Me at the Pennybacker Bridge

I have lived in Austin, TX for a little over 8 years now. When I decided to move here, a lot of people did not understand my decision. That’s OK because it was for me and my partner, and not for anyone else. I grew up and spent most of my life in Florida. Most of that time was in the Miami area. I love Miami and think it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but I also think it is a very difficult place to live and I was very happy to move away. I get to go back and visit family and friends in small doses, and then come back to a place like Austin, where people are friendly and courteous.

This past week, my 15 year old nephew came to visit me and my partner and I got to experience Austin through his eyes during that time. It is always fun to do that. When you live somewhere, no matter how exciting it is, you start to take it for granted. But touring my nephew around to show him the beauty of Central Texas reminded me of just how beautiful it is. I consider myself to be very fortunate to live here.

So what’s so great about it? I probably should not tell you because too many people are moving here as it is, but that’s OK. I guess I can share. It’s probably not the best time to talk about our weather because we are currently going through our hottest and driest summer in Austin’s history (the previous hottest summer was just last year, so this has been a tough 2 year). Our lakes are at levels that have rarely been seen in the history of Central Texas (since we have not had much rain, the water is evaporating and the lake levels continue to drop about a foot to a foot and a half per week). But under normal conditions, the weather here is pretty good. Sure, our summers are hot, but not usually this hot. 2 summers ago, we only hit 100 degrees 3 times the whole summer. And when the lakes are full, there is so much to do – boating, jet-skis, wave runners, party boats, etc. It is so much fun.

Austin's Growing Skyline

Farther down the lake system, about 45 minutes south of Austin, you can go tubing on the Guadalupe River. I have not yet done this, but hope to do it soon. Near where the tubing sites are is the #1 water part in the country – Schlitterbahn. I have been a couple of times and it is a whole lot of fun.

Here in Austin, we have the largest urban colony of bats in the country. During the summer months, at sunset, 1.5 million bats stream out from under the Congress Avenue Bridge to go look for dinner (mainly mosquitoes). When you hear the description of this, you might think that it is either kind of creepy or just not that big a deal. But I got to tell you, it is very cool. I have gone to see them 3 times this year. They fly out and fly off in what looks like clouds of smoke towards the east. The stream of exiting bats continues for 30 to 45 minutes.

Long Center for the Performing Arts

Another thing that I love about living in Austin is the proximity of the Hill Country and all of its little towns. There are so many and they are all (at least in my opinion) quite interesting. From Marble Falls and Llano to Fredricksburg, Johnson City (President Johnson’s home town) and Dripping Springs – you can go see all of the old town squares and the diners that have been around forever and the courthouses in the squares. It is all very charming and evocative of a much simpler, quieter time. When we were in Llano, a friend of ours introduced us to a barbecue restaurant called Coopers Old Time Pit Bar-b-que. This place is just fantastic. They have a bunch of huge smokers outside. You go up to the guys at the smoker, point at the pieces of meat (ribs, brisket, pork, chicken) that you want, then take it inside where they weigh it and slice it up for you. You can eat it there or take it with (or both). It is truly the most delicious meat I have ever eaten, and well worth the 70 mile drive from my house. Mmm mmm good!!

Capital with the Frost Tower in the Background

Of course, it is impossible to drive around Austin and not see the signs of change all around. Downtown is full of cranes for high rises that are going up everywhere. When we moved here, they were just about to start work on the Frost Tower, which then became the tallest building in the city (517 feet, 33 floors). It was surpassed a few years ago by the 360 Condos (562 feet, 44 floors), and then this summer by the Austonian. The Austonian is still under construction. When it is finished, it will be the tallest residential tower in the state of Texas (683 feet, 56 floors). Many other tall towers have also been built and people are starting to live downtown in these fancy condos. With that, the crime rate has unfortunately started to go up as well. Let’s hope that the city can get that under control.

Traffic is another area where things are getting worse and worse. When we moved here, the traffic really wasn’t too bad. Now I would put it up there with cities like Miami. There are just too many people here for the roads that we have and it takes too long to build new ones (but then that is a problem in any city that is growing quickly).

Probably the thing I love the most about Austin is its people. The people here are so friendly. My nephew kept commenting to me the whole time he was here about that. He is not used to it because he lives in South Florida, which is definitely not a friendly place (one of the reasons I wanted to get out of there!) You have no idea what a difference that makes. I am truly hopeful that the constant influx of people from California and other states will not ruin that for us here in Austin. I like friendly. It is so much nicer than being a jerk.