know I am not explaining this very well.) The next stop was an arc that also changed colors. I attempted to take a photo in it, and it kind of turned out cool, but it kind of didn’t.

After this, I went upstairs. There was a space VR set that was kind of like a movie that took you into the stars and then a black hole. It explained information about it and played music. It was so relaxing and calming that it didn’t feel like the ten minutes it was to complete. Then, there were these 3D prints that had strobe lights to make it seem like it was moving in ways that it wasn’t. There was a screen that you could “paint” using your motion in front of it. A short film was playing in a room, but I didn’t watch it because of yesterday’s mishap in attempting to be cultured and watching the paint blob woman. The last thing there was in this place was a wall where you could get the last word. It basically allowed for people to fix the end of a conversation or say something that they didn’t have the chance to. You could write on one that was blank and then flip it around to show a red color meaning that it was a used piece of paper. I didn’t write anything on a piece of paper, but I did read some of the things people wrote (which was part of what was permitted). One that stuck out to me that I read said something about how he had thought that he was a “good guy” and he thought he was entitled to do some things that now he realizes were wrong. It was an apology stating that he regrets his actions now. (It felt like something I needed to read, and if you know, you know!) 

After this exhibit, I downloaded Lyft because in order to get to my next stop, it was going to be a very difficult one hour bus ride that would have involved me getting on and off multiple buses, so I decided that I would splurge for a much quicker and easier ride using a ride-sharing app. The man who drove me was super interesting. He had one of those feather braid things in his man bun. We chatted about my trip to Austin and how I travel alone sometimes. He told me that it was impressive because most people don’t do that, and we talked about what you get from traveling alone. He said that there’s a lot of confidence and independence that someone has to have in order to do it, and I definitely think that both of those have grown in me as a result of my solo-traveling (not that I was lacking either of those things prior, but I definitely feel more comfortable in strange situations and more calm about assessing where I am and what I need in any given moment, especially since I was the baby in my family and my older siblings (*cough* Elizabeth cough) do a lot of that heavy lifting for me when we are traveling). 

My second stop of the day was the Museum of Ice Cream. It felt fitting since I have not consumed any ice cream during this trip, and that is a shame! I have to say that I do not feel like it was worth the time or money for this experience. Essentially, you pay for your ticket online and choose a time slot. It is this massive pink building (and pink is their entire aesthetic inside as well). While you wait to begin, you can order ice cream or they will give you a free mini hot chocolate cup. It is pink hot chocolate that tastes super sweet, in a way that makes it feel like it’s warm melted ice cream with a marshmallow on top. After that, you get a name tag because you have to come up with an ice cream name. Then, you are able to wander around the exhibits. It is a one way course and you can take however long you would like. In the first room, it’s basically a parlor where someone gives you a cup of soft serve vanilla that can be vegan or regular. It is, you guessed it, pink! You can choose some toppings to put on it as well. At the tables, there were little activities that you could do, such as a word search with ice cream words. I assume they are for children to have something to complete. The next area has a swing for instagram worthy photos with a banana split backdrop. Then, there was a room that had pink and yellow bananas hanging from the ceiling. The next room had a whack-a-mole game that you could play and two carousel looking animal cracker horses that were also for instagram worthy photos. In this room, you could get cotton candy. Next, there was a room that had these fake chocolates and boxes. Here, there were two options of hard scoop ice cream - either s’mores flavor or chocolate chip cookie dough. I opted for the cookie dough, but I should have sampled them both. Next, there was a magnetic wall that had questions on the top and alphabet magnetic letters on the bottom to answer. There was also more hard scoop ice cream. I tried the Texas Dirt Road, or I believe that was the name. It was an okay ice cream flavor, but it wasn’t something I would order again. After that, there was kind of a game room where you could climb up some rope looking thing and then down a slide. There was also a basketball hoop with small basketballs. I decided to play with the basketballs and was quickly reminded that basketball isn’t a sport that I am good at. It also reminded me of when I was student teaching and my mentor teacher forced me to assist her with her seventh grade basketball team and then got upset at me because I was no help at all (which I had told her before she made me help her)! There was this sprinkle ball pit area that kind of really grossed me out because there were children and adults in it, and I just don’t think I would want to go into something that was infested with germs like that, but it seemed like other people were enjoying their photos. This was basically the end of the tour. Like I said, I don’t think I would ever go back to this. It was very underwhelming and the ice cream wasn’t anything extremely impressive.

The museum was located in an outdoor shopping mall area that had all the most expensive stores, so I wandered around for a few minutes, but I knew I was just wasting time, so I headed to the bus for my hour long bus ride back to my hotel. This bus made multiple stops that lasted for multiple minutes. It had no hustle at all. On the ride back, a woman sitting in the seat on the other side of the aisle got my attention to show me a photo of a wanted person because she thought the man in front of us looked like him. I don’t think they were the same man. They were both the same race and had similar features, but I don’t think they were the same person, but I kept my eye on him and he got off the bus well before I did, so even if it was the same man, there’s no worries that he was a danger to me. 

After I got to my room, I changed and got ready to leave for dinner, since I hardly consumed real food today. I went to a restaurant called the Roaring Fork, and upon reading their menu, I realized that it was basically a steak place (and I don't really like steak) and therefore it was extremely expensive, so I ordered a drink because I felt too guilty to leave. I decided to try a place called Happy Chicks for food, and the bartender was adorable. She introduced me to someone who worked there who was also from Michigan (Traverse City). I ate my chicken and mac and cheese before I wandered around in search of live music. I found a couple playing acoustic music outside, and I sat down on the patio. It was the perfect vibe until the rain began and we had to make our way inside. As I sat inside, I talked to some random people. One person was in on business with her friend who was in law school. There was also a bachelor party that was waiting for their comedy show to begin. We chatted about random things, but I think I hurt their souls when we talked about Forrest Gump, and I explained how it’s the worst movie and Jenny is my least favorite character of all time. They were lovely, and I enjoyed chatting. 

My flight is tomorrow morning, so I doubt there will be a large amount to add, but I'll let you know if there is. 

Day Four - November 5, 2022

As I waited for my flight, they said that they were searching for volunteers to give up their seats because of a weight issue on the plane. Originally, they were looking for 12 people to give up their seats with $500 as the offer. However, not enough people were willing to give up their seats, so they ended up offering us $750 to give up our seats. Since I was not in a rush to get home AND there's a book festival that started today, I gladly volunteered immediately. Some people who delayed their offer were forced to take the flight, but since I volunteered as the second or third person, I was not forced onto the flight like the other people were. However, it took them forever to get through the people and replan flights that I didn’t have the opportunity to leave the airport without it being a complete waste of time. As I am writing this, I am doing a giddy happy dance as I bask in the glory of all the free money I am getting. I paid for my flight with my miles and now this! Maybe this is the real reason I was drawn to my Austin trip. It’s my new source of income and will prolong my unemployment by a month or two. (I know that some people cough Megan’s aunt who I have met twice in my entire life cough who are worried about my financial situation, but I promise that I am not worried, and we all know that I will hit a point where I freak out because I feel like I don’t have enough money in my savings account, and I will panic apply to ALL of the jobs! I am not at that point, and we all know that I will not allow myself to get to that point!)