One Million Bats

As we were talking about possible vacation spots the other night, we briefly talked about Austin.  This, of course, got me thinking about just how awesome Austin is. 

I've been there twice.  Once in roughly 2003 when I worked for Accunet.  We were just starting to explore radio advertising (which clearly worked, as they're still on the radio all the time) and our ad agency was in Austin.  This guy.  I was there with four other people, most of which were considerably older than mid-20s Brian.  We discovered that there were two entertainment districts - one that was low-key jazz-type clubs and one that was the place all the University of Texas kids hung out.  We went low key, then two of us decided to stay out until the wee hours.  Not low key.

Nearly every bar in Austin takes the same shape - three stories, with the third being some version of a roof top deck.  Live music on every floor.  Yep, three bands in EVERY BAR.  

We did manage to get some actual work done on that trip.  We also checked out the LBJ Presidential Library.  Fully admitting I'm a nerd, I think the concept of a presidential library is cool.  It's half museum and half archives that you can just pick through.  Want to search through boxes of benign presidential memo?  Go ahead.  While LBJ wasn't a great president (and I say that as a Democrat!), and was an even worse person, he served during a pretty interesting time.  A huge part of the museum is dedicated to 60s culture.  Add in the Vietnam wing and the JFK assassination story and you've filled an afternoon.

So I had this great impression of Austin, but no real reason or opportunity to go back.  Until last year.  

Backstory:  My friend Austin (yep, I see the humor) is a big fan of the University of Oregon football team.  Labor Day weekend 2011, they played LSU in Dallas.  Austin's dad is an Oregon season ticket holder and was able to get tickets so Austin, his dad, Greg, Greg's wife Lisa and I headed to Dallas, with a side trip to Austin on the schedule.  Side note - Yep, Greg brought his wife.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but doesn't a college football weekend with three of your buddies kind of scream "guy's weekend?"

I was excited about the trip, but wondered if my memories of Austin had been exaggerated in my own mind over the years.  

Turns out they had not.  Bar and restaurant scene had actually gotten better (even though we ate at essentially an Applebee's), music was awesome, weather was perfect, somehow the beer was cheaper.

One thing I didn't see on the first trip.  There is a bridge over the river that runs through Austin.  Under this bridge is a colony of bats.  Every night at dusk they all fly out to do whatever bats do all night (I assume is some version of fighting crime).  I had heard there were one million bats.  I figured this was an overstatement.  Until, with camera luckily rolling....

Yeah, that's a million bats.  See the black "clouds" on the horizon?  Those aren't clouds.  Those are the bats that had already come out from under the bridge.  Also, see the tour boats in the water below?  Not a chance I'm getting on one of those.  Bats stink.  The whole area around the bridge stinks.  I figure the odds of getting crapped on are pretty high with 1,000,000 of them flying directly overhead.  No thanks.

So there it is.  Two trips to Austin, two good times, neither of which involved one of the big music festivals.  And to top it all off, the JFK museum / assassination site / grassy knoll, which is the best museum I've ever seen is in Dallas.  Definitely on my list of places to visit again.