My trip to Austin: the Capitol, Tarantino, dancing, and more

Published on February 13, 2005 By InBloom In Misc

I just got back from a four day school related Technology conference...here are some details and thoughts about my week there...

Day 1

Aside from a bit of turbulence, the flight to Austin went okay...I spent most of the time chatting it up with a colleague, and the remainder of the time trying to read a novel I recently started. Flight took about an hour and a half...making a trek from my West Texas home to Eastern Texas...if we would have driven, it would have taken almost 10 hours to get there....yep..that’s how big Texas is...

When we got to the airport, we were greeted with East Texas drawls and rainy weather...airport was pretty big... The Shuttle Bus took us to our hotel...the fancy Hyatt Regency...I’m not accustomed to going to hotels with valet parking and bellhops and grand lobbies and such, so I was a bit awed by it all...glass elevators took us to our room, which was quite spacious and nice looking.
Well, anyway, we only had time to put down our luggage until it was time to head on down to grab another shuttle to the convention center downtown.

My sister went to college in Austin for a while...my brother lives here; other relatives have been here as well...but I have never been...First thing that caught my eye was the tall silvery glass building downtown...What a Beaut! Tall, Sleek buildings were all over the place...When we got down to the center, we registered, and walked around ....no sessions were going on until the next day, so we just decided to get acquainted with the place. And gosh, what a Huge place it is....hallways leading to other hallways...hundreds of conference rooms....escalators everywhere ...it was almost overwhelming...

It was time to grab some grub, so we walked down a few blocks to 6th street...infamous 6th street-- known for its long strip of bars and music and party life....we went a few hours before the Mardi Gras parties started and well, it was....pretty tame....there were plenty of ppl out and about, but overall not too wild...we went to a Cajun restaurant...there was loud music, loud talking, and fine smelling food....it was enjoyable...I even got beads that I didn’t need to flash for....lol. I actually wouldn’t have minded going out to the parties later on that night, but the ppl I hung around with were not party ppl....and I sort of didn’t want to saunter into all that craziness all by myself...as if I wasn’t awed enough already, when I headed back to the hotel in the evening, I saw two large bottles of premium water in my room...I thought, “wow”....what a nice touch...I could sure go for some water....well, upon closer inspection I notice that it said....”water is $4.00 per bottle... a fee will be charged to your room if used”....

Needless to say, I went to bed a bit thirsty....

Day 2

Wednesday morning was long and cold and damp....a colleague and I headed on down to a coffee shop to decide which sessions we would be attending. Since I don’t drink coffee, I order a hot chocolate...and it was the weirdest I’ve ever had...looked good, but was too fancy tasting for me....a vanilla/fudge flavor ...I was disappointed that my hot chocolate didn’t taste like, well, chocolate...anyway...session talk soon turned into personal life talk, and it ate up some of our “conference” time...so we left and walked quickly back down to the convention center as the cold air bit us and the droplets of rain lightly landed on our chilled faces.

Sessions were pretty interesting....we learned about some quick computer activities to share with our kids....learned how to create some computer games using power point and slide shows and such....pretty cool stuff....afterwards, we headed down the exhibit hall....and were inundated with information and stuff--free trial software on any subject you can think of....Reading and Writing and Math and Science and so on and so on....presentations and demonstrations at every corner....free company pens and shirts and caps and toys and light up necklaces and knick knacks of all kinds being handed out left and right. Raffles promising ipods and dvds and expensive software programs were big eye catchers, too....

After I had my fill of that, I grabbed a quick bite to eat, bade farewell to my roomie, and stepped onto another shuttle bus that would take me to the San Marcos outlet mall....a supposed shopper’s paradise. It was one of several excursions offered to us convention ppl...although I am not a huge shopper and don’t buy brand names much, I couldn’t resist finding out what all the fuss was about....
So we were driven down and told that we had about three hours to shop until we were picked up again....btw, we almost didn’t get down because “Ray” was playing on the shuttle TVs and we got so wrapped up in the story....

We stepped off the bus and were surrounded with brand name stores....Kenneth Cole and Polo and Nautica and Liz Claiborne, etc...yes..it indeed is a shopper’s paradise. I didn’t waste time...my little group of newfound friends and I went from shop to shop looking for bargains. We weren’t disappointed....found some pretty good clothes for a decent price...the only break we took was to tame our rumbling stomachs with food...Most of what I bought were gifts.....this is sad to say, but the one thing I did buy myself....a pretty white button up blouse with subtle stripes of pinks and blues ....was lost in the bus...yess...I am a moron for not double checking my bags before I got off....I am still kicking myself for it....was never found....

