notes from a vacation
Apr. 25th, 2008 08:31 pmWow. We went to Austin for a few days to see my father & stepmother. It was pretty much the best trip we've ever had to Austin, or at least the best in the last 13 years.
Odd: Looking at flyers for the houses for sale in my father's neighborhood. The brand-new, huge house 2 doors down (original 50s ranch torn down) was asking 990k; the little 50s ranch (like my family's house, but a little smaller) up the street was 627k. The lot across the street (a tear-down) was 400k. Them's nearly Newton prices!
Minus: Traffic in Austin is also looking a little familiar these days. Actually, worse than it is here, it seems. Austin is another place with far too few crossings of a (mostly, in town) east-west river; Austin has the additional disadvantage that there are no east-west thoroughfares (at least not ones that go at any speed) except way out of the center of town. Yuck.
Plus: Lots of pluses, actually. My dad and Pat were both thrilled with the kids. We got my dad's room way at the back of the house; he and Pat took my brother's old room, and the boys shared my old room. Pat wakes up early anyway, and we got to SLEEP!
The evening when we went to the family's standard Mexican restaurant destination (downtown), we parked a couple blocks away. In front of a sign indicating offices of Despair, Inc. (think Demotivators). I'd completely forgotten that they were an Austin operation.
My folks have a huge garden in the back yard these days, taking up most of what used to be lawn and hanging-out space. (Backyard barbecues for many are now a difficult proposition, in fact.) But the boys got to observe the cutting of 3 artichokes, and pulled out a bunch of carrots and of leeks. J was disappointed that there were no caterpillars on the dill yet. (Last time, 2 years ago, we took one through caterpillar/pupa/butterfly.)
Possibly in compensation, we went out to the organic farm in a relatively close subdivision that has pick-your-own strawberries. ("Imagine! The strawberries are still going strong!" I heard from the end of the row.) We picked 9 pints in ~20 minutes. (We only managed to eat 5 or 6 of them over the next 3 days. And didn't manage to bring any home.)
We also took a morning at Zilker Park, including playing at the big playground, looking at an exhibit of the blind cave salamanders they've found in Barton Springs (well after I moved away), and riding the little train. The best part for me, though, was probably the kayaks. We went to the canoe rental place just below Barton Springs, where a friend and I rented a canoe for half a day or more many many weekends in high school. This time we went for two 2-person kayaks, and had a blast (though only for 45 minutes). J paddled in his; S (in mine) didn't even bring a paddle. But we got to see lots of turtles ("piled up on each other!"), fish, and various birds and things. We all had a great time. I guess this is incentive to do more here.
Probably the strangest thing of all was toying around with the idea of moving back there. Not that I have any interest in doing so, or intent to do so. But I've pretty much been proud of being from Austin (when I would admit to that--I wasn't born there) in an away-from kind of way. But over and over again,![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
catalpa92 said, "Yeah, it's a really nice town." And, well, it is. It's even a decent location from a work point of view; famously lots of high-tech options, and![[info]](https://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
catalpa92's employer has an office there. Very bewildering. (Apparently there's an old-Austin, new-Austin cultural divide*; I kept wondering how many software people knew the great places we were eating at, that have been there for 15 or 20 years. They LOOKED mostly full of people I'd characterize as old-Austin; the BBQ place in particular was strong on people dressed, quite nattily, in neat jeans and cowboy boots.) Anyway, if there's a good family reason to spend a while back in Austin, it might well be feasible from at least one employer's point of view, and quite possibly not a bad idea. Not something I ever expected to find myself thinking.
*To be fair, I think this would have to be a NEW old-Austin, new-Austin cultural divide. It's bizarre to discover myself on the old- end of this one, since I was firmly new- when we moved there at the leading edge of the previous major expansion, in the early 1980s.
Odd: Looking at flyers for the houses for sale in my father's neighborhood. The brand-new, huge house 2 doors down (original 50s ranch torn down) was asking 990k; the little 50s ranch (like my family's house, but a little smaller) up the street was 627k. The lot across the street (a tear-down) was 400k. Them's nearly Newton prices!
Minus: Traffic in Austin is also looking a little familiar these days. Actually, worse than it is here, it seems. Austin is another place with far too few crossings of a (mostly, in town) east-west river; Austin has the additional disadvantage that there are no east-west thoroughfares (at least not ones that go at any speed) except way out of the center of town. Yuck.
Plus: Lots of pluses, actually. My dad and Pat were both thrilled with the kids. We got my dad's room way at the back of the house; he and Pat took my brother's old room, and the boys shared my old room. Pat wakes up early anyway, and we got to SLEEP!
The evening when we went to the family's standard Mexican restaurant destination (downtown), we parked a couple blocks away. In front of a sign indicating offices of Despair, Inc. (think Demotivators). I'd completely forgotten that they were an Austin operation.
My folks have a huge garden in the back yard these days, taking up most of what used to be lawn and hanging-out space. (Backyard barbecues for many are now a difficult proposition, in fact.) But the boys got to observe the cutting of 3 artichokes, and pulled out a bunch of carrots and of leeks. J was disappointed that there were no caterpillars on the dill yet. (Last time, 2 years ago, we took one through caterpillar/pupa/butterfly.)
Possibly in compensation, we went out to the organic farm in a relatively close subdivision that has pick-your-own strawberries. ("Imagine! The strawberries are still going strong!" I heard from the end of the row.) We picked 9 pints in ~20 minutes. (We only managed to eat 5 or 6 of them over the next 3 days. And didn't manage to bring any home.)
We also took a morning at Zilker Park, including playing at the big playground, looking at an exhibit of the blind cave salamanders they've found in Barton Springs (well after I moved away), and riding the little train. The best part for me, though, was probably the kayaks. We went to the canoe rental place just below Barton Springs, where a friend and I rented a canoe for half a day or more many many weekends in high school. This time we went for two 2-person kayaks, and had a blast (though only for 45 minutes). J paddled in his; S (in mine) didn't even bring a paddle. But we got to see lots of turtles ("piled up on each other!"), fish, and various birds and things. We all had a great time. I guess this is incentive to do more here.
Probably the strangest thing of all was toying around with the idea of moving back there. Not that I have any interest in doing so, or intent to do so. But I've pretty much been proud of being from Austin (when I would admit to that--I wasn't born there) in an away-from kind of way. But over and over again,
catalpa92 said, "Yeah, it's a really nice town." And, well, it is. It's even a decent location from a work point of view; famously lots of high-tech options, andcatalpa92's employer has an office there. Very bewildering. (Apparently there's an old-Austin, new-Austin cultural divide*; I kept wondering how many software people knew the great places we were eating at, that have been there for 15 or 20 years. They LOOKED mostly full of people I'd characterize as old-Austin; the BBQ place in particular was strong on people dressed, quite nattily, in neat jeans and cowboy boots.) Anyway, if there's a good family reason to spend a while back in Austin, it might well be feasible from at least one employer's point of view, and quite possibly not a bad idea. Not something I ever expected to find myself thinking.*To be fair, I think this would have to be a NEW old-Austin, new-Austin cultural divide. It's bizarre to discover myself on the old- end of this one, since I was firmly new- when we moved there at the leading edge of the previous major expansion, in the early 1980s.
