April 25-29, 2007
Texas, USA
I travelled to Texas for a seminar on outdoor lighting, put on by a light fixture manufacturer in San Marcos. I was invited, along with a co-worker James and three other consultants, Burt, Jacques and Guy, by our manufacturer's agent, Gilles.
We left Ottawa Wednesday morning, heading for Austin Texas, via Chicago Illinois. There were thunderstorms somewhere, which backed up air traffic all over the place. We left Ottawa about an hour and a half late and then left Chicago 3 or 4 hours late. Fortunately, the local Goose Island Beer Company makes a tasty beverage called Honker's Ale, conveniently available at the Fox News sports bar at O'Hare.
We finally got to Austin and headed to our hotel for the tail end of a reception that the manufacturer put on for us. Had a bite to eat and a beverage or two (Shiner Bock is a delicious Texan brew), met Gilles' sales manager Jeff and a few of the 30 or so other attendees. Here are a couple of shots of the hotel lobby. The Driskill Hotel was built in 1929 and is one of the oldest hotels in Austin.
Unfortunately, those are the only two photos I took in Austin :-(
Wednesday evening after the reception, a bunch of us headed out on the town. We decided to go for a walk and discovered that our hotel was right on 6th Street, which is the strip in Austin. There a five or six blocks of nothing but bars, with the odd pizza stand or tatoo parlour thrown in for good measure. After all, what's a night on the town without greasy munchies and a permanent souvenir?
Anyway, Austin being the home of live music, we decided that was our best bet so we stopped in at Nuno's to listen to some Blues. I have no idea who the band was, but they were great. And the bartender... wow... Modelo Negro and Dos Equis here, both Mexican, both delicious.
After a while, we went across the street to Maggie Mae's to sit on the rooftop terrace. The terrace overlooks a courtyard where a guy was playing cover tunes on an accoustic guitar. He was pretty good and played quite a variety. Lone Star is another Texan beer, not as good as Shiner Bock but not bad, and at least it's not Bud or Coor's Light. Who the hell bought me Scotch?
Thursday morning, breakfast at the hotel and a 30-40 minute ride to the plant in San Marcos. All day seminar in a really well done show room. Back to the hotel for a great dinner with all of the seminar attendees and presenters. Some of the presenters wanted to take us out afterwards and we ended up at Pete's Piano Bar. This place is fantastic. There are two grand pianos back to back on a stage with a small drum kit hidden behind and a guitar off to the side. Two guys play all request for drinks and tips and the entire bar sings along. Anything from Bon Jovi to Van Morrison to Brian Adams. Believe it or not, we had them playing O Canada. YeeHaw! Decided to try Rolling Rock here 'cause the bottle looks like Steam Whistle when you see it quickly.
Friday, breakfast, bus, seminar and plant tour. It's a big ass plant with a Big Ass Fan. After the seminar on Friday, we got back on the bus and headed to San Antonio for the rest of the weekend. We got to the Riverwalk Marriott and decided to chill for a bit because the lineup to check in was way too long. Fat Tire is another delicious Texan beer. Eventually we got checked in and then Jeff met us at the hotel and took us out for dinner. This just happened to be the last weekend of a huge festival called Fiesta so the streets were packed with food stands, drink stands, carnival game stands, live music and people, lots and lots of people. I knew the streak had to come to an end, had a Bud at one of the stands on the way to Mi Tierra, a great Mexican restaurant. The food was delicious plus Tecate and Patron Anejo. Did I mention Patron Anejo? Damn, that's smooth.
Here are a few shots of the restaurant and the endless throng of people slowly moving down the street, past the patio at Mi Tierra. Some of the flashless photos are pretty fuzzy but I wanted to show the lighting and decorations.
After supper, we took another walk through the streets. They sell Jumbo Smoked Turkey Legs! How cool is that? Too bad I just finished a big meal.
Took a walk on the Riverwalk and found another bar somewhere. Don't remember what it was called but they had a patio and Negra Modelo.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by the Alamo and talked to one of the Alamo Rangers.
Saturday we headed back to the Alamo to see it in the daylight.
Did the tourist thing along the Riverwalk and checked out some souvenir shops. They've got an animal in Texas that looks like a Jack Rabbit with antlers. Some of them even have feathers! I wonder where they live in the wild? Can't go to Texas without having some BBQ, so that's what we had for lunch. The ribs were a little disapointing but the sausage, smoked turkey and brisket were delicious. Mmm... Margueritas... aaarrrggghhh...
Had a couple of Lone Stars at Coyote Ugly.
Headed back to the hotel and everyone split off to do their own thing for a while. Eventually, we met back up to try and watch the hockey game on Gilles' laptop. They don't watch hockey in Texas. Who knew? Anyway, we couldn't get the game online and eventually we headed out to see the closing night parade. We didn't have a very good view and next thing I knew, we were gone before the actual floats started coming. Here's a couple shots of the usual military and chearleaders at the start.
We eventually found somewhere to sit and drink more Margueritas. Poor Gilles wanted a big steak dinner so badly but we were all so full from lunch that we headed back to the hotel and listened to the end of the hockey game on the radio. Stupid Devils.
Sunday, after breakfast, I walked around the Riverwalk some more, but not for long. It was damn humid on Sunday.
Back to the hotel, packed up and headed to the airport. Ate lunch, more Mexican food, more Marguerita and headed back to Ottawa via Washington DC. Home by 11:30pm and back to work on Monday.
The stars at night
Are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas
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