Before I went to bed that night, my brother called me and told me he would be able to meet me for lunch the next day....I was happy...I don’t get to see him too often. I fell asleep with a mixture of emotion...a smile one second at the thought of seeing my brother, a frown the next second for the blouse I would never get to know....

Day 3

After a full morning of sessions, I finally got to meet my brother for lunch....I took my roomie along with me....we hugged and greeted each other and he took us back to 6th street....he pointed out some sites to us and shared with us that the “real world: austin” loft was not too far from where we were at ...

We were catching up on news as we walked down there when my brother says, “Hey, guess who I met down here during Mardi Gras...I casually say “Who” and he excitedly announces “Quentin Tarantino!”...I say “You’re Kidding”...and he’s like “No, it’s true”...So as we get to 6th street, he stops in front of one of the pubs and describes to us how he and his friends were standing around talking when suddenly Quentin passes by them. His friends yell, “Hey Quentin!”, and to their surprise, he turns around, says Hi, and goes up to shake their hands....They were shocked that such a well known person took the time to greet them. I was pretty excited for my bro....he was all smiles as he told the story....If only I had gone out that night...maybe I might have bumped into him too...how cool would that have been....

Day 3 Part 2

We enjoyed some pretty filling sandwiches at a place called Buffalo Bills...a small yet cozy pub/diner/sports bar. Unfortunately, my brother couldn’t hang around too long because he had to work...Before he left, he guided my roomie and I down Congress Avenue to get a good view of the Capitol.....I thought, “cool..I could take some pics of it”....Well, when we got to a certain spot on Congress Avenue, the view of it was something out of a postcard...it took my breath away....After I saw it, I could no longer settle for a picture....we HAD to go visit it....my brother said it wouldn’t take us too long to get there, and urged us to go...so after talking a bit more and hugging my brother goodbye, we made the several-blocks trek down to the State Capitol....sure we were a bit tired when we finally got there, but it was all worth it.

We got there just in time to have a guide show us around...we saw portraits and statues and monuments of our Texas heroes....Stephen F. and Bowie and Crockett, and Travis....I respectfully took pictures of them...I also stood at the center of the famous rotunda and looked up to see the ceiling...the beautiful, star laden, hundreds-of-miles-high,round ceiling ...it was breathtaking....We were shown around the Senate house and the house of Representatives...we were also guided down a wing that had a glass ceiling...and when you looked up ...you could clearly see the Goddess of Liberty proudly standing atop our Capitol..sounds a bit corny, but I don’t think I had ever felt as proud to be a Texas Citizen as I did then...

After our memorable Capitol trip, we went back down Congress Ave. to buy some souvenirs....I picked up some pencils, postcards, and stickers...I asked the saleswoman if she had Bushism books...and she said “Oh, you mean a book about the weird things Bush says? Sorry, no...we sold out of those...” So I settled for a “It’s your Money. You Paid for It” Bush quote magnet.....

Day 3 Part 3

We were invited to a computer education company’s cocktail party...so my roomie, myself, and some other teachers headed down there about six or so.....It took place at the neighboring Hilton....well, you cannot believe how out of place we felt....six teachers walking into a room of suits and ties hob nobbing with each other about business...they were friendly enough, and initiated conversation with us about our jobs, but it still felt awkward...we had our cocktails (well, if you can call my sprite a cocktail) and appetizers, and soon headed off....

An hour later, we were in line to enter the convention celebration.
It was Hollywood themed, so they had a red carpet rolled out for us, and had bobble headed “celebrities” greeting us at the door...you can sort of say we rubbed elbows with Liza Minelli, Tina Turner, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold, to name a few...lol. They also gave out free disposable cameras and other small gifts at the door...

We had a blast there...or at least I had a blast. They had a chocolate fountain and strawberries near the center of the room... that in itself made my night...lol. A really funky band played 70s, 80s and 90’s tunes all evening...I danced almost all night....Arnold, Sylvester, and Liza passed out necklaces and shirts and wands to glitz us up a bit as as we grooved. I hadn’t let loose like that in quite a while, so it was a lot of fun for me....

We ended the night by dancing to “Shout”. It felt like the Isley brothers were leading a sermon, and we were eagerly responding to their every word...lol

As tired as I was after everything was over, I still felt like I could wave my wand to a few more songs....

Day 4

It was time to go home...I checked out of the hotel, had my luggage held at the lobby, and headed to a few more sessions at the convention center. I made it a point to take one more look at the downtown Austin scenery before I left. It is one of the nicest places I have been to so far....I would love to visit it again. It was a wonderful break from work.

As much as I enjoyed Austin, I was glad when my plane landed in my West Texas town...it may not be as big as Austin, or as fancy...but it is home nevertheless, and it felt good to be back home.

Comments

InBloom

on Feb 14, 2005

p.s. i hope to post some pics i took ...if i can figure out that process

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