Gotta Love the UC

There are many things to love about Union City... the cheap large apartment... cheap food... the cheap large apartment... OK so those things weigh pretty heavily on quality of life from the perspective of my wallet. So it's always a pleasure to experience the culture too.

This morning I was walking speedily to the bus stop, when a guy walking towards me in the opposite direction shouts "Mamasita, Senorita!" just as we pass, and, since I'm carrying around 12 bags like I normally do, I figured I dropped something, so I turned. Little am I prepared to be asked out by a greasy hobo who doesn't speak much English. He even promised to be a great lover as he reached for my hand. ew.

Now, it's not that this kind of thing hasn't happened in the city (and trust me, this is NO ego speaking) and with much nastier people, but there is a certain additional ookie-ness to being asked out in a foreign language by a really ugly individual. Who do these nasty people think they are anyway? Yech.

Tory and Emma Do Austin

 
Undeterred (ok, maybe slightly deterred) by my cancelled flight on Friday night, I caught my 6am flight to Austin as bright-eyed and bushy tailed as can possibly be at that hour. Arriving in Dallas to change planes, I was welcomed back to Texas by the sound of someone vomiting in the woman's bathroom. Ahh... good ol' Texas.

Enjoying my very first rental car not requiring an extra fee (I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was a Chevy Malibu FREE upgrade), I made my way over to Tory's FABULOUS apartment with her FABULOUS cat, Gizmo. We set off for David's Bridal to take care of bidniz, and re-discovered the magic of Texas highways - we thought we missed the exit we needed, only to find out the one 10 feet after went to the exact same place.

After taking care of business, we checked out the TX wine rack and picked up some Shiner beer for The Salt Lick, where we met up with several of Tory's UT Austin pals for some of the tastiest TX BBQ ever. Family style ribs, brisket, sausage, beans, potato salad, pickles, jalapenos, and beer and tastiness. Simply marvelous!

In the evening, we made our way over to the Broken Spoke to catch the scene over some Lone Stars, and headed out on 4th Street. First stop: the gay bar! After admiring some cute gay boys over some TX liquor - Tito and red bull, and some concoction with TX liquor the bartender made up (did I mention we limited ourselves entirely to Texas-made alcohol for the weekend? Glorious!)

We ran up to 6th street to meet up with some folks, and not finding the surroundings pleasant, we headed next door for some catch up time, admiring the dancing girls on the bar (including one with a cross-shaped slut stamp... isn't it ironic?) We scored some super-tasty late night tacos at Taco Cabana and headed home to crash.

Sunday we woke up surprisingly early intending to walk downtown for coffee & breakfast. (and to burn off the beer and tacos and bbq from Saturday) We came across a parking lot fair with free popcorn and spam samples (not combined) and checked out some funny hats, and also an art exhibit with bright yellow surgical tubing hanging from a 15 foot rectangular trellis. After a pleasant walk down Congress, we had these wonderfully tasty breakfast paninis and coffee at Halcyon on 4th street.

So sadly, by the time we walked back, it was time for me to head back to the airport to make the trek back north. Tory and Emma next take on Miami in July and UT FOOTBALL (and Matthew McConaughey) sometime this fall. STAY TUNED!! :)