cincibuck
You kids stay off my lawn!
Just got back from my second visit to Austin. Two old high school friends live there. He's a UT class of 66 grad and she went to OSU. But I digress.
Austin and Austin Airport. Not so big as to be a pain in the ass and not so small as to be inconvenient. When you go to book your flight (for 2006) check out the aircraft. I flew down on a Canada Air (not the airline, the plane) something or other and my seat partner and I were damn near cloned by the time we touched down in Austin. You could seat two Vietnamese comfortably in the thing, but we were in squeeze mode for three long hours. On the way back I was booked on a 737 and, while not spacious, I didn't loose blood circulation to my legs and arms as happened on the flight down.
Austin benefits from being both a college town and the state capitol. There are first run movies, a top class lecture series, book stores, performance arts out the wazoo and restaurants that transcend the corporate O' Charlie's, Bennigans, Outback, et al level of excellence. It is a blue island in a sea of social-issue-Republican-red. "Keep Austin Weird" bumperstickers, T-shirts, flyer's, billboards, stain-glass windows and stone tablets sprout up like crab grass and dandelions. "Willy for President/Senator/Governor/Pope" signs are also popular. W is not, and for that I am thankful.
I was shocked by the UT. It is an urban campus mercifully packed with oaks and creeks and ponds. I expected something on the lines of Michigan State or Indiana's spaciousness. Not gonna happen. (I've also got a problem with a president's grove that features Washington, Wilson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. Folks, can we tell the difference between patriots and slave holding traitors?) Its buildings are a compounding of corporate Spanish mission (if you can imagine a five to ten story Spanish Mission) and sixties modern architecture. It's handsome, but you will be glad you went to "spacious" OSU.
The performing arts area is something the university can well be proud of. Beautiful. Impressive. Top Shelf.
The stadium sits damn near in the middle of the campus surrounded by precious little parking area and I could only scratch my head and wonder how people ever get to their seats on time. I would not use a "two-hour before kick-off mentality" if you plan to go. this is a stadium that caters to the university's "Big Givers" and students. I'm sure the natives know how to pull it off, but Buckeye fans who plan to party and then meander down to Darryl K. Royal better think well in advance. Give yourself a full 4 hours prior to KOT (kick off Time) to begin meandering/partying from your well-off-campus parking spot. Book a room NOW. The town and campus are very tight to each other and you could get a place within easy walking distance of the stadium.
Just to the west of the stadium is a beautifully designed alumni-booster enclave. It sits by a babbling, wandering stream, shaded by white oaks, cotton woods and God-knows-what-else vegetation. It's impressive, and makes you cringe at the thought of putting it up against the Buckeye Grove, but it seems a bit out of place juxtaposed to the starkness of the stadium wall. Imagine Mirror Lake within 20 yards of Stadium Dorm.
In terms of an impressive, well designed alum/booster site, UT wins that contest hands down. We have nothing comparable that near the stadium, if at all.
Not to worry, while the alum center blows us away, their marching Cowboywannabe-Motif band and kazoo inspired fightsong will force you to stifle your laughter. They should a) get a real uniform design, and b) buy the rights to Indiana's fight song. It's a great piece of music, it just doesn't get much use.
I love Tex-Mex and began my weekend at Guerro's Taco Bar. Think of it as Planks with a Hispanic leaning. A real bar with decent food, an eclectic clientele and oozing friendly, let's party, mentality. I love black beans, rice and whatever the chef wants to do with the beef and Guerro's gives you plenty of that and if it ain't haute cuisine, so the hell what?
Shiner Bock is the real thing. It's a great beer. Don't go down there and drink Miller/Bud/Coors Lite because you're afraid to try something local. This is one fine beer that more than stands up to the competition.
Had to do some barbecue and my hosts took me to some place called Salt, or Salts or Salt mine... Hey, I'm 62, so cut me some damn slack here... It's the real thing. You can smell the mosquite and sauce from two blocks away. Slow cooked, pulled pork, falls apart, makes your fingers and face sticky, but ain't that the idea? Wonderful. We do not have ANYTHING like it in Ohio. Puts the Rib King's (a Cincinnati hallmark) to shame. Order another Shiner Bock and enjoy.
If you take a long weekend to see the game, pack your golf bats. Lots of good muni golf in the area. Make tee times well in advance cause it looks like everyone in Austin loves golf. I played Jimmy Clay-Roy Kizer, 2 well managed muni courses. $40 for 18 and a cart on Saturday. I played Riverside the last time I was here. It's the prettier of the three courses, but management has slipped in the last few years and the natives tell me it "ain't what it used to be." None of the three is anywhere near the level of Scarlet and Gray, Blue Ash, Vineyards or Sharon Woods in terms of beauty or difficulty, but they ain't Lunken either.
The folks down here are talking up this game, but my Scarlet baseball cap with the Gray block O threw them for a loop. Oklahoma was in town for an important baseball series and they thought maybe I was some kind of Sooner in a bright scarlet (as opposed to OU's dead red) cap.
Just being honest here longhorn fans; the burnt orange is ugly. I mean real ugly. I can see how an interior decorator could use it as an accent, but a T-shirt full of it just plain sucks. It must be an acquired taste, something on the order of escargot and Bartok's music.
I had a great time, accentuated by the fact that my hosts have double G Guaranteed me a ticket to the 06 game.
