Hoofin' it around Austin, days 1 & half of day 2

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I love Austin. Like I LOVE Austin. Give me a musical city with mexican food, barbeque, bars galore, green rolling hills and cowboy hats, and I am in heaven. My first time in Texas was maybe 6 years ago. My best friend and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary of being friends by flying into Dallas, driving to Austin, Fredericksburg, spending the night at a fancypants ranch in Hill Country, dinner and a day trip to San Antonio and then back to Austin. 

Some people believe that Austin has been overbuilt and isn't "cool" anymore. They are wrong. Austin isn't just awesome, it's cheap too. We stayed at the Austin Motel, whose sign looks like a dick and balls, but whose decor is kitsch cute and has a radical pool, surrounded by lush greenery. The whole set up was clutch and it was less than $99 a night and 4 of us stayed there.

My friend Hillary flew in and we ate a crappy meal at Ruby's BBQ. My cousin Farrah, who's soon to be an Austonian, served as our tour guide, and she did a fine job, minus this one spot. After dinner we went to Emos where this band Manchester Orchestra was playing, Chris was kind of into them, so we paid our entrance and proceeded to sip, gulp and shoot our way into retarded oblivion.    
Emos is really a huge club and music venue. There are rows of bleachers and a bar that face a huge partly outdoor stage. There's an outside area and another stage and bar entirely just feet away. We all drank quite a bit for under $60. I mean it. I'm not even kidding, and when I say "we" this includes my brother and myself, so there was some Jameson and Captain going down. 

I wanted to check out Beauty Bar, because I'd spent a decent amount of time at the one in New York, always running into Miami-folk when there. When we arrived, it was empty, and so the bartender was kind, if you know what I mean. We were like the turds of the earth, dancing dorkily for hours. But you know what, we brought the motherfuckin' party, MIA in the house. See Jimmy dancing there solo, that did not last long at all. Soon people from Emos trickled in and were encouraged by our lame display. 

I'm not going to say whom, but I have to record this tale so I don't forget. Someone went and asked the DJ to play Tom Petty. I was unaware, but I think the dude hated us after that, even though we relished every Talking Heads/Animals/indy ass song played, he still judged. As a group, even these moves couldn't move his heart past the request. We made friends with the dudes back at the hotel though, despite a lapse in my judgement and extreme paranoia - an unpublishable story (probably the only one of the trip). 
Still stinking of booze, we ate a delicious breakfast at Magnolia Cafe. More green chili sauce for me - morning, noon, night, that's right. My mom was furious with us, because my car broke down and we didn't hear the phones ringing. 

Down at Barton Springs, Jimmy and I jumped off the diving board, and on my second dive, my ENTIRE bathing suit flew off of my body. The water is very clear and I was spotted bottomless by Chris and Hillary. Very embarrassing. Barton Springs is where you go to swim in a sequestered area of cold, natural spring water. Divine.  

After our dip, we dropped Jimmy off at the airport and chillaxed until dindin. We got some yummy margaritas at Gueros and then walked down to Congress Bridge to watch the city's famous bats.

Millions of bats live under this bridge near downtown where at dusk, they fly out for the crowd, well, and for dinner. There were so many coming out for so long, it was mind blowing. We got there a little late, and still those bastards flowed out nonstop for at least a half an hour. It made me a little emotional, because this was something I really wanted to see, another accomplishment. 

My camera was on the wrong setting, so I couldn't get a great pic, but you can see those bloodsuckers right there.