What Colour Is The Sky?: Austin, Texas

Thursday, 18 July 2013

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital of Texas and, most importantly, the hub of all things quirky and home to many hippies and hipsters. Austin proudly embraces its weirdness and you can check out some of it at http://www.keepaustinweird.com

Lauren and I only had one night there, so we tried to squeeze in as much as we could.

We started with a visit to the State Capitol Building, where ~~Dick~~ Rick Perry was signing an abortion bill into law that will effectively force many abortion clinics in Texas to close and, consequently, restrict women's access to safe abortions. Booooooooo! Anticipating backlash from the women who attended in protest, they did this. We missed all of the ruckus, but we did get to enjoy the beautiful building and the gorgeous weather!

(My favourite part of the visit was hitting the gift shop and finding this amazing t-shirt!)

Isn't it awesome?!!!!

After a quick nap at the hotel, we headed out to a great little restaurant for dinner, then went to see the bats come out from their hidey spot under the Congress Avenue bridge.

Turns out, a lot of other people had the same idea!

After the stinky bats were done, Lauren and I headed to sixth street to meet up with Katherine, a girl Lauren went to school with, and whom I met in Korea. We went to a few bars and checked out the Museum of the Weird. Lauren and I had read some good reviews and were really excited about going there.... Unfortunately, it was very underwhelming (a small hall with pictures and skeletons and movie type props), but, luckily for us, we were treated to the most painfully terrible magic show in existence!!! It was just us three in a tiny room with the 'magician' and some wax figures. When the magician performed his tricks, you could see him fumbling with the left over cards, and we could hear the mechanisms he used to make cards 'appear' out of the wax figures' pockets. It was so awkward it sent me into a giggling fit for half the show.

On the way back to Waxahachie, we stopped in at IKEA to get a throw blanket we'd each been coveting at Amanda's. It's lightweight and stretchy, so you can snuggle and wrap up in it like it's your very own cocoon!! I'm in love with it!! Anyway, while we were at IKEA, this happened...