I'd visit Austin again in a heartbeat, but I gotta love them Buckeyes.
Cincibuck
details and film to follow
Austin and Austin Airport. Not so big as to be a pain in the ass and not so small as to be inconvenient. When you go to book your flight (for 2006) check out the aircraft. I flew down on a Canada Air (not the airline, the plane) something or other and my seat partner and I were damn near cloned by the time we touched down in Austin. You could seat two Vietnamese comfortably in the thing, but we were in squeeze mode for three long hours. On the way back I was booked on a 737 and, while not spacious, I didn't loose blood circulation to my legs and arms as happened on the flight down.
Austin benefits from being both a college town and the state capitol. There are first run movies, a top class lecture series, book stores, performance arts out the wazoo and restaurants that transcend the corporate O' Charlie's, Bennigans, Outback, et al level of excellence. It is a blue island in a sea of social-issue-Republican-red. "Keep Austin Weird" bumperstickers, T-shirts, flyer's, billboards, stain-glass windows and stone tablets sprout up like crab grass and dandelions. "Willy for President/Senator/Governor/Pope" signs are also popular. W is not, and for that I am thankful.
I was shocked by the UT. It is an urban campus mercifully packed with oaks and creeks and ponds. I expected something on the lines of Michigan State or Indiana's spaciousness. Not gonna happen. (I've also got a problem with a president's grove that features Washington, Wilson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. Folks, can we tell the difference between patriots and slave holding traitors?) Its buildings are a compounding of corporate Spanish mission (if you can imagine a five to ten story Spanish Mission) and sixties modern architecture. It's handsome, but you will be glad you went to "spacious" OSU.
The performing arts area is something the university can well be proud of. Beautiful. Impressive. Top Shelf.
The stadium sits damn near in the middle of the campus surrounded by precious little parking area and I could only scratch my head and wonder how people ever get to their seats on time. I would not use a "two-hour before kick-off mentality" if you plan to go. this is a stadium that caters to the university's "Big Givers" and students. I'm sure the natives know how to pull it off, but Buckeye fans who plan to party and then meander down to Darryl K. Royal better think well in advance. Give yourself a full 4 hours prior to KOT (kick off Time) to begin meandering/partying from your well-off-campus parking spot. Book a room NOW. The town and campus are very tight to each other and you could get a place within easy walking distance of the stadium.
Just to the west of the stadium is a beautifully designed alumni-booster enclave. It sits by a babbling, wandering stream, shaded by white oaks, cotton woods and God-knows-what-else vegetation. It's impressive, and makes you cringe at the thought of putting it up against the Buckeye Grove, but it seems a bit out of place juxtaposed to the starkness of the stadium wall. Imagine Mirror Lake within 20 yards of Stadium Dorm.
In terms of an impressive, well designed alum/booster site, UT wins that contest hands down. We have nothing comparable that near the stadium, if at all.
Not to worry, while the alum center blows us away, their marching Cowboywannabe-Motif band and kazoo inspired fightsong will force you to stifle your laughter. They should a) get a real uniform design, and b) buy the rights to Indiana's fight song. It's a great piece of music, it just doesn't get much use.
I love Tex-Mex and began my weekend at Guerro's Taco Bar. Think of it as Planks with a Hispanic leaning. A real bar with decent food, an eclectic clientele and oozing friendly, let's party, mentality. I love black beans, rice and whatever the chef wants to do with the beef and Guerro's gives you plenty of that and if it ain't haute cuisine, so the hell what?
Shiner Bock is the real thing. It's a great beer. Don't go down there and drink Miller/Bud/Coors Lite because you're afraid to try something local. This is one fine beer that more than stands up to the competition.
Had to do some barbecue and my hosts took me to some place called Salt, or Salts or Salt mine... Hey, I'm 62, so cut me some damn slack here... It's the real thing. You can smell the mosquite and sauce from two blocks away. Slow cooked, pulled pork, falls apart, makes your fingers and face sticky, but ain't that the idea? Wonderful. We do not have ANYTHING like it in Ohio. Puts the Rib King's (a Cincinnati hallmark) to shame. Order another Shiner Bock and enjoy.
If you take a long weekend to see the game, pack your golf bats. Lots of good muni golf in the area. Make tee times well in advance cause it looks like everyone in Austin loves golf. I played Jimmy Clay-Roy Kizer, 2 well managed muni courses. $40 for 18 and a cart on Saturday. I played Riverside the last time I was here. It's the prettier of the three courses, but management has slipped in the last few years and the natives tell me it "ain't what it used to be." None of the three is anywhere near the level of Scarlet and Gray, Blue Ash, Vineyards or Sharon Woods in terms of beauty or difficulty, but they ain't Lunken either.
The folks down here are talking up this game, but my Scarlet baseball cap with the Gray block O threw them for a loop. Oklahoma was in town for an important baseball series and they thought maybe I was some kind of Sooner in a bright scarlet (as opposed to OU's dead red) cap.
Just being honest here longhorn fans; the burnt orange is ugly. I mean real ugly. I can see how an interior decorator could use it as an accent, but a T-shirt full of it just plain sucks. It must be an acquired taste, something on the order of escargot and Bartok's music.
I had a great time, accentuated by the fact that my hosts have double G Guaranteed me a ticket to the 06 game.
I'd visit Austin again in a heartbeat, but I gotta love them Buckeyes.
Cincibuck
details and film to follow
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